[lbo-talk] "War on porn" felt at Suicide Girls

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Thu Sep 29 13:20:21 PDT 2005


Chuck0 wrote:


>Doug Henwood wrote:
>
>>I know you're exaggerating for effect, but it's not even close.
>>
>>U.S. government revenues, 2005: $2.2 trillion
>>Wal-Mart revenues, last 12 months: $298 billion
>>porn industry, recent year: well under $10 billion
>>
>>Forbes ran the numbers on porn a few years ago
>><http://www.forbes.com/2001/05/25/0524porn.html>. Quoting the
>>article: "Skepticism is in order, though, because as David Klatell,
>>associate dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism notes,
>>'[Pornography] is an industry where they exaggerate the size of
>>everything.' The fact is pornography, or 'adult entertainment,' is
>>as marginal now as it ever was."
>
>That's Forbes conclusion of 4 years ago, which is ancient history in
>Internet years.

The Forbes estimate was around $4b. Even if it's doubled, it's still well under $10b. Even if it's quadrupled, it's still only about 1/20th of Wal-Mart's sales, or about three weeks' worth.

Doug



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