Common Sense Observations

Will Free Internet Pornography Kill The Pornography Industry

Pornography and the pornography industry have been getting more mention in the mainstream media than usual. These mentions are not just in the print media, either. In the recent past, documentary films, TV shows and prestigious news programs have started covering the pornography industry. At this writing, pornography is being covered at some level by all the major print media outlets, as well as all the major networks. Why the recent, public interest in sex and its primary selling tool: pornography? Is it simply because “sex sells?” Is the mainstream media merely trying to attract different audiences with articles about sex and pornography? No. The interest is in sex and pornography as an industry. A huge industry.

Stand up at your cousin’s wedding reception, raise you glass and ask: who likes sex? You’ll likely see a few blushes, quite a few smiles, some chuckles and a vast number of hands being raised. In the same situation, replace the word sex for the word pornography. No more smiles or chuckles – several angry faces, maybe even one or two guests coming at you with rage in their eyes – and no hands will be raised. As a culture, we’ve become much more comfortable with the perceived connotation of sex. Not so much with pornography. In fact, not at all with pornography.

Pornography is big business. Really big business! For example, every second of every day $3,075.64 is spent on pornography. It’s hard to nail down the exact annual revenues generated from sex and pornography, but available figures show revenues ranging from $10 billion to over $13 billion – and that’s just for the United States. Pornography is popular all over the world. China is the leading consumer of pornography, with an estimated revenue of over $27 billion per year. The number 2 pornography consumer is, oddly, South Korea. South Korea generates over $25 billion per year in pornography revenues. Globally, the sex and pornography industry generates over $97 billion annually. If there was any doubt in your mind that sex sells or that pornography is popular, it should now be gone.

In these trying economic times, the media is attempting to give people as many pieces to the economic crisis puzzle as possible. Sex and pornography are, as shown by the figures above, important elements of our economy. And while it’s clear that essentially nobody wants to publicly admit they have any interest at all in pornography, it is just as clear that many people purchase pornography, and also that the sex and pornography industry employs a great many people. The sex and pornography industry also contributes to the chain of revenues in this country through outlets, advertising, shipping, printing, taxes, etc.

Recently I watched a weekly TV newsmagazine produced by Current TV called Vanguard. The episode is entitled: Porn 2.0. You can watch the episode by clicking on the Hulu link attached to this article. Don’t worry, the program is PG13, not XXX. In that program, the powers-that-be in the sex and pornography industry express a clear concern that all the free pornography available on the internet is diminishing ‘legitimate’ industry incomes and revenues, and will ultimately lead to the demise of the sex and pornography industry.

Many people know how to copy protected materials today. The anti-copy protection on VHS tapes, CDs and DVDs is no match for today’s growing army of savvy computer users. Add that fact to the presence of the internet and you have everything needed to duplicate protected materials and make them available to hundreds of millions of people around the world – almost instantly. And that’s what the sex and pornography industry leaders are worried about. The music industry has been screaming bloody murder about this same thing for years.

Sex and pornography industry leaders report that the availability of so much free pornography on the internet is substantially reducing their revenues. Revenues, they say, which are required in order to maintain ‘quality’ standards of production and content. If they don’t make enough money, they won’t be able to continue to produce new pornography. Or at least not ‘high quality’ new pornography. And after that, they assert, there will be nothing to illegally copy and dispense free over the internet.

Having spent the last couple of days researching sex and pornography, I must heartily disagree with the assertions of sex and pornography industry leaders. My first reason for saying this is that sex and pornography industry revenues tripled between 1992 and 2006. My second reason for saying this is that, despite the fact that nobody will ever admit to watching pornography, sex and pornography remain highly sought after and eagerly watched.

The sex and pornography industry will no doubt go through changes because of the growing availability of free internet pornography. I can’t argue that. But essentially all businesses have had to evolve due to the various impacts the internet has had on them. Imagine how the envelope industry has had to change since email came along, not to mention stationery companies and the Postal Service. And look what online news is doing to printed newspapers and magazines.

I believe that sex and pornography industry leaders will find ways to cope with free internet pornography and still make their profits. Those that can’t will fall by the wayside – which is the natural way of capitalism in the age of the internet.

The numbers simply don’t paint a picture of a failing sex and pornography industry. Quite the contrary, in fact. This leads me to question why sex and pornography industry leaders are so adamantly saying that if free internet pornography is not halted, there will be no more [new] pornography produced. I can only assume that they are attempting to scare (or perhaps shame) pornography users into paying for all their pornography – and skipping over anything free they find on the internet. It’s an interesting ploy, but one that I am sure is doomed to fail.

Will free internet pornography kill the pornography industry? No – I am quite sure that it won’t. In fact, I believe something along the lines of the opposite will happen. To survive, I believe the sex and pornography industry will evolve more rapidly than it would have otherwise. I also believe they will cultivate new markets with new products – many of which will not be of the variety that can be copied and dispensed free of charge. Perhaps membership-based, interactive 3-D websites or live telephone activities – who knows. The point is, the sex and pornography industry is not in any danger of being killed off by the presence of free internet pornography.

Whether or not you use, or even like, pornography is moot. Pornography is here to stay, and if the numbers are any indication, it will only get more popular and more available. While some may not like the statement this makes about our global culture, it is a fact. Just like death and taxes, sex and pornography are sure things. And they’re here to stay.