Before the internet, the available adult media included magazines, videos, books, and Pay Per View television.
There were a few big companies, such as Playboy and Penthouse, and they ran the show.
Playboy is considered 'soft' porn, which means it has nudity without sexual activity. More About Playboy Even though there was such a thing as 'hardcore' porn before the internet, Playboy continued to grow.
Why did we settle for Playboy?
It is easy to see how they became so powerful-simply by being the only adult media readily available to the public.
As you can see in this Columbia University forum question from 1994, the search cost involved in obtaining pornography was so high that millions of people just like Debbie were just too embarrassed to buy it.