XXX Hot N' Horny Nonsense On Stilts!!! XXX

Long-time reader Kedi Holland, who wishes to remain nameless, has solved my legal puzzle with this definitive link. Turns out it's legal to be a porn producer or a porn actress in California SO LONG AS YOU DON'T LIKE YOUR JOB.

Comments

[Jacob T. Levy]

Well, yeah. Another way of putting it is: so long as *the person paying* isn't *one of the people having sex.* When both "actors" are being paid by a producer who is then paid by video-buyers, money hasn't been exchanged for sex, has it? The person offering money isn't getting sex in return. People are being paid to have sex with each other, not with the payer.

Of course, I think both should be legal, but I don't find it hard to analytically distinguish prostitution from pornography-- or even to come up with reasons why one might allow the latter to be legal but not the former.

[jholbo]

Thanks, Jacob. And off we go:

No, I take it it's NOT enough that the producer not be one of the performers. He can't be on the set and enjoy seeing the action, since that would afford him lewd gratification. Also, he'd better stay out of adult video rental places, because if he sees anything he paid for - and likes it ... (wham, bam, thank you, ma'am: felony).

I wasn't saying that this rule isn't workable, mind you. It's merely transparent moral nonsense. And I realize that the law, of its nature, takes some twisty paths, and that Jeremy Bentham was a bit overly-indignant about the whole 'nonsense on stilts' business. But when you have a law that is almost a pure expression of moral disapproval, it's nice if it doesn't issue in moral nonsense.

As to your final point, I never said it was hard to analytically distinguish prostitution and pornography. It's quite easy. I merely pointed out that the latter requires the former for its production. And of course one can come up with reasons why one might allow pornography, not prostutition. Indeed, I take it that my proposal that porn production ought to fall afoul of pandering laws would not have the effect of making porn illegal. You could rent it, watch it. You just couldn't make it. So you would have to rely on the stuff already made, or import it from somewhere where it was legal to make it. (You can eat a ham sandwich in places not zoned for pig farming.)