I was curious about something--It's been said in a number of posts on this forum that the only states in the United States where it's legal to shoot porn are California and Vermont. That does not, of course, stop porn from being filmed where it isn't legal, and distributed through websites like Clips4Sale or the performer's own site. My question is this--are there units within state and local law enforcement agencies whose job it is to locate, investigate and arrest adult film-makers to prosecute them at the state and local levels? Is this a cause for concern? Because usually when prosecutions against porn-makers get into the news, it's Federal attorneys who bring the charges. And when election time rolls around, it's the Presidential race that draws the most concern from porn fans and professionals, as we mull over which candidate is most likely to leave the adult industry alone. Nowhere have I seen any discussion over which governor or mayor would be better for the adult industry for a particular state or city. I was just wondering how much of a concern this was for adult video-makers outside of California--and for that matter, Vermont. And what, if anything, they can do about such concerns. Thanks in advance for any and all comments and answers. _________________________________________________________
"There can never be too many beautiful women Hypnotized for our pleasure."
My understanding is that California and New Hampshire are the legal to produce states. Vermont is a new one to me. To answer your question, it depends on the state. If someone made porn here in Michigan, the local prosecutor would press charges in a heartbeat -- but it would be fornication charges, not obscenity charges based upon the movie itself like the feds do. Here in Michigan fornication carries a four year prison term.
If you don't break the rules, you'll never have any fun! 717 Posts 10/06
Posted - Sep 8 2009 : 10:37AM
4 years for fornication? I'm no lawyer, but as I understand fornication that's 2 unmarried people having sex. My guess is with that kind of law, you'd have to lock up about 90% of the student body at U of M! There is so much porn that gets done at Holiday Inns off some Interstate exit almost anywhere in the country. That's where a lot of the amateur/semi-pro porn gets done. It's happening every weekend all over the country. I can't imagine how that can be controlled or regulated. I guess if you're big and you're noisy about what you're doing, you will attract the attention of the cops, but otherwise, I can't imagine how that type of porn-making could be controlled.
No doubt that a good deal of porn is made on the down low in many different states. Best to keep it on the down low, while laws regarding fornication may not be rigorously enforced, pandering and prostitution laws could be applied to any porn involving the exchange of money, and could lead to prison time. Federal and state obscenity laws are also likely to be more rigorously enforced outside of California. Law vary from state to state and legal advice ought to be obtained from competent members of the local legal Bar.
I asked that same question a while back and as of then there was no one. I hope a feature company starts shooting there as there are great locations for feature shoots.
Friends - With respect to the fact that it is known that porn production is completely legal in California and New Hampshire, I've often wondered exactly what the deal was, from a legal perspective, in Florida, which seems to have the most visible porn production and distibution apparatus outside of California. There are just too many porn companies, both internet and DVD houses, in Florida, for that to be happening completely in the dark and outside the view of local law enforcement and local politics. BSD
The thing to keep in mind when discussing the legality of porn production is that we're not talking about laws passed by a state legislature, not even in California or New Hampshire. There is no "right to produce porn" protected by statute there or anywhere else. What happened was that a prosecutor in California brought pandering charges against a producer and prostitution charges against a performer, and the prosecutor couldn't make the charges stick. That set a precedent in California: producers can't be charged with pandering, and performers can't be charged with prostitution. But if porn were made in some backwater municipality in California that had anti-fornication laws on the books, there would be nothing hindering a prosecution on those grounds. It's not that porn production is "illegal" by statute in other states. It's just that there's no case law that would prevent a prosecution for pandering/prostitution. The willingness of local authorities to prosecute is a separate issue. I doubt that most local office-holders even have a definite position on this issue. It's probably never come up with any urgency in most cities and towns. Porn production is way less visible to the public than porn retailing, which does meet with a lot of public opposition. I live in a supposedly liberal blue state in the Northeast, and currently public opposition is blocking opening of an inoffensive, clean, up-scale, non-sleazy adult store in a nearby town.
