Pornography: Internet

Production and Consumption

Most Internet pornography is produced in the San Fernando Valley in southern California, where producers can take advantage of an available pool of [Page 279]actors from the Los Angeles entertainment industry along with state laws that are comparatively receptive to producing pornography. The California Supreme Court decision in People v. Freeman (1988) held that a person cannot be convicted of pandering if he or she is paid for producing an entertainment product rather than providing sexual gratification to a consumer. A New York district court came to a similar decision, yet there remain significant legal risks for producing pornography in all other states.

There is evidence that a wide cross-section of adults across the United States use Internet pornography, sometimes in contrast with self-reported conservative political affiliation or religious belief. Using anonymous credit-card receipts, a nationwide study of online pornography in the United States found little variation in use across the country. Where slight variations exist, the states with residents that consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious, compared to those in states with lower levels of porn consumption.

Sources such as comScore report that 36 percent of Internet users visit at least one porn Website each month. There are claims that one third of Internet porn users are women. Some data show that the average age of first exposure to porn is 11 years old for boys, whereas other research claims the average age of first exposure is 14.5 years old for boys and 14.8 years old for girls.

According to Nielsen/NetRatings from 2007, approximately one third of online porn users were women. However, this figure may be artificially low and difficult to assess accurately. Data from Hustler Video indicate that female consumers make up 56 percent of the company's video sales. Digital Playground reports that in 2004, 53 percent of their consumers were women. Data collection limitations are significant: Shared computers, shared credit cards, variabilities in tracking software, self-reporting bias, and the availability of free porn that is not linked to collectible online subscription information can skew research projects that attempt to determine who is using Internet porn.

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