Hard times in porn; Porn industry asking for federal bailout.

Thinkprogress:

Bush’s package did stimulate spending…in the adult pornography industry. The Adult Internet Market Research Company reported that membership rates at many porn sites had grown 20-30 percent since mid-May, and “websites focused on adult or erotic material” saw an “upswing in sales” as Americans received their tax rebates in the mail. Many observers began wondering if porn was recession-proof.

Turns out that even this vice industry — which has weathered many other economic downturns — has gone limp under Bush. Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis and Hustler magazing publisher Larry Flynt have asked Congress for a $5 billion bailout, arguing that their industry is also one of the “nation’s most important businesses“:

[A]ccording to Flynt the recession has acted like a national cold shower. “People are too depressed to be sexually active,” Flynt says, “This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such but they cannot do without sex.”

While not to the degree felt by banks and automakers, the Adult Entertainment industry has been hit by the effects of the economic downturn. DVD sales and rentals have decreased by 22 percent in the past year as viewers turn to the internet for adult entertainment.