The distribution of pornography relies upon the public's easy access and private viewing areas. The same distribution channels which deliver valuable visual material carries pornography.

Nationally
20,000 "adult" bookstores: Most have "peep shows," exhibiting the most violent and bizarre kinds of sex. They are often havens of illicit sexual activity.

Approximately 40,000 video stores. Approximately 75% carry pornographic films.

Over 600 million "adult" videos sold or rented in 1998, accounting for 28.9 percent of video store business.

Cable TV reaches nearly every neighborhood in the nation with films showing explicit sex.

Delivery service by U.S. Mail brings as many as 100 million pornographic magazines into homes and businesses every year. These advertise pornographic materials available by mail. Seventy percent of these magazines end up in the hands of children.

Sex phone services average millions of calls per month. Telephone companies share the profits.

Most alarming is that children are accessing hard-core pornography on the Internet. In 1998, "adult" material made up 69% of all paid-for online content. A recent poll showed that 44% of teenagers had been exposed to Internet porn. Molesters are using on-line services and the Internet to transmit child pornography and to communicate with children.

Washington D.C. Suburbs

• Several "adult" bookstores are operating in Prince George's and Montgomery Counties. New zoning regulations should soon be affecting these businesses. These operations are only allowed at certain distances from schools, residences and places of worship.
  
• Most video stores carry hard-core, X-rated films.
  
• Local cable TV offers pornography, some of it explicit.
  
• Dial-a-porn services are obtainable only upon written request to the telephone company. Long distance (1-900) numbers are still available but may be blocked by the phone company on request.
  
• Most major drug and convenience stores in the area have removed pornographic magazines, but some independent stores and many newsstands, bookstores, and novelty shops carry them, even some gas stations.
  
• Pornography is available in public libraries and schools in both Montgomery and Princes George's Counties via the unfiltered Internet.