[rcoreyus]

I've seen Roman brothel porn - quite nice actually . Haven't see ancient Greek.

I'm happy to believe Stephanie when she says that the LA porn industry isn't abusive. (keeping in mind that this is the internet and "Stephanie" may be a 40 year old man in Estonia......) (I don't think so ).

It would be very interesting to hear from someone who did porn for a while and then left the industry to see if 10 years later they have a different veiwpoint.

[Patti-here]

I doubt Stephanie is a 40 year old man and I'm sure the industry isn't abusive to it's women, lets face it, without women there wouldn't be any porn.

[jen1447]

I think Sonny's point is that the nature of the 'institution' itself is fundamentally abusive, even if its workers are treated well on the surface. Not sure I agree, seems more a philosophical argument than a practical one ....one of those 'in a perfect world' things.

[Patti-here]

If only there was such a thing as a perfect world, a lot of times some of us do things we feel we need to do just to get by and make ends meet, and there's a difference between abusive and exploitation..

The way the questions were phrased here, there's no honest way for me to answer them..

[Sonny]

I'm happy to believe Stephanie when she says that the LA porn industry isn't abusive. (keeping in mind that this is the internet and "Stephanie" may be a 40 year old man in Estonia......) (I don't think so ). It would be very interesting to hear from someone who did porn for a while and then left the industry to see if 10 years later they have a different veiwpoint.

There have been women who did porn and then later came out against it such as Linda Lovelace and Marilyn Chambers...

Because it was abusive and exploitative.

[Sonny]

I doubt Stephanie is a 40 year old man and I'm sure the industry isn't abusive to it's women, lets face it, without women there wouldn't be any porn.

And without women there wouldn't be any prostitution!

But it doesn't logically follow from there that prostitution (which porn is a variant of) isn't abusive.

[Sonny]

I think Sonny's point is that the nature of the 'institution' itself is fundamentally abusive, even if its workers are treated well on the surface.

But I'm not so sure that all the workers are even treated well on the surface....and even if so....so what?

Abusive husbands and boyfriends often times keep up public appearances while beating their wives and girlfriends behind closed doors.

Not sure I agree, seems more a philosophical argument than a practical one ....one of those 'in a perfect world' things.

Hardly.

Just check out this practical critique on dead porn stars: EDIT

And granted just because someone died in a car accident shouldn't be an indictment of any industry except maybe the car industry.

[rcoreyus]

Stephanie is the only person I know (on line or real life) who has been involved in the porn industry, so if I assume she is being honest, she is the only source I can believe. There have been porn actresses (like Lovelace) who claimed abuse. I don't know if its is true (she was trying to sell her book), but it may have been. Maybe the industry has changed? Maybe its still going on and Stephanie hasn't run into that side of the business?

There is also the woman from Duke Univ. who came out recently as being a porn actress and also claims that the industry isn't abusive.

I don't see any reason porn should be abusive. There seem to be enough women who enjoy sex and are happy to be paid to be filmed having sex. It may not always be "fun" but thats true of most jobs. I'm not sure I would have turned down >$1000/night to do a porn shoot when I was in college - is it really worse than flipping burgers for a couple of weeks?

[Patti-here]

And without women there wouldn't be any prostitution!

But it doesn't logically follow from there that prostitution (which porn is a variant of) isn't abusive.

Well I agree with you on that point, but I don't see how prostitution is a variant of porn, unless you mean the women involved are just in it for the money ?

[rcoreyus]

I can see how prostitution and porn can be considered similar: in both cases people are having sex for money. The real difference is that in porn the other person is being paid as well. I think that in practice prostitutes are probably treated a lot worse than porn performers, but that probably isn't always true. Also prostitution doesn't have a lot of the safety protections of the porn industry. I think some high priced call girls are treated OK and get to choose their clients. They are still probably at risk for disease.