Sex has been sold since shortly after a caveman worked out that instead of being left to rot, excess brontosaurus meat could be traded for pussy. Whatever your moral stance, trying to eliminate people’s desire to buy what they want, or sell what they have to get what they need, is impossible. Like drug use, prostitution isn’t something we can eliminate. We just have a choice to make regarding how we deal with it.
As people break stupid laws that tilt at human nature prostitution should be legal everywhere. The victims of prostitution only exist because the trade’s semi-legal status and traffiking women, the closest the west gets to slavery, would be impossible if brothels were inspected by the police, customers could use them legally and pimps were denied their traditional ‘keep you out or bail you out’ purpose.
Would prostitutes still be vulnerable to abuse, addiction and bad luck? Of course, but 90% of the nastiness they now endure could be solved with a combination of calls to the local cop-shop, swift kicks to the hacky-sack and pepper spray. Nutters will always prey on vulnerable people and prostitutes working outside the protection of the law are more vulnerable than they need to be.
Now you know where I stand – go prostitutes! – let’s talk about porn performers who hook on the side, an old issue that has come to my attention following the revelation that one of the most notorious performer focused escort agencies is back in business and has signed up a raft of new recruits – a couple of whom I know personally.
Porn performers traditionally do everything in their power to draw a line between what they do, which is have sex with people for money, and what prostitutes do, have sex with people for money, but honestly assessed the jobs are pretty similar.
Porn performers work to please an audience while prostitutes are only concerned with making the person they’re banging feel better. Physically prostitutes have as much choice over who they see as most performers, and in terms of what they’re do for money, you’d have a hard time finding a hooker who’s been expected to perform a DV, DP, A2M or other dubiously sane acronym since the fall of Rome.
The clearest difference is one of attitude. Performers want to be famous, I get a press release every day from Tera Patrick informing me of such vital information as her choice of shoes, favorite diet soda and what she thought of last night’s CSI. Prostitutes value discretion, like strippers who live across town and won’t let you take their photo, working-girls are often paying for children, education or boyfriends recording dire ska-folk demos and don’t want there to be any permanent record of what they see as an embarrassing, necessary, phase.
Some porn fans seem SHOCKED! HORRIFIED! that women who sell sex in public would do so in private too. I don’t get it? My life may be a catalog of moral turpitude and depravity, but as I’ve only ever had one sexual partner who wasn’t considerably filthier than me I doubt it. As far as I’m concerned there’s nothing wrong with sex for pleasure, sex without love or sex that’s been bought for cash, comfort, food or favor. It’s what most of us have a lot of the time. People have been public about paying Jenna Jameson for sex before she was quite the star she is today, and contrary to the standard ‘they stole my photo’ defense – I can tell you that this agency didn’t and that I believe every woman listed there is available for home delivery.
Should we care about porn stars who perform off camera or chide those who don’t as hypocrites? Is the line between prostitution and pornography insincerely drawn and if not – anyone care to explain why one’s okay and the other taboo?
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It seems a sensible choice from the performers point of view. Most of them can’t afford to be too picky about who they work with anyway, and as as you say they don’t need to do the more risky or unpleasant things with escort clients (I would hope). If a john tries to strangle a prostitute, she would be likely to call the police (at least if the actual prostitution isn’t illegal in her area), but on a porn set nowadays that seems to be considered a normal part of sex.
Now I’m not sure about this, but I’ve got a hunch that for these women with a bit of fame and glamourous looks, a few hours in private could earn them as much or more than on a porn set. Does that sound likely?
I don’t see it so much as a case of “one’s taboo and the other isn’t” as much as a case of “one’s legal and the other isn’t.” Especially with Gonzales on the warpath I can very easily understand why many performers would take excessive steps to ensure that a line is drawn, at least in terms of perception.
I don’t personally care what they do off camera or who they do it with or to, as long as all parties are consenting. And I’d be ever so willing to bet that if prostitution were legal and sanctioned, no one else would care either. That said, my ex the porn star got blackballed after she did a month long stint at the bunny ranch and, ironically, has now taken up escorting because she’s run out of legal options short of relocating to Nevada. Not because her directors disapproved of what she did, but because they were terrified of being associated in the eyes of prosecutors as pandering prostitution (never mind that the prostitution in question was performed legally).
