They gave the banks and car-makers billions, so will US government give sex industry a little financial stimulus?

Published on Thursday 8 January 2009 20:59

THE adult entertainment industry in the United States is demanding its own $5 billion bailout from Congress after watching the nation's banks and car-makers receive government cash to fight the recession.

The porn business needs assistance "just to see us through hard times", according to Joe Francis, the founder of video company Girls Gone Wild, who teamed up with Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler magazine, to send a joint request to Washington DC.

"Congress seems willing to help shore up our nation's most important businesses – we feel we deserve the same consideration," Francis said.

According to Flynt, the economic meltdown has had the same effect as a cold shower on America's libido, with sales of adult DVDs and magazines down 22 per cent in a year.

"People are too depressed to be sexually active," he said. "This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such, but they cannot do without sex.

"With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex is the farthest thing from their mind. It's time for Congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America. The only way they can do this is by supporting the adult industry, and doing it quickly."

However, there are few indications that the porn industry, worth an estimated $13 billion (8.5 billion) a year to the US economy, is having to strip itself down. The number of XXX-rated films being shot has grown steadily to about 5,000 a year since an HIV scare forced a five-week close-down of porn sets in 2004.

A hedge fund that claims to be the world's "first and only investment community designed specifically for the adult industry" also appears to be thriving. Francis Koenig, its founder, said outsiders were clamouring to sink their money into AdultVest, a $110 million fund that promises a return of up to 60 per cent on investments.

One recent blip was the failure of the publishers of Penthouse magazine to find a major bank willing to underwrite a proposed $460 million public share offer, but industry analysts say that was probably due to a reluctance of image-conscious bankers to align with pornography.

Flynt and Francis, meanwhile, say they are determined to press ahead with their demands and plan to visit Washington to make their case in person. Flynt, who is paralysed below the waist after being shot in a 1978 assassination attempt, says he is willing to steer his $80,000 gold-plated wheelchair to the steps of the Capitol building to publicise their campaign.

"I'm dead serious about making Congress look stupid," he said. "Politicians have never handled money wisely since I've been in this world."

Observers, however, say the request for a bailout is a giant publicity stunt. As evidence, they point to its announcement on the same day that the Adult Entertainment Expo, the industry's largest gathering of porn stars, publishers, producers and sex-toy manufacturers, opened in Las Vegas.

But Flynt, whose magazine and video empire has an estimated turnover of $300 million a year, could be beginning to feel the pinch, if a court case in California is any guide.

He is demanding financial compensation from his nephews, Dustin and Jimmy jnr, for using the family name on their own adult media enterprise, claiming in his lawsuit that their films are knock-offs that will damage his reputation.

However, Dustin Flynt told the Los Angeles Times he thought his uncle was dealing with "inferiority issues".

IN NUMBERS

2,020

is spent on pornography worldwide every second

28,258

Number of internet users looking at pornography every second

35-49

Age group most likely to view pornography

39 minutes

Interval at which a new pornographic video is being created in the United States

13,588

Number of hard-core pornographic films released in the US in 2005

12,000

Number of people employed by California's pornography industry