A Review of Preachers Vs. Porn: Exposing Christianity’s War on Sexxx and the Future of Adult Media

Wondering if you should pick up a copy of this recently-released book on the history of porn? This “Preachers Vs. Porn: Exposing Christianity’s War on Sexxx” review will help you decide! “Preachers Vs. Porn: Exposing Christianity’s War on Sexxx” is a curated collection of articles previously published by adult industry journalist, Mark Kernes. The articles range from surface-level news stories, undercover journalism, editorial pieces, and more.

Understanding the War on Sex

The official marketing blurb for this book is: “Preachers vs. Porn is a book about war-specifically the war between Christian religious philosophy and its adherents and the adult entertainment industry that has been targeted by Christian religious leaders and their supportive politicians.” In these pages, author Mark Kernes reports the findings of his investigations into how Christianity has evolved into a political force that specifically targets sex and sexual depictions to advance its political aims.

As Mark Kernes explains in the text, there are many questions addressed within:

  • Want to know how this “homosexuality is bad” thing got started? It’s in there.
  • Want to know why “Fuck you” is an insult even though fucking is fun? It’s in there.
  • Want to know why some people find it necessary to call the days around Halloween “Pornography Awareness Week”—and not in a good way? It’s in there.
  • Want to know why some people get bent out of shape that you can get to watch sexy movies on hotel pay-per-view? It’s in there.

About the Author and Book Format

While he’s now (recently!) retired, Mark Kernes was the Senior Editor and Chief Legal Analyst for the Adult Video News Media Network – one of the largest adult industry news sources. Kernes “stumbled” into the magazine in its infancy as a DVD reviewer, and his participation only grew from there as he spent about 35 years involved as a writer with AVN. His background as a stenographer (before coming to AVN) offers further understanding of the legal system that surrounds most of these industry issues.

Regarding the physical edition, “Preachers Vs. Porn: Exposing Christianity’s War on Sexxx” is not a fast read. It’s 473 pages of non-fiction, analytical journalism, and news stories. The book is also available in hardcover as well as Kindle/e-book. Realistically, the biggest hindrance to reading it in short spurts is simply the book’s weight. This book weighs almost 2 pounds (1.84 pounds, per Amazon). They used pure white, high-quality paper that has a glossy feel on your fingers, which makes the book feel like a higher quality.

The Technological Impact: Porn and Virtual Reality

Beyond the legal battles, there’s one dirty little secret that will help big companies like Google, Microsoft, Facebook-owned Oculus, HTC, and Valve sell VR headsets—porn. According to Piper Jaffray research analyst Travis Jakel, adult entertainment will be the number three driver of all VR content behind movies and games, and the porn VR business will grow into a $1 billion industry by 2020. History repeats itself and we’ve seen adult entertainment drive sales of VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, high definition, mobile, and online video over the years.

VR Content Market Statistics and Forecasts

Based on data from Piper Jaffray and research analyst Travis Jakel, the market for VR content in 2016 is categorized as follows:

  • Games: 5% of VR users spending on average $56.66, accounting for $35 million of the market.
  • Movies: 15% of VR users spending on average $8.19, accounting for $15 million of the market.
  • Adult Content: 3% of VR users spending on average $35, accounting for $13 million of the total market.

“Whenever there’s a shift in content conception, it’s typically adult entertainment that’s the first monetizable app,” Munster says. As adoption begins to reach a critical mass, the market intelligence firm forecasts that the industry’s revenue mix will quickly shift from hardware sales to content. Content sales will represent more than one-third of total VR revenue by 2017, and will quickly grow to nearly two-thirds of all VR revenue by 2020.