LONDON – Venerable financial publication The Economist has determined the price of commercial sex, including internet porn, has plummeted … and Economist analysts believe they know why.
An Economist survey of nearly 200,000 women’s profiles on sex-worker websites in 84 cities across 12 countries turned up a distressing fact, at least for the adult industry: Between 2006 and 2014, the average price for one hour of bliss with a working girl dropped by $100, or about 30 percent.
Part of the decline can be blamed on the global financial meltdown of 2007-2008, The Economist concedes. The majority, though, is indisputably attributable to changes in social attitudes and behaviors brought about by the widespread, easy availability of online smut.
Here’s why:
According to The Economist, a number of variables — including the woman’s looks and personality, her geographical location and the services she provides — influence the cost of sex with a prostitute. Regardless in which country they ply their trade, women who come closest to the stereotypical notion of Western beauty (slim yet buxom with long, blonde hair) and those who provide specialized services (multiple partners at once, BDSM, etc.) are the most in demand; therefore, they command the highest hourly rates. The global financial crisis encouraged unemployed women to enter the sex business, and the law of supply and demand kicked in: More product on the market, combined with less disposable income among consumers, meant all but a few service providers had to lower their prices in order to compete.
Basic economics tell only a small part of the story, though. Even after the worst of the financial crisis passed, prices remained low — and in some cases, fell even more. What happened, according to The Economist, amounted to an economic perfect storm: At the same time reduction in spending forced a decline in prices, changes in social attitudes precipitated by internet porn allowed consumers to discover cheaper, and often easier, ways to satisfy their carnal cravings. Between a shift in society’s notions about appropriate real-world sexual behavior and simultaneous, explosive growth in the explicit webcam and casual dating sectors, men — and to a certain extent, women — were able to find sex when, where and how they wanted it at a price that didn’t mangle their wallets.
As consumers embraced interactive online sex and web-based casual dating in increasing numbers, the adult entertainment industry turned to those sectors seeking a remedy for flaccid revenues in other areas. As a result, content producers and distributors saturated the market with websites seeking a piece of the dating and webcam action. Supply and demand struck again, leeching additional market share from already hyper-competitive content producers and speeding a downward spiral for which solutions have been elusive.
In other words, the adult entertainment industry cooked its own golden goose.
