Porn Vs. Prostitution (someone asked the other day)

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Every time a politician is caught with an expensive prostitute or just with his legs in a wide stance, Explainer readers have asked why laws don't treat pornography and prostitution the same way. Having sex on camera for an adult film generally won't get Jenna Jameson in trouble, but doing it with a john is illegal everywhere except in parts of Nevada. What's the difference between porn and prostitution?

Porn stars are paid to act (really); prostitutes are paid for sex. Performers may engage in sex as part of their roles?they presumably follow a script?but that doesn't count as sex for hire. Sex in the course of creating a movie or a photo is just plain old expression, protected under the First Amendment. (Click here for an excellent review of this distinction by Sherry F. Colb.) Free-speech advocates argue that this ought to hold true for "gonzo" films, in which the person behind the camera also joins in on the action; no significant cases have gone to court, however. Compared with sexually explicit media, though, live sex shows have received less protection. But the Supreme Court in Oregon did overturn two state laws concerning sex shows, on free speech and expression grounds, in 2005.

The porn-or-prostitution issue came up in the 1980s, when California prosecutors argued that an adult film producer named Harold Freeman was guilty of pimping because he had hired five women to perform sex acts for a movie called Caught From Behind II. The state's highest court ruled that anti-pandering, or anti-pimping, laws weren't intended to apply to porn films and that Freeman's acting fees weren't paid "for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification, his own or the actors'." (The sexual gratification of people who watched the movie was irrelevant.) The court also said that even if the actors had engaged in prostitution, applying the anti-pandering laws to skin flicks would impinge on the First Amendment.
Pornography has enjoyed First Amendment protection since the 1950s. In the early 20th century, pornography was considered obscene, yet it was also relatively rare. It wasn't until adult movies became more widespread that authorities paid more attention. In a 1957 Supreme Court case, Roth v. United States, Justice William Brennan not only wrote that obscenity wasn't protected by the First Amendment, but also narrowed the definition of obscenity, effectively legitimizing most pornography.

So, what's obscene pornography? The standards changed with different court cases through the years. The test established by the Roth case asked whether the material as a whole appealed to an average person's prurient interests. A Massachusetts case involving the book John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure resulted in a three-pronged test: A work was obscene if it appealed to prurient interests, offended community standards, and had no social value. Prosecutors realized, however, that everything could be construed to have some social value. Thus the current standard, called the Miller test, now specifically singles out work that lacks any serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Since California v. Freeman, prosecutors in other states have largely avoided challenging the distinction between prostitution and pornography. The legal buffer afforded by that ruling allowed the adult-film industry to proliferate in the Golden State. If a similar decision were handed down in another state, it might attract unwanted business from the porn industry. (The prostitution-vs.-porn question will go to trial this spring in a pending Florida case, however.)

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PENSACOLA, Fla. — Webmaster Clinton Raymond McCowen, aka Ray Guhn, was arrested on Friday along with his partner Kevin Patrick Stevens, and charged with racketeering, engaging in prostitution and the manufacture and sale of obscene material.

McCowen owns and shoots content for CumOnHerFace.com. Stevens was his producer and site programmer.

Both men were released Saturday on bond.

Investigators seized guns, drugs, business records and computers during the arrest, which was aided by the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The arrests culminate a months-long investigation into the operations of McCowen’s company, Global Technologies Inc., doing business as Ray Guhn Productions. McCowen’s website is part of the Cash Titans affiliate program.

Assistant State Attorney Russ Edgar anticipates several more arrests to be made this week. Edgar oversaw the investigation.

State attorneys allege that McCowen’s content was filmed inside four houses in Pensacola, a residence in Pace and at five hotels in Escambia County. Other filming locations included Interstate 10 and Interstate 110, wooded areas, vehicles and other public places, Edgar said.

According to an affidavit, Ray Guhn Productions generated more than $1 million a year in sales to Internet customers and had been operating in Escambia County for five years. McCowen and his associates recruited up to 100 local men and women to participate in group sex scenes, the affidavit says.

“If you had told me in ‘65 or ‘66 we would be investigating this, I would never believe that,” Escambia County Sheriff Ron McNesby told the Pensacola News Journal. “We want people to know that we don’t want this kind of activity in our community.”

As part of the investigation, an undercover officer posed as a model interested in being filmed for McCowen’s website. The officer was told Ray Guhn Productions had been filming in the area for five years and had recruited approximately more than 100 women to appear on its site, according to the affidavit obtained by the Pensacola News Journal. The undercover officer also was told to recruit friends that would be willing to engage in sexual activity on camera.

McNesby said local residents’ complaints prompted the investigation into the web operation.

[Andy Servers4Less]

The difference is porn stars do it just because they LOVE sex. Most don't even get paid

[Big Red Machine]

The difference is Mike Tyson fighting in a Ring ,or Mike Tyson fighting in the street. One is with a contract , one is against the law.

[Big Red Machine]

Originally Posted by Andy Servers4Less

The difference is porn stars do it just because they LOVE sex. Most don't even get paid

If they don't get paid its probably some scumbag Shoebox producer
They all do it for the money