Book Excerpt #3: Tech

“With technological advancements, access to pornographic materials via the Internet has increased (Sabina Wolak and Finkelhor, 2008). Likewise, the pornography industry has seen a rise in visibility, though industry financial information consists of many estimates (Morris, 2015; The Economist, 2015).

Recent studies show an increase in both the consumption and societal acceptance of pornography, as demonstrated by industry revenue, market growth, and consumer survey (Buzzell, 2005; Carroll et al., 2008; Dines, 2006; Young, 2008; Rothman et al., 2015). Since the mid 20th century data has been increasingly collected in order to capture an accurate image of the pornography industry’s impact on mainstream media and technology (Buzzell, 2005).

As Buzzell (2005) notes, there is a lack of cross-sectional analysis focusing on pornography usage. That is to say that few have, in studying pornography and its consumption, focused particularly on the way in which pornography and the mediums through which it is presented influence pornography viewership. Through use of the General Social Survey (GSS) Buzzell compared viewer demographic trends across three years: 1973, 1994, and 2002 in order to observe viewership trends across the mediums of film, home theatre/VCR, and websites, respectively.

Study findings revealed that a greater number of non-Whites than Whites reported accessing pornography via film or VCR compared to website access. Additionally, there was no clearly defined upward viewership trend with the introduction of new pornographic mediums despite each development adding more convenience to the viewer’s experience.”