One of the most popular porn websites on the internet is offering up more than the free video content they're known for, in the form of a $25,000 research grant. The money, Jezebel reports, is being offered up by PornHub to university faculty members in order to "support research work carried out by university students under their direction" for a "human sexuality research project" in the near future.
“With this grant, Pornhub hopes to help advance important work in the field, be it technological, medical, or sociologically rooted–so long as its end goal is to bring new information into the world that can help people lead happier and healthier sex lives,” said a press release about the grant, while the application page explains a bit more as well. "With the goal of supporting crucial academic work, this $25,000 grant has been created with the intention to help find new solutions, answers and methods with which to approach current issues pertaining to human sexuality."
It stands to argue that schools might have a tough time with the stigma of being affiliated with the site. In particular, criticisms of its free streaming model that sees adult performers losing out on revenue from their flicks. Still, the moral complexities will be up to individual researchers and schools to decide. Besides, PornHub has been taking strides creating spaces for useful conversations about sex to take place, with the Sexual Wellness Center portion of its website dedicated to articles by experts and sexual health professionals on everything from unplanned pregnancy to sexually transmitted infections. Recipients of the grant must also present the findings of their research in an article for the Sexual Wellness Center.
This also isn't the first time the website as put their money where their mouth is, having also created a scholarship for women in tech, and donated to charities for breast cancer, prostate cancer and domestic violence in the past.
The deadline for the grant is May 1, and educators and researchers can apply here.
