Prurient means taking an unhealthy interest in sexual matters. Prurient curiosity, prurient interest, appeal to prurient tastes.
It is a criticism of the reader as much as the material, since prurient interest is looking for a reason to look. The Latin means itching, which is exactly the picture.
1adjectiveprurientTaking an unhealthy interest in sexual matters.
“The newspapers fed the public's prurient curiosity about the singer's love life.”
prurient is a quality.
Latin pruriens comes from prurire, to itch.
Latin
prūriēns
English, today
prurient
Built from
Latin prūriēns, present participle of prūriō (“itch”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA