Seriously.
I’d like to know.
Because I just don’t get it.
Both involve people being paid to have sex.
So what’s the difference?
Oh yeah, and for the sake of gender parity:
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The short answer is because you can argue that porn has “artistic merit or intent” by virtue of its being photographed or filmed for distribution. You cannot say the same about prostitution.
I think prostitution is an art form in itself, so why not?
@kim
Is the “artistic merit or intent” a legal thing? I wasn’t posing my question facetiously: I genuinely am curious as to how the law distinguishes between the two. I thought maybe it had to do with the fact that only one side gets paid in prostitution, but that made no sense, either….so….if a prostitute were to film the act and sell it, would that actually work as a courtroom defense?
The law in California found that performers hired for pornographic films are not considered prostitutes due to the fact that they’re being paid for the performance and not for any gratification on their parts individually. That’s the simple way of stating it, I think.
In the case of prostitution, the john/jane is paying for his or her gratification.
Porn is easier to tax.
Could also be that the nation’s elite pimps aint havin it.
@Alfredo, yes, it’s a legal thing. Check out California vs. Freeman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_v._Freeman – it makes reference to what Andrew said above. And this case essentially legalized porn in California, which is why the porn industry is here, and not, say, Montana.
It is a matter of saftey and control. Prostitution is legal through esccort services. They just dont want street solicitation.
What we know as “porn” in the modern sense is usually protected by freedom of expression and such. Porn and prostitution have existed since the beginning, but modern porn was done in rebellion against the uptightness of the 1920s-1950s media censorship (because movies technology didn’t exist prior to that, well, maybe photography). This is why the body language of performers in vintage porn from the 60s-70s are more authentic than that of say, Sasha Grey, who gets pounded and gives blowjobs like a Stepford Wife on camera because it has become a cold hard cash strictly business industry. It has lost any “artistic, freedom-of-expression” undertones.
If you are a producer of porn, your rights are more protected than that of a prostitute. People seem to confuse their rights as a consumer of porn with that of a producer of porn. But even as a consumer of porn, you might have freedom of expression protected (who’s to judge you if you like literal tree-fucking?). That’s a misguided Bill O’Reilly argument that consuming porn equates to hiring a prostitute. In that case, all those married women that watch Ryan Gosling take his shirt off in a movie is guilty of prostitution and Gosling is a man-whore.
Prostitution, on the other hand, is frowned upon because it apparently challenges the “institution of marriage”. We can’t be having respectable, married people who promised to be monogamous and faithful to their spouses creating more drama and clogging up the legal system with divorces and stuff. And some dude watching pornography probably creates less explosive emotional response from the wife than him physically sleeping with someone else.
But at a very logical point, I’d say it evolved out of a need to regulate the drama. Helen of Troy creating wars, so men have to find a way to give peace to both sexes, and that’s porn.
Just my rant.
@Eastfiest
Very interesting your response…
As a dear friend said recently… ‘since sex is easier to access, love is more difficult to find’
I want to know where’s Obama going on about gender inequality in the porn industry? Women get paid like 10x what men get paid in the porn industry.
Also, from craigslist castings, it’s disproportionately AF over AM. I want Obama to do something about this inequality.
Lol! crazy MMer You know it is the white male dominated porn producers who control the White Men Asian women fetish porn business. You have to thank a Hung Lo or Keni Styles to break the barriers in the porn business. President Obama has more problems to deal with like jobs and the economy. Otherwise check my video promoting Asian couples.
great job Dman! but it looks like they’re stock images, though?
let’s go create some AF/AM romantic comedies and sell it to yomyomf. lol