OAKLAND, Calif. – In reading about the “Political As F**k” erotic film festival happening in the Bay Area this week, I found myself drawing connections between what seem like disparate and contrary motions within the broad, splintered entity commonly referred to as the porn...

LONDON – As the U.K. government prepares to roll out an update to the Digital Economy Act, a great deal of commentary is rightfully focused on questions about privacy, the specter of government censorship and the feasibility of age-verification in an online context. Less...

LONDON – One of the few advantages to getting older is when certain exaggerated social concerns cycle back through the op/ed pages of the international media, old farts like me immediately recognize them as recycled and retread, as opposed to new and novel. When it comes to...

WASHINGTON – Back in the 1990s, when I took my first job in adult entertainment, the porn industry was not at all like the entity it has become — and it certainly wasn’t perceived by the public or the media in the same way it is today. Twenty years ago, mainstream media coverage...

DES MOINES, Iowa – If you associate with enough attorneys, professionally or personally, at some point you’re almost certain to hear some version of an old law school saying that goes something like “hard facts make bad law.” Typically, this old saw is trotted out when discussing...

CAMARILLO, Calif. – Of all the many reasons I’m glad I’m not a deeply religious or socially conservative person, the fact I’m largely free from concern over the world’s many corrupting influences ranks right at the top of my list. Since I don’t base my daily decisions and actions...

SAN FRANCISCO – On his Psychology Today blog, journalist Michael Castleman is reevaluating the question “does more porn mean less rape?” The big thudding sound you just heard was my head hitting the desk, because if there’s one thing my brain can’t handle much more...

LOS ANGELES – One of the best things about the internet and other communications technologies associated with it is that just about anyone can produce and publish his or her own content, whether their chosen genre is comedy, politics or porn. On the other hand, one of the worst...

MONTREAL – Perhaps you’ve heard it sung by the Mynabirds, read it in a book by Terry Bisson or maybe heard some version of it in the context of a sports debate on TV: “Numbers don’t lie.” This may be true, but numbers can’t control the way we use them or account for how we might...

WEST HANOVER, Pa. – With the substantial growth of public Wi-Fi availability over the past several years, it’s no surprise the number of people watching porn in public has increased, as well. Whether it’s porn surfers using New York’s public internet kiosks or fast food patrons...