In defense of porn

Paul Little, or Max Hardcore as many of you may know him, isn't exactly your average 53 year old. He has starred in hundreds of pornographic films and directed countless others, according to Internet Movie Database. He turned his company, Max World Entertainment, into an empire. Adult Video News named him the 28th best porn star of all time. He is also in prison, serving 46 months in federal prison for obscenity charges.

According to the Justice Department's guide to federal obscenity laws, "it is a crime to use the mail to send or receive obscene materials…or to transport obscene materials across state lines for sale or distribution, including by computer. " Obscene is defined by a three-prong approach, requiring the material to be arousing, offensive by adult standards and lacking of any political or artistic value.

The Tampa Tribune reports Little's movies "featured scenes of vomiting and urination, showing women being forced to ingest various bodily fluids." Of course, like all movies, the women were actors and spoke in Little's defense at court. Ultimately, however, the jury came out against him.

The United States isn't the only country cracking down on pornography. In Australia it is illegal to sell or show any videos which "depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex…in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality." The number of videos in this category appears to be growing.

Two Australian senators recently proposed prohibiting small breasts in porn, claiming it led to pedophilia, according to UK's The Register. The Australian Sex Party has also claimed videos depicting female ejaculation have been confiscated by Customs officials.
Things aren't much better in Europe, either. A 2008 law enacted in Germany prohibits distribution of videos showing "adult actors who show a youthful appearance."

As with all attacks on free speech, proponents use buzz words designed to elicit fear. For you Family Guy fans, it's the equivalent of using "9/11," "Hitler" and "the Legion of Doom" to get a polluted lake cleaned. Attacks on porn are tough to pass, but when you do it for the children, it becomes much easier.

Many groups claim pornography leads to real problems like rape and pedophilia. The truth is the evidence isn't there. Northwestern Law Professor Anthony D'Amato recently did a correlation study and found incidents of rape actually decreased as access to porn increased. Another study by a Clemson professor found that a 10 percent increase in internet access decreased the occurrence of rape by 7.3 percent. Keep in mind that four of the top 100 most visited sites online are porn, according to Alexa.

Now, I realize correlation doesn't equal causation. The latter study could just as easily imply that people spend their time playing World of Warcraft instead of committing crimes. That said, no evidence has suggested that porn does lead to rape. The President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, commissioned by President Johnson, came to the same conclusion.

Next is the charge of pedophilia. It's important to remember this is not an issue of child porn. Laws against child porn are designed to prevent the exploitation of children and for that reason alone, they are valid. These laws are attempting to ban legal adults who look young. Pedophilia is a disease, it's not something someone picks up from seeing a girl pretending to be 17. If anything, these "Barely Legal" videos keep people in front of their computers and not hanging out at a high school. I count that as a win.
The bigger issue in all of this is what it says about free speech. "Obscenity" has no place is our criminal code. What is offensive, lewd or crude to you may not be for me. We are not discussing public showings or anything of a public nature. We are talking about legal adults legally buying and selling videos for private consumption. This is the definition of a victimless crime.
I'm not asking anyone to approve of distasteful porn. I'm asking you to tolerate it. The things listed on Max Hardcore's videos couldn't be described in a newspaper and I find them just as creepy and disgusting as you – luckily we're not the ones being subjected to them. If an 18-year-old wants to wear pigtails and braces while doing porn, fine. Protecting children and protecting free expression are not mutually exclusive.