Google France has recently adjusted its algorithm to show less lesbian porn. The term “lesbian” now primarily returns informative content.
Google and lesbian porn
No, this is not the result of the influence of an anti-porn or homophobic Catholic lobby, but rather to avoid stigmatising lesbians by consistently associating them with male fantasies.
In fact, before this algorithm adjustment, a Google search for the word “lesbian” would essentially return lesbian porn.
Furthermore, until now, more serious information about lesbianism was hard to find, buried under tonnes of porn. Not great for people trying to learn about their sexual orientation without knowing exactly where to look.
Meanwhile, for other sexual orientations or gender identities, you would primarily land on Wikipedia pages or newspaper articles. This correction to Google’s algorithm therefore helps to level the playing field a bit.
SEO_lesbienne: a campaign on Twitter
Google made this change following a campaign led by the Twitter account SEO_lesbienne and the website Numerama. In April, in an article titled “Why does the word ‘lesbian’ on Google only lead to pornographic sites?”, the latter was pointing out: “Lesbians don’t exist online”.
Numerama also explains that before the correction, such a ranking contributed to the sexualisation of women’s bodies. At first glance, you might think this is a prudish argument.
However, these days, two women holding hands in the street have a good chance of being pestered by creeps who hope to be invited to join in for a threesome, or at least getting a free look… And it’s high time to change people’s mindsets on this! Nobody would approach a straight couple and ask them to get it on.
According to Google, this predominantly porn-focused ranking was genuinely a problem, which had already occurred with the terms “girl” and “teen”.
