What’s the Effing Difference?

All of this talk about what is going on with Charlie Sheen and his ‘sheenanigans’ has sparked a curious question in me. What is the difference between a Porn Star and a Prostitute (Hooker/Escort)? Is there a ‘real’ substantive difference? I submit that there is no real difference; money (or something of value) in exchange for sex is at the core of both activities. Just like taking something that did not belong to you is at the core of both burglary and robbery.  It is inconsequential to me whether the item taken is taken from a person or stolen from a house.

Let’s think about this one for a moment. I read somewhere online recently that prostitution in and of itself is not illegal; solicitation is illegal. So presumably, someone could legally exchange money for sex so long as they don’t get caught making the deal. Ok, I get it; I think.  The damage to society is the process through which money is exchanged for sex, not the actual exchange of money for sex? And by extension, I guess the porn industry does less harm to our society than Joe Suburban trying to get a hand-job for $20 in his pick-up truck.

A Porn actor (I can’t call them all stars because, let’s face it, they’re not) engaged in the same activity as an escort or prostitute, isn’t committing a crime because said porn actor has a production behind them (no pun intended).  On that note, can we really call them actors? I mean, come on. No one watches a porn movie for the plot. I have never met anyone who after watching a porn flick says, “That was a very well made movie; the pizza delivery guy was very convincing; the character development was spot on.”  I submit that porn actors, or at the very least, their management agents, are soliciting money for sex. The production company tells the actor or his/her agent that they will be paid ‘x’ amount of money for sex with ‘y’ number of costars in ‘z’ many positions (I have no idea what goes into a porn contract, but I would sure like to know). A deal is being brokered, is it not? So again I ask, what is the ‘real’ difference?

What is the real difference between a “professional” singer/musician and a subway performer? Both get paid to sing/perform.  The only quasi difference is the production behind the “professional” musician, which is absent from the guy in the subway.   As a matter of fact, some of the performers in the subway have more talent than some of these alleged professionals running around here.

I am not advocating for the legalization of solicitation or the illegalization of porn. Please don’t take what little joy I have away from me.  I am simply asking, “Why is there a difference?” The point of this diatribe is simply to point out the asinine separations we have become comfortable with in our society. When the news of Charlie Sheen’s bender first broke, many well-known media outlets stated that he was with ‘prostitutes’.  Soon thereafter, ‘prostitutes’ became ‘porn star’. My first thought was: “porn star? I’ve never heard of this lady. How much of a ‘star’ can she be?”  I read my friend’s blog about matter. In it, he talks about the difference between crack cocaine and powdered cocaine and then I really began taking apart the elements of the Sheen story.   I understand the legal reasons for the separations/distinctions, but I think that as a society we should stop lying to ourselves. To take a popular statement from the Presidential campaign: “you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig”.