The authors look at two different groups: political conservatives and religious conservatives. Political conservatism was associated specifically with an increased interest in sexually explicit images.

On the other hand, religious conservatives— measured by the share of residents who say religion is important in their lives — are highly correlated with searching for sex online, but not necessarily “non-traditional” sex. The study notes: ”It may be that these ‘sex’ searches were conducted with the intention of delivering ‘traditional’ sexual content (e.g., information regarding monogamous, married, heterosexual sex).”

As you can see below, conservative-leaning states have a high level of interest in sex online, but some liberal states — such as California and Illinois — also are highly inclined.