Saturday, May 01, 2010

Yes the Pornography is as Big as it Says it is:

For a while there, I was throwing out a statistic that was generally understood as common knowledge on how big the pornography business is. Over 10 billion dollars a year. HUGE that is.

Then I came across a Forbes article where they tried to debunk it.

Economist Kirk Doran of Notre Dame has produced research that shows that figure -- over 10 billion a year -- is very likely to be accurate.

Note, Doran's speech is given at an ANTI-pornography conference. If the research is done right, though, that shouldn't matter and to claim, "he has an axe to grind therefore his argument is wrong," is a logical fallacy known as poisoning the well or the genetic fallacy. However, if someone does have an axe to grind, their work may well "find" what they are looking for.

There are reasons both sides have to over and understate pornography's consumption. The pornography industry may want to brag about how big, powerful and mainstream they are, which the other side may wish to downplay. Or the anti-pornography side may note, yes they are that big and that shows just how severe the problem is and that we need to take all the stronger action all the quicker.

On a personal note, which I don't have the interest in arguing at great length, I do NOT see pornography as harmful as the program tries to argue. However, it could cause "trust" problems in heterosexual relationships.

I know of an awful lot of women who do not want their boyfriends or husbands looking at this stuff. And it's not a good idea to piss off your wife. "Hell hath no fury...."

If they don't mind, it's not a problem, as I see it.

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