Artifact #5 Thank Sex for Making the Internet Hot

It was quite interesting to learn that pornography was an early adopter of the internet that popularized many computer technologies.  It was the first part of the web to make money and now sex is everywhere on the web.  The internet offers freedom and an anonymous place for the sale and viewing of sexual material. So it comes to no surprise that pornography is one of the most popular aspects of the internet.  Humans are sexual beings and even though many people are too embarassed to talk about sex doesn't mean that they don't secretly view porn.

I am curious to find out if many people even purchase porn on DVD or cable tv anymore since internet porn is so popular.  The following statistics (Lengel, Thurlow, and Tomic 143) are a bit out-dated so I can only imagine what they are today:

•   In 2001, there were 74,000 adult websites accounting for 2 percent of all web content on the net and bringing in estimated profits of US$1 billion
• 8.49 million Asian internet users visit adult websites which is equivalent to nearly 50 percent of all active Asian internet users
• 36 percent of British internet users regularly log on to adult sites, a fifth of whom are students
• revenues in the United States are expected to reach $400 million by 2006