WASHINGTON — xHamster traffic during last Thursday’s Kavanaugh hearing fell across the board — as much as 56 percent during Christine Blasey Ford's testimony, the site’s researchers say.
Not only did overall traffic fall, but traffic from women fell even more dramatically — at times women made up as little as 11.8 percent of xHamster’s national viewer base, reseachers said.
In Washington, D.C., and Virginia, the decline was even clearer, they noted. Women dropped to as few as 8.5 percent of overall visitors during the hearings (about doubling when it was over.)
Overall traffic in Washington, D.C., and Virginia saw even steeper declines, falling 67.7 percent from earlier in the morning.
The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing involving U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Ford lasted all day on Thursday.
Researchers, however, said that the trend did not hold up after the hearing. Traffic rose again during Kavanaugh's testimony as viewers turned back to porn.
Alex Hawkins, xHamster’s vice president, explained in a statement why the company released the stats.
“Why release this? Well, because our industry is often painted — by some on left as well as the right — as antifeminist, apolitical and disinterested in consent," Hawkins said.