Because, just admit it. You’re at least a little bit curious.
Ah, porn. Giving you something to do while stuck working at home since… well before 2020- but with COVID-19 restrictions and quarantine rules firmly in place, internet porn seems more relevant a subject now than ever. But you might be interested to know that, despite sites like PornDoe saying they’re seeing more interest in free porn videos than ever before, this isn’t technically the “Golden Age” of internet porn. Heck, it’s not even the golden age of any porn. Except for maybe coronavirus porn.
Pornography and erotica have been a part of our societies since before we actually started tracking societies. With some anthropologists believing that erotica is almost synonymous with the advent of human life. But what did get us here today? And if it’s merely a perverted Renaissance, when were the golden days of internet porn?
A Brief Prehistoric History
Pornography and erotic imagery have been around pretty much as long as man has. From thick cave painted goddesses, to curvaceous busts of busts, to plain old giant phalluses. Sending nudes and not-so-elegantly sliding into DMs aren’t relegated to the age of technology. In fact, ancient clay tablets have been found with some pretty racy written imagery. So to assume that the proliferation of porn is a thing only the internet can provide is laughable at best.
However, it is probably important to note that pornography has been one of the technologies biggest drivers. People learned to read, just so they could get into some erotic sonnets. One of the oldest books known to print is dedicated to a collection of sex positions. One of the first commercial films was essentially 20 seconds of a couple snogging. We probably wouldn’t even have credit cards if it weren’t for porn. Throughout every known technological advance, porn has been there, with outrage and shock close on its heels.
So why is it, that even though porn seems to continually drive innovation, that it’s always met with indignation and pious consternation? Have we just not seemed to put two and two together yet? Or is it just a necessary reaction for the cycle to continue working.
A Long Way From Dial-Up
If you’re old enough to remember the 20 minutes of absolute torment that it took to download a photo of your favorite nude celebrity, you’re probably well aware of the fact the free porn has been around pretty much as long as the internet. What you may not know, however, is that as of 2003, there were a staggering 1.3 million pornographic websites and 260 million pages.
In the 90’s it was pretty much agreed that if you had an internet connection and used it regularly, you were there for one thing: and it wasn’t AOL. Porn made up a vast majority of bandwidth use and web page functionality in that decade. Largely because while computers were being snatched up quickly by the common household, the internet was still a mostly barren landscape.
However, even though the internet was teeming with erotica, it wasn’t really until about 2015 that the world saw a massive jump in the adoption and viewing of free porn videos. It might be because we’re all a little bit more comfortable with our sexuality, or- it could be because pop-up blockers exist. Another excellent innovation that can be attributed to the industry.