Sex sells fast and it is no more a secret. Across the globe porn CDs and DVDs flood the open and grey markets depending on whether viewing pornography is legal or illegal in a country.
 
The Internet is flooded with porn sites like never before.  Consider some of the following facts from last year’s surveys and the numbers are definitely on the rise with recession keeping more people tense and looking for a vent.

• Sex is the most searched word in the Internet
• 266 new porn sites appear on the Net everyday
• 70% of Internet porn traffic happens during the 9-5 workdays
• There are an estimated 372 million web pages of adult sex viewing pages
• 35% of all Internet downloads are porn stuff

Many studies are conducted on the connection between porn and crime. There are those who contend that viewing Internet porn has reduced sexual crimes in developed countries. The US dept of Justice statistics confirm that sexual assault has dramatically fallen in the US since the beginning of the 1970s. Northwestern Law Professor Antony D’Amato’s essay “Porn Up, Rape Down” cited FBI stats of 85% decline in rape since 1970 and attributed it to freely available pornographic material in the country. (The essay was however, slammed by the likes of Dr. Judith Reisman, President of the Institute of Media Education, on the grounds that the FBI stats were the result of “cooking the books” and cover-ups to show a lower crime rate!)
 
Concurrently there are people who observe that in developing countries porn viewing affects a segment of the population that is uneducated and sexually frustrated.  It fast tracks them on to a sexual crime spree targeting the most vulnerable—women and children. There is also a danger of Internet pornography abetting sex at its worst—incest, sadism and bestiality.

For further reading in Medindia:

Sexual Deviance