The Economics of "Elder Porn"

Mike Riggs | June 18, 2008

To follow up on my fascination with geriatric coitus, here's a little snippet from a Time article on senior citizen pornography in Japan:

A WHO report released in March found that one in four married couples in Japan had not made love in the previous year, while 38% of couples in their 50s no longer have sex at all....Yet, at the same time, the country has seen a surge in demand for pornography that has turned adult videos into a billion-dollar industry, with "elder porn" one of its fastest-growing genres.

I found it interesting (god and H&R readers forgive me for bringing it here) that the trend towards producing porn with more "mature ladies" is occurring in response to market signals:

A popular young actress can earn up to $100,000 per film, while a mature actress is paid only $2,000. The market for "elder porn" has doubled over the past decade, according to Kadowaki. "In the view of the aging society," he adds, "I think that in the future we will see a steady increase in demand."

I wrote about dementia patients conducting steamy love affairs here. Senior Editor Kerry Howley wrote about a seemingly global lack of libido here.