Internet porn sucking the life out of print pornography

02 September 2014 - 12:53 By Bonginkosi Tiwane
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A member of the pro lobby says research shows viewing porn can improve people's sex lives and knowledge about sex.
A member of the pro lobby says research shows viewing porn can improve people's sex lives and knowledge about sex.
Image: Gallo Images/Thinkstock

The traditional method of consuming pornography from magazines is dying out due to rapid growth of internet porn consumption.

According to AFP, porn industry veteran, Larry Flynt celebrated the 40 anniversary of his X-rated magazine Hustler recently.

He believes that the internet is taking over and proving more popular than print. “Publishing is not good because the internet is replacing print,” said the 71 year-old.

Magazine porn is more expensive to run than internet porn. A porn magazine start-up could today cost as much as $20 million due to overheads like printing presses, numerous specialised employees, graphic designers and typesetters.

But not everyone is taken by the trend of internet porn. In Lebanon, internet providers are set to block six porn sites based on a decision by the Telecommunications Ministry reports the Daily Star.

The websites were blocked due to complaints issued by families who were concerned over their content and their impact on societal decency, a source told The Daily Star.

The threat of child pornography was also mentioned given that three of the websites cater to a “teenager fetish.”

But a study in Britain as detailed by The Guardian which polled 500 British teenagers found that Internet porn is having a damaging impact on young people's views about sex and puts pressure on girls to look and act a certain way.

So gone are the days where young boys would go through their dad’s stash of porn; these days, one can access porn on their phone anytime, without anyone looking over their shoulder.

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