“Bigger than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple, and Netflix combined.”

Browsing The Atlantic Wire this evening I came across the provocative headline Why College Kids Need a Course on Porn.

Tracing back to the source I came across this remarkable claim:

“There are an estimate 370 million Internet porn sites, and industry revenues surpass earnings by Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple, and Netflix combined.”

Now just hold on a minute. I know, it seems like porn is all around us, especially on the internet, but com’on. Bigger than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple, and Netflix combined? Get out a calculator and run a few quick numbers and ask yourself, does that make any sense at all?

I happen to think how sex is depicted is important. I’ve explored it both empirically by making films about sex, and theoretically over at TheIntentToArouse.com.

But I get a little discouraged when these sorts of claims about the hugousity of porn get tossed off unchecked; at The New York Times, at Time Magazine, by Harvard economics professors, and even at my beloved Atlantic Magazine.

And of course it makes you wonder what else they’re getting wrong.

For about the bizillionth time, some real reporting on the size of the industry:

Forbes Article One

Forbes Article Two

You’re welcome.