Ever since the creation of provocative pictures, there has been a demand of them. The world was first exposed to the extent that porn fascination can cause when Bettie Page made her controversial debut in the modeling world. As history’s first- and most famous- pin-up girl, Page became a worldwide celebrity almost overnight, bringing her suggestive pictures from her hometown of Tennessee all the way to Europe and Asia within the first months of her shedding it for the cameras.
The world has since not only become accustomed to seeing images of naked people in our daily lives, we’re used to it. So why is it that even though we’re almost immune to the thought of sex, porn is seeing a cast increase of viewers in 2011?
According to Statistics Canada, it looks like people may be watching more porn because their daily lives are more sexual than ever!
In 2001, just 10 years ago, condom sales averaged $1.8 Billion annually worldwide. Now, in 2011, that number has jumped to an estimated $3.5 Billion.
“Physiologically it’s easy to see why an increase of condom sales would effect the porn industry,” says Cheryl Lafferty, a professor in the mental health department at the University of British Columbia, Canada. “Generally when people are having more sex, their lives change to incorporate that new lifestyle. That can mean anything from a higher curiosity for sex toys and different positions to an urge to watch pornographic footage to increase your libido.”
Since 2010, there has been a 30% increase in sales of porn tapes in stores, a 35% increase in porn production, and almost nearly a 45% increase in online subscriptions to porn website memberships.
Is porn becoming more mainstream because we’re watching more of it, or are we watching more of it because it’s become so mainstream? It’s hard to decipher a clear winner between the two, but the bottom line remains the same—Porn has broken through its steady rise in popularity and has skyrocketed in 2011.
It’s become so popular, in fact, that even movie theatres are joining in on the action. Not only was the first 3D porn ever released this year in Japan, it was shown in one of the country’s biggest movie theaters for public viewings.
The reasoning behind porn’s new found extreme popularity could be caused by any number of things, but it’s being more socially acceptable to not only watch, but to talk about as well. With such a dramatic increase in porn popularity, it won’t be long before it’s on the shelves of our everyday video stores. Until then, you always have Orgasm.com to fill your fix!