How come it's illegal to pay someone for sex, but it's legal to pay someone for sex on camera?

[Lethe]

it kind of boggles my mind....

"hey buddy, paying for sex is illegal unless you videotape it and mass produce said act for cash money."

so if you solicit a sex worker can you just bring a camera along and claim you were about to take some pictures or video and upload it to your website?

[quakerboy]

1. I have wondered the same thing

It dosn't seem to make sense. Either way, people are getting paid for sex, it would seem.

[old mark]

2. I have no idea - obviously some politicians somewhere are making money

off it and want to keep the status quo.

mark

[BigBearJohn]

3. That's funny. I often wondered the same thing.

[flvegan]

4. State laws vary.

In some states, prostitution is legal but not in all states. In some states the making of porn is legal but not in all states.

[jobycom]

5. It is sort of illegal in every state but California.

It used to be illegal to film porn everywhere for that reason, but the California Supreme Court ruled in 88 (I looked it up, I didn't have that memorized) that pandering and prostitution laws couldn't be used to forbid "erotic entertainment." No other state has had such a ruling, so technically it is illegal or could be illegal in every other state because of pandering laws. It is still done, but supposedly illegally.

I used to work in a hotel with a bunch of cops, in Texas, and the subject of prostitution came up a lot because escorts were constantly in the hotel. The cops said it's very difficult to bust prostitutes unless they are on the streets, because they usually claim they aren't being paid for sex, they are only being paid for companionship, and the sex is just sort of an optional result of that companionship--a decision between two consenting adults. It's hard and not usually worth it for the legal system to go after escorts, unless a service is blatantly advertising. Or as was the case in Houston a few times, where massage parlors or escorts or "retreats" were so blatantly brothels and were so blatantly in public view--there was one retreat that had about 20 locations in strip malls, for instance--that the local citizens pushed for something to be done.

So if they can't even effectively stop prostitution in strip mall store fronts, you can imagine they aren't going to worry about someone filming a porn flick in a hotel room with a videocam. On the other hand, if it got blatant, they might try, and then the courts would have to work it out.

[LostInAnomie]

6. Well, it's not quite as easy as that.

In order to legally make porno (with paid actors), you are only allowed to film it in certain areas of the country. There are strict guidelines that the performers have to follow (tested for STDs, over 18, can't perform certain acts, etc.). And, usually the person paying for the performance isn't the actual participant.

Internet performers play a little hard and fast with the rules though.

[rug]

7. First Amendment.

When it moves from a private act to a recorded act for distribution prosecutors are in a thicket of first amendment case law.

[conscious evolution]

8. Here is another wtf

It is legal to have sex with a seventeen year old but it is illegal to show her a porno movie.

[rug]

9. And to take photos while having sex.