By Tim Woodman
I admit I’m offended by this term — “ethical porn.” One doesn’t have to say “ethical plumbing” or “ethical food catering” or “ethical book shop” because although each of these business practices has its own code of ethics, they are not viewed as inherently unethical. Somehow the overwhelming public opinion persists that there is something unethical about the production, consumption, or even tangential participation in the adult industry which requires the addition of “ethical” to anyone who wishes to be taken seriously.
The truth is there is no difference between adult entertainment and any other business when it comes to ethical practices. Every kind of business has a specific code of ethics. Not all companies abide by theirs. Those which do not may be considered unethical, whether they produce adult content or pencils or any other widget, product, or service.
There is also an overwhelming public opinion that it is the content of a given piece of erotica that makes it ethical or unethical. The idea persists that certain kinds of erotica are acceptable, and other kinds are not. This is a hypocritical and arrogant lie. Mainstream media can depict rape, murder, racist and sexist violence, incest, arson… all manner of horrors in a merely R-rated movie and somehow that’s perfectly acceptable for public consumption. The moment anything of similar content appears in an adult performance, it is considered obscene. Personally I find this level of oppressive censorship to be far more unethical than any potential subject matter in the actual material could be.
In adult entertainment, ethics applies to how content is created. It applies to how employees are treated. It applies to how customers are treated. It does not apply to the subject matter of the content. One may always make a moral judgement about any given work of art, but there is a crucial difference between morals and ethics.
The ethics of adult entertainment concern fair pay for all performers regardless of gender presentation or race. It includes fair pricing and marketing to the public. It includes safe and responsible conduct on set. The Adult Performer Advocacy Committee has written guidelines that performers and producers agree to abide by on all APAC approved sets:
http://www.apac-usa.com/performer-code-of-conduct
http://www.apac-usa.com/model-bill-of-rights
These are the ethics of adult performance. These are the guidelines that we agree to abide by. This is ethical porn.
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Find Tim Woodman on Twitter at @ProVillain.
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