New Hampshire? I guess I got my New England states mixed up. My apologies. Speaking of New England states--I wonder if you could legally make porn in Rhode Island? After all, if prostitution is legal there--or technically, not illegal--then surely it would not be illegal to make porn, eh? __________________________________________________________
"There can never be too many beautiful women Hypnotized for our pleasure."
If you don't break the rules, you'll never have any fun! 717 Posts 10/06
Posted - Sep 8 2009 : 3:31PM
I think you're right in that nothing happens until there's a reason for it to do so. So if some angry citizens complain about a porn producer, or adult video store or strip club, then the DA is obligated to at least investigate. I'm not sure what "blue" state you are in, but most of those northeastern "blue" states have some pretty small-minded communities that will cause trouble over anything that doesn't smack of the 1950's.
What's the fun of getting old if you can't be dirty? 141 Posts 4/06
Posted - Sep 8 2009 : 4:49PM
I think you might be missing an important point; next year is an election year, and the republicans are going to be doing everything they can to fire up their base of "core values Christian conservatives," (whatever the hell that means) including urging every conservative DA in every conservative area to grab the "sin headlines." Well, Bill McCollum (Florida's DA) is slightly to the right of Mussolini, politically, and if you think the powers-that-be in Florida are unaware that the land of Anita Bryant, Disneyworld and people who still think Fidel Castro is Satan incarnate is slowly becoming porn's second Valley, you're fooling yourself. Here's the thing about Los Angeles County, specifically: as mentioned in a previous post, you cannot be prosecuted for pandering/prostitution/solicitation here for shooting adult. I can't speak to Vermont or New Hampshire (first I've heard of either), but that's the reason porn picked up and moved here from New York and San Francisco in the early 80s. Suddenly, and for the first time, it was implicitly -- if not explicitly -- legal! Charlie Crist is running for senate in 2010, and I guarantee you he's going to want to go it in a blaze of righteous fury and big headlines. I honestly believe that the companies who think Florida is a safe, cheap alternative to Porn valley are going to get a really rude awakening in the near future. As in wet willy rude. And I shudder to think about the poor directors and performers who are gonna get busted, only to wake up in a cell and find the web company that loved 'em so much when they were cranking out scenes suddenly not answering that collect call.
^ I agree that shooting porn in Florida might be legally risky. But it would also be risky for the authorities to bring pandering/prostitution charges against producers/performers in Florida. If they were to do this, they would run the risk of losing the case and having a porn-friendly precedent like the one in California. This would make Florida even more appealing to producers, and the "core values Christian conservatives" would have shot themselves in the foot. Prosecutions for obscenity are less risky for authorities: even if they lose, they can just go venue shopping the next time around in search of less tolerant "community standards."
You are absolutely right! My brother's then girlfriend (they are now married) and sister both had kids out of wedlock -- my brother went to Muskegon where they don't enforce it to have the baby and my sister married quick before the authorities could find out!
I live in New Hampshire and I can recall a story about a small production company that was pretty open about filming porn. They were interviewed and had no qualms about admitting it saying that there's nothing making illegal. It seems that they also interviewed some state and local authorities who shrugged it off saying that as long as it was causing a "Public nuisance" it was not a government issue. I believe that there was some pressure from some of the people in the neighborhood but I don't recall the effect it had.
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realtip Deactivated User
2301 Posts 6/04
Posted - Sep 9 2009 : 6:38PM
I don't mean to make light of anything. But did this all happen within the last 50 years?
