Years ago, when I had first moved to Paris, I had imagined doing some writing. Well, that did not really materialize, but I kept in mind a certain topic that I was going to write about. That topic was the hypocrisy to make prostitution illegal, but allow the porn industry to flourish.
The other day, however, as I was sitting around pondering on some of the topics I had in mind, I figured I should give this topic a try. Now before I go further, I stress that I am not supporting neither prostitution nor porn. I am just bringing up a point.
Often times, when you bring up this topic, purely legal arguments start by saying that the two activities are actually quite different, because Pornography is selling sexually explicit performances on media support (film, magazine, ...), whereas Prostitution is the exchange of sexual services for money or other forms of payment. This discrepancy is due to the fact that Pornography is seen as a form of expression, while Prostitution is seen as a form of exploitation.
Yes, some people will explain that Pornography is generally considered to be a form of free expression, and as such, it is protected by the right to free speech. Prostitution, on the other hand, is seen as a form of exploitation, and as such, it is illegal in most countries. Prostitution is often associated with human trafficking, exploitation of vulnerable people, and other forms of criminal activity.
Furthermore, with the advent of cheap video making technology, there is a new kind of porn, involving couples who are together, filming their scenes and putting them on amateur sites. This mechanism further reinforces the argument of free speech in favor of Pornography (and creates the conditions for Revenge Porn, which has become a plague). Ok, maybe for this one, but what about the professional porn being produced in San Fernando Valley in California, and in Prague, Czech Republic (just to mention two)? In both of these places, porn industry in flourishing, and Prostitution is illegal.
Don’t worry I am not going into deep socio-philosophical arguments, but I just wonder about three points:
- In both professional porn and prostitution, people are getting paid to have sex, and in both cases, they have to ‘perform’;
- The exploitation does not hold very much any more, for many of the porn actresses are just as exploited (not to mention denigrated in scenes) as the prostitutes are, and many prostitutes, in the West at least, are their own bosses; and finally,
- If a person hires an escort for sex, he/she is acting illegally, but if the same person hires the same escort for the same purpose and films his/her escapade and labels it porn acting trials, and decide not to distribute the film, he/she is acting in a porn film, and is legit!!!
Paris, January 30, 2023
Zeejay