People are sometimes surprised that the porn industry at large is one of the biggest champions of protection of children. When you think about it for a minute, it makes sense. The porn industry is probably more invested than anyone in ensuring underage people do not have access to porn, from both the consumption and production side.
I read a quote from an Internet adult producer who summed things up nicely; he basically said that no one wants kids on their site because they take up bandwidth and they don’t have credit cards. Makes sense.
Additionally, of course, is the media and government scrutiny that inevitably results from any child-involved scandal. The media circus surrounding the Traci Lords story was huge. Lords basically used a fake ID to make porn movies while underage back in the '80s. Adult producers lost a lot of money when her true identity (and age) were revealed—it became a felony to sell or possess any Traci Lords video, so retailers and distributers around the country had to quickly dump a lot of stock. They certainly were not reimbursed.
News of a young actress who may be using a fake ID, Lords-style, is currently rippling through the industry. Understandably, insiders are concerned. I’ll keep an eye on this story and see if anything comes of it.
Meanwhile, on the consumption side, Playboy is launching a parental control initiative which would educate people on how to keep their naughty interests out of the reach of children. Obviously, the motive here is to negate many of the anti-porn crusaders’ arguments and to placate the American public concerned with how easy it has become for children to stumble upon porn. Bad publicity and anti-porn groups are not good for business. This is a smart strategic move for Playboy, and hopefully the good-PR effects will trickle down to smaller producers as well.
Though the motive is not altruism, the fact remains that the best business move for adult producers is to keep kids away from porn. Everyone wins—producers keep profits up, and parents and conservatives are reassured that someone is working to protect children, even if it is an unlikely actor.
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