Pornography, Contemporary-Mainstream

The Contemporary Pornography Industry

While sexual images in some form have long been a part of human experience, the existence of pornography as a mainstream commercial industry dates back only [Page 647]to the 1950s. The advent of Playboy magazine in 1953 was followed in the late 1960s and 1970s by Penthouse and Hustler. These three magazines and their many imitators constituted the mainstream of the industry into the early 1980s. Since then, continual technological innovations combined with changes in social norms have produced enormous changes in the pornography industry's content, structure, and delivery methods.

Perhaps the most notable change is in the sheer size and reach of the industry. According to the adult industry's trade magazine, fewer than 2,000 hard-core titles were released in 1988; by contrast, in 2005, the number of such titles had reached 12,971. The annual revenues of the pornography industry are estimated to be $13 billon in the United States and $97 billion globally. Pornographic content is now delivered via multiple avenues, from print magazines to videos, DVDs, Web sites, game systems, and mobile phones. As each technological innovation, from the camera to the video camera to the Internet, has brought pornography closer to the consumer—privatizing the experience of consuming pornography, making it cheaper, more directly and constantly accessible, and more anonymous—the levels of pornography consumption have drastically increased.

Contemporary pornography is deeply intertwined with mainstream media corporations, many of which heavily cross-promote pornographic content across their media holdings, including books, network and cable television programs, and mainstream men's and women's magazines. A number of major multinational corporations, such as General Motors and AT&T, make significant profits from pornography via venues such as satellite TV, broadband cable channels, and hotel pay-per-view. Given these profits, mainstream media outlets often convey a legitimizing and glamorizing set of messages about the pornography industry.

Mainstream Pornography: Content and Themes

While there are numerous pornography niche markets, including films and sites aimed at gay and lesbian audiences, those marketed as “alternative,” and those explicitly marketed as sadomasochistic, this entry focuses on the content and themes common in contemporary mainstream pornography aimed at a heterosexual, predominantly male audience. Such pornography is divided into two main genres: features and gonzo.

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