why do British men love this Sarah Palin lookalike so much?

If you thought the older woman/younger man trend died a death post-Sex and the City and Cougar Town, think again. The recent coverage of PornHub's UK statistics showed that throughout the UK, porn star Lisa Ann is extremely popular: she's the top search term in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and second most popular in England, scoring top-5 status in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, and Bristol.

To some this will come as no surprise, but plenty of people are probably scratching their heads and wondering… who on earth is Lisa Ann?

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The actress, who has been in films on and off since the mid-90s, hardly fits the stereotype of the skinny, young, bleached-blonde chick that seems to dominate popular imagination of what porn stars look like.

She's busty, sure, but also filled out everywhere else. And at 42, she is perhaps best-known for playing a Sarah Palin-alike, complete with Hockey Mom glasses, gubernatorial power suit, and semi-automatic rifle in (ahem) seminal Who's Nailin' Paylin.

While the controversial politician and pundit may not be many people's idea of a great date, one thing is for certain - well-groomed, approachable older women are considered enormously attractive across the board. The idea of the shelf life of sexual attractiveness topping out at 30 is going the way of the dodo, if PornHub is any indication.

As for answering the question of why this particular genre continues to run and run, results are mixed. Some say it's the experience. Some cite more rounded figures as the key attraction. Still more claim it's a glimpse of the forbidden fantasy, a throwback perhaps to fantasies they had when teens - or as Hannibal Lecter so memorably put it, we covet what we see every day.

Ashton Kutcher preferred an older woman when he dated Demi Moore

David, a friend who admitted to 'wide-ranging' tastes in porn, attributes it to early experiences. “A lot of lads I know, their first crush is a teacher or a friend's mum. You maybe never get over that even when you get older,” he says. Asked if women should feel positive, neutral or negative about this, he says: “Probably neutral? Or maybe positive. It's in a flattering way, not like ‘women should feel grateful to still be attractive at that age.’ They really are.”

While there's no doubt the popularity of Lisa Ann and her compatriots is objectification (as indeed is pretty much all entertainment), it is certainly a very different object than the ones we've grown accustomed to having thrust at us everywhere from glossy magazines to light entertainment.

Like a bounteous Nigella in a sea of pale imitations, Lisa Ann stands out as warm, tactile, and probably great company. British star Daisy Rock - star of the acclaimed documentary Daisy - occupies much the same niche.

But the trend, it seems, is hardly new. Benjamin Franklin is supposed to have written, 'In all your Amours you should prefer old Women to young ones' as advice to a friend in 1745. Meanwhile, one third of Japanese men report preferring older women to younger ones.

That said, UK results are straying away from worldwide trends - with terms like 'creampie,' 'teen' and 'amateur' rating higher worldwide than they do here. Surprised? Perhaps it's time to face up to a little-acknowledged truth: British men arguably have more evolved taste in women than the rest of the world. And the proof, to borrow the saying, is in the Palin.

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