Pornography manages to both intrigue and disgust thousands of Americans while continuing to maintain revenue estimated as high as $10 billion annually. It is the perfect marriage of stocks and bondage — with or without the black leather.
Despite popular culture’s tendency to borrow from porn storylines (think Monica and Bill, MTV’s soft-core soap opera “Undressed,” or any “Sex and the City” episode), the subject remains taboo in society, usually relegated to fraternity houses, bachelor parties and dimly lit suburban bedrooms.
With the advent of the Internet, the scope of porn has been inflated — as are most things in the industry — and producers are reaching wider audiences who have an even broader range of perverse appetites. While the market for porn will always remain steady, the health risks involved for its participants are becoming increasingly dangerous. Safety hazards — not the current nonsensical lawsuits championed by Attorney General John Ashcroft fighting general obscenity — need to be addressed by the federal government.
A recent “Frontline” documentary on the pornography industry, “American Porn,” interviewed pornography producer/director Lizzy Borden of Extreme Associates. The crew was conducting the interview on location of her latest porn film; the movie’s storyline had the lead female character kicked and punched, raped by two men, spit on while they slit her throat and left for dead — not very sexy stuff, but the market for this kind of violence is widespread.
Borden told “Frontline” that the actress was a friend and did not know she would actually be hit during the fake rape/murder. She justified the incident by saying it was OK because she was a female director, and her friend trusted her.
An isolated incident? Maybe, but it makes me wonder if the men and women participating in the industry need some form of protection from violence and health hazards, even though they are supposed to be consenting adults.

President George W. Bush and all of his puritanical cronies need to start regulating the industry to protect both actors and producers from physical health hazards. As of fall 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court has heard three cases involving porn; two center on the impact of availability of porn on the Internet. The administration needs to stop wasting time policing obscenity charges and begin devising porn health regulations. It would be doing a service to porn participants, and, in turn, the industry would bring home the bacon.
Sex sells, and the government should get in on the action. The money gleaned from regulation standards and hefty fines for noncompliance could then be funneled into our public school system. The money might be “dirty” in some eyes, but who is to say the corporate support of schools from business super-giants like Apple, Coca-Cola or Pepsi is any less immoral?
Our children are growing up under the influence that corporate America is to thank for new soccer fields, textbooks and extracurricular programs. Our schools are desperate for government allocations — money the government could easily appropriate if it were making money off the porn industry. With the Bush administration hot and bothered to fight the war on terror, initial campaign promises to reform public schools have been put on the back burner.
Our public schools are getting screwed while the government is giving the shaft to the much-needed health and safety standards of the porn industry. By linking the two social problems, porn producers can continue to make their living safely and our kids can reap the benefits of an industry that makes more than all the “performing arts” combined.