Has the Internet Killed Porn?

Posted in In the News on Wednesday, June 6th, 2012

Fifteen years ago, Louis Theroux documented the porn industry in the United States, and since then he claims that the rise of the internet is virtually killing pornography.

Before we delve too deeply into Theroux‘s argument, let’s talk about some of the amazing things the internet has done for porn.

First: accessibility. You can live anywhere on earth (well, almost) and access pornography on the internet.

Second: privacy. Gone are the days when you have to stroll into your local video store and risk a nosy neighbor watching you duck into the back adults-only room for a DVD.

Third: porn of the people. Anyone can make a porno now and put it online. While many of us prefer porn stars over amateurs, the fact is that pornography is now created by just about anyone who’s interested in it.

Fourth: kinky shit. Whether you like vanilla sex, anal gangbangs, bondage, or mama/boy fetish, you can find it on the internet, plus a million other types of kinky fetishes. You won’t have to ask your video store to order something for you; all you have to do is Google it.

From this angle it seems like the internet has opened the space for pornography to succeed and flourish. What problem, then, does Theroux have with the internet?

According to this article in the Guardian, the internet is killing porn because it’s killing the porn industry.

Porn stars can no longer make a good living doing porn, because people just don’t want to pay for it any more.

In fact, Theroux argues, many porn stars take side-jobs stripping, web camming, and even hooking to make ends meet.

Also, rather than pushing boundaries and limits, porn producers are more cautious now, catering to an audience that’s accustomed to homemade and amateur porn.

Even pirated versions of professionally made pornos are available for free online, so there is little incentive for people to pay for it. And if people aren’t paying for porn, then there’s no money left for porn stars and the companies that create high-quality pornography.

What do you think? Do we as pornography consumers owe it to the industry to pay for what we watch? And if we don’t pay for it, who will?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 6th, 2012 at 5:23 PM and is filed under In the News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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