Mythbustiers
What's real and what's fake in the porno biz?
By Lindsay Kneteman
Photography by istockphoto
Few modern industries are as murky and mysterious as pornography. So let's take a closer look at a few of porn's bigger myths and see what's real and what's all made up.
- IN NORTH AMERICA, THE PORN INDUSTRY BRINGS IN MORE REVENUE THAN HOLLYWOOD.
UNCLEAR — According to the industry trade magazine Adult Video News, the adult-film industry in the U.S. raked in over US$13 billion in 2006. Hollywood meanwhile made just under $9 billion. But while this might seem like a clear win for porn, AVN's numbers can't be independently verifi ed; not surprising considering the vast and secretive world that is pornography. Still, many major companies have their fingers in this pie: those profiting include Time Warner and Comcast, which offer "adult entertainment" channels, and the over 10,000 hotels worldwide that offer pay-per-view porn movies. - "SEX" IS THE MOST FREQUENTLY SEARCHED-FOR WORD ON THE INTERNET.
FALSE — According to Google, we North Americans were busy in 2007 searching for lyrics, the weather and YouTube. Neither "sex" nor "porn" was among our top 10 most-searched-for terms. - PORN IS RARELY SHOT AND MADE IN CANADA.
FALSE — While we're no San Fernando Valley (where most legally distributed American porn is shot), we do pump out our share of dirty movies. Montreal has historically been our porn capital but Edmonton is about to challenge that title. In August, the CRTC issued a licence to an Edmonton-based porn station that has promised to air 50 percent Canadian content and spend at least $1 million on Canadian programming in the next year. Filming has already started on "The Boy Nexxt Door." - INTERNET PORN IS KILLING PORN MAGAZINES.
NOT QUITE YET — True, circulation numbers are certainly down. Playboy now sells less than half of what it did at its peak in the early '70s. But at three million copies a month, it's still one of the best-selling men's magazines in the U.S. And in the last half of 2006, Playboy and Penthouse both posted huge circulation gains, 23.7 percent and 40.4 percent respectively. One theory on those numbers is that the magazines' websites are driving users to purchase the real thing.