As long as prostitution remains illegal, the question of whether it should be taboo for porn performs to hook will be academic.
Jeff – They can earn way more off-set than on. How about $25,000 for a weekend.
Rich – Good points all. I think the questions are linked though. If it’s illegal to hook – how does porn differ (using the old, if I point a camer at a hooker am I making a movie?) As for porn’s legality, it’s only ever been in California…
I’m interested in what Rich brought up. Do big producers blacklist stars they know are moonlighting? There’s that documentary “The Girl Next Door” about Stacy Valentine where she pretty much admits to prostitution. She was pretty a-list at the time, but since it was for some feaux royalty for some rediculous amount of money, did it make her any less wanted by producers?
PS, if you like Stacy Valentine at all, I cannot reccommend the aformentioned documentary. Porn stars are far, far better off when left to fantasy.
Edco – According to my ex the porn star, the answer is a fairly resounding yes. Vivid will cancel contracts, World Modeling won’t rep you anymore, and if you’re anyone less noteworthy or powerful than Jenna Jameson you’re basicly screwed if your goal is to build a career around appearing in videos.
Granted that my ex never really made it big time – she was an extra on a couple Vivid sets but mostly made 2nd rate movies for 5th rate companies. So I can’t imagine the money she was making in porn was anything approaching what she makes as an escort. But i never really asked her about the financial details, so I can’t speak with authority here.
Sam – I’ve always found the distinction to be pretty academic. The court argument that I’ve heard is that porn production is legal (at least in California) because it is designed to produce a product which is then resold, and adheres to union regulations and whatnot. So short answer is, no, if I hire a hooker and film our session, it’s not porn. The litmus test is whether the woman was hired specifically for the purposes of the customer’s sexual gratification; if the production company is calling the shots, it’s caught on film, and the only one actually climaxing is the onscreen talent, there’s a very clear case to be made that sexual gratification in and of itself was not the purpose of the transaction.
Should there even be a distinction? I don’t think so. But as long as there is, and as long as porn production is under assault, it’s in everyone’s best interest to make that line as bright as possible.
As for California – as I understand it, California is the only law with statutes on the books that make producing it legal, but there are only a couple of states where producing it is also established, via statue or case law, to be illegal. It simply remains untested in other jurisdictions.
…but i wouldn’t want to be the test case. especially in the next 12ish months.
Rich – that’s the point. Outside California I can’t even recall any cases where it’s been tested – hence the industry’s residence in San Fernando. Are there others you can remind me of (cos I’m lazy…)
Sam – there’s a fair amount being produced in NYC – your pal Joanna Angel would know more about that than I. Dunno that it’s been tested in court at all, but the fact that it hasn’t probably means that no one in the NYC DA office thinks they’d have a winnable case…
Very interesting…
Two things I’d like to know:
a) what about countries where prostitution is legalized & controlled (Germany, Holland…)? Do we have any stats that add to this position?
b) I’ve seen porn stars go somewhere between because it’s easier to accept… Get paid to do an amateur vid. Say you’re filthy rich, enough to pay the girl to have sex while a buddy films, or the camera’s on automatic. You don’t plan on distributing the film. Is this prostitution or acting?
Thanks, Sam, for a sensible discussion of what’s actually what for a change.
Perhaps as a former independent escort, my clientele wasn’t all that attractive but they were generally kind, intelligent, and considerate, and by a strictly hourly comparison, I outearned most porn performers. I had discretion over who I saw, I never engaged in the highly risky and abusive, violent activities portrayed onscreen, and I walked away with my privacy and my future intact (though I can confirm that more clients are attempting the types of things they see in Extreme Associates flicks – proof in my mind that porn absolutely does influence sexual behavior. Thanks a fucking bunch, porn!).
Why this country devotes so much time and energy to vilify a billion dollar industry that will never, ever go away, I’ll never understand. I guess Joan Q. Public prefers to believe what Oprah tells her, which is that the majority of prostitutes are trafficked, underage substance abusers. That there is such an element is true, and it’s a terrible thing, but it’s a small percentage overall. The majority of prostitutes, are just average folks with mortages and families trying to make a living like everyone else. I’d rather have well-enformed and self-respecting prostitutes be the sexual tutors of men than Max Hardcore. Wouldn’t you?