From the NY Times today.

...

And so it was last month that Mr. Miloscia, a Democrat, decided he might try to “find a new tax source” — pornography.

The response, however, was a turn-off.

“People came down on me like a ton of bricks,” said Mr. Miloscia, who proposed an 18.5 percent sales tax on items like sex toys and adult magazines. “I didn’t quite understand. Apparently porn is right up there with Mom and apple pie.”

Mr. Miloscia’s proposal died at the committee level, but he is far from the only legislator floating unorthodox ideas as more than two-thirds of the states face budget shortfalls.

...

And then further down, it mentions that Nevada is thinking of taxing legal brothels “based on the amount of activities.”

I figured it deserved a mention here.

Jordan .

in the age of the internet, who pays for porn? and that being said, why tax something that'll have increasingly less circulation?

that's setting aside the fact the moral issue of the government having a stake in the exploitation of young adults

I agree with Nefud above on this one.

This study of credit card records at one online porn co.--how do they know from that which customers go to church on Sunday and what their political affiliation is ?

I have never spent one dime on porn in my life.

as long as we're having a porn thread i'm becoming increasingly torn on the issue

i used to be naive enough to think it was fairly victimless, but i've read a few articles explaining how it basically takes people from dire situations, and plies them with drugs and money until they're cool with fucking on camera.  i'm starting to think that the organized porn industry needs to be shut down.

on the other hand i'm preeeeeetty used to being able to see a stranger having sex on demand. :(

If you can't find ways to jack off for free, someone will find a way to sell it to you. And if you're horny enough to pay, that's good for the economy. I say tax the porn, tax the whorehouses. Tax the shit out of these things, just like they do cigarettes and alcohol. You can't legislate health or morality, so why not profit from it?

As far as the prospect of making porn illegal... The drugs that are blamed for getting people to do porn are illegal already. Strippers are pretty much all on the same shit, too, and that's a legal business.

Legislation hasn't stopped drugs, or prostitution, it's just made both dirtier and put more people in jail.

And what about porn actors like Sasha Gray, who couldn't wait til they turned 18 to get into porn, is drug free, filthy rich, and happy as hell. Would Fud deprive girls like her of the American dream?

Like gun control, here is a potential situation where innocent people would be criminalized. Bad, bad idea.

 yeah i'd never advocate making porno illegal i just think it should be limited to homegrown amateur stuff where there's clearly no "victims," or maybe just increased scrutiny to try to curtail the amount of human suffering that goes into pro film (i mean clearly the big names aren't suffering, but if you've ever bought anything off the $10 rack at the local dildo shop, you know the kind of clearly-on-drugs-to-endure-getting asspounded barely 18 and clearly damaged people that end up in the low budget stuff).

i guess most big businesses tend to be grist mills for human beings, and the porno industry isn't different, i just really feel for people who seem to be in over their heads

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

It's all marketing, Fud. Low-budget stuff has a huge audience and high profit margin. Unknowns might get paid a little less, but if they're doing something filthy, it can pay as much.

It's a lot more fair than the mainstream, where B-list actors can work harder and get dirtier than A-listers, yet get paid a fraction. But like, the mainstream, you have to work your way up for that privilege.

One of my employees at the local dildo shop, snaggle-toothed and not too bright, took a week-long vacation to LA. When she came back, in a month we had a dozen films with her in it. Some of them low-budget "amateur", some not. She only had to work for a few hours, they just repackaged the same footage in a bunch of compilations, used different makeup and lighting to get different looks. I watched one that was made to look really seedy, but she was doing a really famous porn actor/producer. They just didn't show his face.

It's like the difference between Naomi Watts as Betty and Diane. Hollywood magic. And it's all legal if a chain sells it, no matter how bad it looks.

(Yes, the business does take advantage of stupid 19-year-old girls, but nothing can stop a teenager from making bad decisions, on or off camera.)

Expanding porn to vice and drugs:

Laws that prohibit human wants are problematical. For example Prohibition. Once alcohol was illegal it gave rise to virulent organized crime, murder and hayhem and loss of tax dollars. The same occurred after the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914. Suddenly housewives in the heartland who used products with narcotics were criminals. Later it happened to marijuana users. And again vast ruthless organized crime syndicates flurished. IMO these prohibitions caused more heartache than the situation before these laws did. The cost of enforcing these laws became massive. New agencies to stop these sales were created along with their costs and again loss of tax revenues and lives. It is probably the same with prostitution. High costs for spotty enforcment, loss of tax revenues, creation of gangs and ruthless pimps.

Now it would be great if no one wanted any of these "vices" and everyone was content without them. But that is not the case. IMO about the same percentages of folks would be users of these outlets with or without prohibitions. Why drive it underground? Problems with these products and services are more medical/psycological questions then law enforcement problems.The cost of drugs skyrockets once they become illegal. Crime flurishes, people are murdered and only the underground profits.

