Porn Perspectives

I love how seductive the pornography is to even the most unlikely bedfellows. I recently learned that Christian dating site BigChurch.com is owned by Penthouse Media Group (full article here). (I'll do my best to avoid jokes about the site helping Christians come together...)

I love learning about the secret financial dealings of supposedly conservative groups--it feels like such sweet victory for people like me who understand the legitimate economic contribution of porn. Yet the hypocrisy still manages to surprise me. Conservative groups just love wagging their finger at the porn industry but even its most outspoken critics can't resist the lure of porn money. Here are some other classic two-faced companies:

• Time Warner and AT&T find it highly profitable to offer porn through their cable networks, yet interestingly, AT&T doesn't separate its porn revenue in its income statements--it's lumped in with pay-per-view wrestling and the like
• The Marriott hotel chain, owned by Mormons, offers porn in its hotel rooms
• General Motors sells more graphic sex films each year than does Larry Flynt (as of 2000)

Corporations aren't the only greedy ones--a 2005 CREW report details how "15 Members of Congress, including 11 Representatives and four Senators, all of whom revile pornography, have accepted campaign contributions from corporations and executives who derive substantial profits from selling pornography." Check out the report here.

Frankly, I'm all for everyone dipping a toe or more into the porn industry. But it's probably best to avoid trash-talking it on the side...you just end up looking ridiculous.

Florida is positioned to become the next porn mecca, creating an East Coast rival to the San Fernando Valley. While Florida has produced some important pleasing media images (more cheesecake, Blanche?), it will be great to see what kind of images arise from an industry located a continent away from the porn mothership and filled with new entrants.

Florida's ability to enter the industry, however, hinges on a case brought against Ray Gunn Productions, which alleges that sex on camera is akin to prostitution. (As the Elliot Spitzer scandal reminded us, there is a thin line between paying for sex and paying for sex on camera.)The 1989 California Supreme Court case California vs. Freeman ruled that pornography was not the same as prostitution--the distinction cited is that porn performers are paid for acting, not for providing sexual gratification--which is why we see so many porn companies located in the state. The Gunn case, set for trial in June, will determine Florida's stance on the same issue.

Many Floridians aren't waiting, however. The state's permissive culture, proliferation of strip clubs, and population of young people eager to make money has generated a sort of underground porn industry. A St. Petersburg attorney named Brandon Kolb has started offering "Porn Camp" seminars ($4,000 for a weekend), which teaches people how to make a porn movie. Enterprising, eh?