I think what many people have failed to mention -- or realize -- is that most of the rest of the world thinks of the porn business as seedy and unseemly, run out of the backs of vans and down dark alleys by thugs and criminals. Rarely do we hear on the news how Joe Blow living in suburbia runs porn sites out of his house and buy content of people performing who enjoy what they do.

Instead, most people are exposed to stories Russian women sold off a sex slaves, children whisked away by pedophiles, and girls forced to work on cams. Combine this with the fact that daily our e-mail boxes are jammed with messages sending us porn that we don't want and encouraging us to get longer, harder, stronger erections or blast bigger cumshots, and it's no wonder the world doesn't hold us in very high regard.

When I first told my parents what I do, they said, "Is it legal." And that's the commonly-held view. Another time I was in a corporate web design meeting and the client asked about doing so-and-so, I said I wouldn't recommend it because it was a common trick of porn sites seeking to get high search engine rankings, and if he proceeded down this path he would probably be penalized by the search engines. After the meeting I was raked over the coals by a woman I was working with for even mentioning the world porn. Her viewpoint was ridiculous and irrational, but unfortunately, she's not alone in her thinking.

Because of this narrow-mindedness and flawed perception there are just some things that I will not do in life. I will not work with children, I will not be a Big Brother or a Boy Scout leader, and I would never seek a publicly elected position. Most of the world thinks we're filthy pigs and that's their opinion. However, it's not worth it to me to put myself in harm's way by volunteering or taking on jobs in which my entire life is potentially going to be criticized and scrutinized. I would be a good Big Brother or Boy Scout leader, but I don't need the hassle when the shit hits the fan.

All you need is for one person to get a bee in their bonnet about something and your life becomes a living hell. It's not worth it for me. If there are others willing to take on this advocacy and deal with the consequences, fine. But I'm not.

Trying to convince people that most of us are law-abiding, hard-working, good people would be like trying to convince Hitler that Jews were not impure, vermin who deserved to be eliminated. In both cases you're not dealing with people who are thinking irrationally about a situation. And you can't fight insanity, not when you have governments, police, religious leaders, lawyers, reporters, and a whole bunch of other people convincing the world that we're all evil to the core.

I know that my inaction doesn't help push our cause ahead, perhaps if I were making millions of dollars, I'd feel differently because I'd have the cash to launch in with public awareness campaigns and deal with all of the legal bullshit. But I don't.

I feel badly for someone who wants to do some good in their community, but are prevented from doing so by this narrow-mindedness, but when it comes to porn, I just don't think you're going to change the minds of most people -- even though a good deal of them jack off to it all of the time.


Cheers,
Michael