Now, I don't want children, minors availing themselves of these outlets. Minors' brains are still developing. So, not for minors in my scheme.Supplying kids with drugs still a crime. But for adults I would not prohibit them. Adults can buy pure drugs at the drugstore.I admit the danger of children using adults' drugs is there , but that is the case now.
Rehab for those who abuse are indicated, but putting users (and sex customers and workers in jail or prison is contraindicated.) Pimps who coerse minors and others into the trade would still be criminals.

This is not a perfect system, but on the whole I believe murders would end, criminals would have no opportunity to exist in these areas. On balance a better approach than the current situation. Will some people still O D? yes, but at least they would be using clean drugs not tainted black market garbage - the contents and doses would be known probably reducing ODs.

That is a quick and dirty outline.

Kids make mistakes! That's what being a kid is about! Cars are a lot more lethal than sex, yet we allow 16 yr olds to drive.

There are federal regulations on porn:

http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/ceos/citizensguide_porn.html

The Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation is a non-profit that requires all porn participants to get an HIV test every 30 days, too.

That's safer than the local bar or middle school playground, inn't it? I mean, do you see porn stars with genital herpes?

http://www.herpesclinic.com/genitalherpes/genitalherpesstatistics.htm

whoops: "HIV Case Airs Secrets of Porn Industry"

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=3786

just kids making mistakes no big deal: "Some women enter the porn industry for negative reasons. Some of the women have been sexually abused or molested and then is how they deal with that pain. Other women choose the porn industry to pay for drug habits or because they feel they can not make money any other way. "

http://www.realsexedfacts.com/women-and-porn-industry-reasons.html

this is all worth it so society gets jerkoff fodder: "Producing pornography requires that a woman, usually young and badly needing money, often with a history of sexual and physical abuse, should dissociate emotionally from her body and typically take a number of drugs to survive the experience. These drugs will include muscle relaxants, drugs to dull consciousness, painkillers and local anaesthetic."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/the-obscenity-of-porn-xrated-and-exploitive/2007/05/28/1180205157478.html

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

RE the HIV scare: Yes, but they're being tested, and the results were made public for safety. That's the point. There was another scare in 1998, that's why the self-regulation. In non-porn sexual situations, VD is spread by people who don't even know that have it. Killing porn does not kill promiscuous and/or unprotected sex that spreads disease.

RE Quote 2: "Some women enter the porn industry for negative reasons," certainly. It's sad that one person's manifestations of sexually dysfunction behavior are another's entertainment. Maybe the adult entertainment industry should pre-screen their employees with psychiatric evaluations like they do in the military, so Joe Consumers can masturbate in good conscience. By the same logic, strippers should be subject to the same tests. Victims of abuse act out in all sorts of miserable ways. I would argue that it's more humiliating to grind on strangers laps and pretend you like them for tips then to make far more money having no-bullshit intercourse with professionals. In both businesses you get the same drugs & drinking, self-esteem issues, and abusive boyfriends. Then again, you probably know girls who are damaged goods, who will spread their legs for anyone because of daddy issues, and they don't get paid for it.

RE Quote 3: Dissociating with drugs because life is never perfect is the problem of civilized society. Did you know caffeine is a dissociative? What about people who get hammered on weekends and on their lunch hour to numb the pain of having a soul-killing 9-5, and are hooked on psychiatric prescriptions crutches for the emotional scars they can't deal with by themselves? Music is another industry where drug abuse is rampant, for a myriad of reasons. Those who've had perfect childhoods and have never self-medicated are the exception, not the rule.

The problem here seems to be that porn actors (well, just the women, the men are apparently fully cognizant, emotionally stable people *snark*) parade their problems publicly, in a socially unacceptable way. Demonizing pornography is merely the way we scapegoat much larger social problems. I'll say it again: Alcoholism and other legal drug abuse, casual promiscuous sex, and other DEADLY avoidance behaviors, and even the general objectification of women (as the author in the last article complained) are far more insidious in the straight world. At least porn keeps it honest.

p.s. I disagree with the dated opinions on plastic surgery that second wave feminists like that author have. Note she doesn't mention other cosmetic affectations, like dyed hair, braces, or pierced ears. Professional women and housewives have breast implants. It's the most common surgery performed in America. *** Note that she also has a problem with crotch-shaving and enemas, but doesn't say why. Enemas are healthy, and are I say most women don't like to sport fur  underwear, for comfort, hygenic and fashion reasons. So there goes her credibility right there. ***

you know, let's just cut right to the chase:

WARNING THE TEXT BELOW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR EVERY SINGLE THREAD IN THE POLITICS AND CURRENT EVENTS FORUM

me: let's minimize human pain and suffering as much as possible

someone else: no, too much effort, might cost money

me: seriously? i mean i can't think of a better goal for society than trying to help one another

someone else: i dunno personal gain is pretty sweet

me: ugh, welp, your attitude has crushed the effort right out of me *stops posting in that thread*

I'm all for helping people, but targeting the symptoms of social problems is inefficient.  

Don't give up so easily, grasshopper!   How would you regulate the porn industry?