How does prostitution differ from porn casting?

Rohit Khare (rohit@uci.edu)
Mon, 27 Sep 1999 00:13:49 -0700


Dear Slate Explainer:

I was reading a piece in _Los Angeles_ magazine on Babydol, the
purported "new Heidi Fleiss" for the late 90's. -- though she claims
she's just an aspiring singer and part-time "porn casting agent".

She even put up a billboard on the Sunset Strip hailing her "upcoming
album". Now, it happens that exactly across the street, facing the
feet of the now-Impotent Marlboro Man heralding the beginning of the
Strip, is "the porn movie billboard", a rotating paean to the busty
home-video leather goddesses of the month. Why is one business legal
and the other not?

That is to say, why can't I call over a few comely co-eds, write a
contract, and claim I'm fliming a porn movie starring, well, me?
That's a money-for-sex business, too, isn't it? How does a camera and
boom microphone invalidate the pandering statues?

Rohit Khare