If you don't break the rules, you'll never have any fun! 717 Posts 10/06
Posted - Sep 9 2009 : 7:42PM
Without knowing..Of course it did. Many people don't realize that it's still illegal in areas of the deep south like Alabama & Mississippi for a woman to buy a dildo! If I'm not mistaken it's still illegal to have anal sex in Georgia even if the 2 people are married. There are lots of goofy victorian-style laws that are still on the books in many states. Usually it's the deep south that tries to enforce them. Edited by - mindee on 9/9/2009 7:43:29 PM
Well I'm glad you spoke on a lot of this Eli. I do worry that those that film in places like Florida are becoming too comfortable. I do know that those who fought for California's new status and New York's gone status, have the scars to show for it. I just worry that those who may be pushing the envelope repeatedly, may not be ready for a tough fight that may not be exactly fair or righteous.
It happened less than five years ago. I know, it is sort of backwards, but that is Michigan for you! The larger counties tend to not enforce the law, so if you go and have the baby in Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Detroit, etc. you are likely OK -- but in the small backwater town I live in, having a baby out of wedlock could be trouble, especially if the prosecutor is having a bad day when the hospital files its report. Yes, people have sex outside of marriage here (we have lots of male-female "roommate" arrangements) -- they just don't advertise it!
The Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to have a law prohibiting anal sex between married people. Same with blow jobs. Now that you know, have at it! Now only if they could strike down Michigan's fornication law . . . !
If you don't break the rules, you'll never have any fun! 717 Posts 10/06
Posted - Sep 10 2009 : 12:22PM
Well since I don't live in the deep south..I've been doing it for some time. However, I don't think that if I was in Georgia and was getting my backdoor banged that I'd be worrying about the GBI busting into my hotel room! But the fact that so many of those old laws are still on the books to be brought out & dusted off once in awhile is a little scary.
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realtip Deactivated User
2301 Posts 6/04
Posted - Sep 10 2009 : 5:41PM
^As you previously pointed out, there are so many goofy archaic laws still in existence. If legislatures spent time trying to repeal all of them, then they'd have no time for anything else. The only time it becomes an issue is when someone tries to enforce one of these goofy archaic laws, which rarely ever happens. I don't recall which company it is right now, but there is a company (I think maybe an insurance company) that runs ads on the radio pointing out random crazy laws that still exist. One I remember hearing is that one state has a law prohibiting anyone from crossing the state line with a chicken on his head. I also remember reading a book that mentioned how one state still has a law prohibiting men from beating their wives on Sundays, which I guess means that it's OK to do it all the rest of the week. Since there are obviously so many of these laws still around, we've just learned to ignore them until they become a problem. If, in the 21st-century, the state of Michigan actually tried to throw someone in jail for fornication, then there would be a move to overturn the law in no time. Until then, it's probably better to just leave it alone until the legislature has nothing better to do.Wouldn't that make it pretty difficult to make a porno there?
I would think so, they may have repealed this law over time, it's been a long time since the threat by the cops. Edited by - Flash on 9/11/2009 1:28:25 AM
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realtip Deactivated User
2301 Posts 6/04
Posted - Sep 11 2009 : 2:26AM
Well, I read on the Internet that Florida also has a state law banning oral sex, as well as sex in any position other than missionary. But that doesn't seem to stop their porn industry from thriving. Although, come to think of it, I would like to see them start enforcing the missionary law in porn, just for a short time. It really bugs me that it's the only position we never get to see in porn anymore.
I can say it is not repealed, unfortunately. My brother actually received a letter from the prosecutor when he had his first kid regarding this law in 1994. He was not charged because he was a minor at the time (all minor births are reported by law). I don't know what happened to his then girlfriend regarding this birth, but she didn't go to prison so I would bet it wasn't prosecuted for the same reason.
There are several states with this law, actually. The Supreme Court struck them down, so that means they cannot be enforced (sodomy, cunnilingus and fellatio bans were all struck down). I think fornication will be struck down at some point, but first a prosecutor has to charge someone as the Supreme court does not issue advisory opinions. As I prefer not being charged in the first place, I don't advertise when I am having sex so they don't come looking and keep the shades drawn when I do!
Petite Tanned Bosslady Enjoys A Hard Working Cock - review by Captain Jack
Posted - Sep 8 2009 : 5:18AM
