I agree with Ken that, when you're talking about consenting adults, two people who meet each other and are attracted can, of course, decide to have a quickie/start a relationship/whatever.

My issue is when that decision occurs in a situation where there's an imbalance of power. That's the underlying reason why sex between someone under 18 and someone over 18 is generally illegal. It's the same between an therapist or physician and patient. And while not illegal per se, it's the same imbalance of power between an employer and employee that has given rise to laws protecting employees in the workplace from sexual harassment.

Especially when a studio is working with younger models, (ethical) owners or employees of the studio ought to know that regardless of how it's approached, a model may feel some sort of obligation to "go along" with a request for sex. If the model is doing the shoot for the money and really needs it, he may well feel that if he says no, he won't get the job, or won't get any future work or whatever. And even if he's disinclined to do it, because of the imbalance of power, if the studio owner says or implies that "this is the way it works in the business", the model may not know any different and, as many have stated here, simply believe it because of what they've seen in videos or from other perceptions they have.

I agree with Ken that the majority of companies in the industry as a whole may be more informal and unstructured than our counterparts in other industries. I also agree that selling sexually explicit materials is, by nature, intended to support the "loosening up" of sometimes prudish attitudes that a majority of people might have about sex and sexual situations. But there can still be professionalism in all circumstances, and there should (in my opinion) be respect and courtesy toward models in all circumstances.

We hired a new employee recently, a video editor. We didn't even know he was gay until after he started working for us. We explained during the interview process that it would probably be a little bit shocking for someone unfamiliar with porn and the porn business, because we'd be talking in detail about cum shots, asshole closeups, erections, etc., and I also mentioned that some of the guys who have edited for us have occasionally gotten, um, "distracted" while working with the materials, and that it was OK to go off and take care of that if it ever happened and he needed to. But all of the conversation was handled in a professional way, and I said that while we needed to be able to be open about communicating about content, we also wanted him to feel comfortable and we realized it would probably be a process that took some time.

Of course, you can't do quite the same thing with models who are fucking other models on camera, but you can still make it clear that they are there to do a job, that they'll be treated respectfully and professionally, and that no one will ever approach them or put them in a situation where they will feel uncomfortable or unsafe.

I do strongly believe that if it's going to happen, it should *only* be at a point where the imbalance of power is less present, such as contacting the model days or weeks after the shoot and after he's left the studio, or when there's less of an imbalance in the first place, such as a model that's worked extensively in the industry and knows the score, or a model who is considerably older and in less of a position to be manipulated. For our company, neither AJ nor I would feel comfortable approaching a model to propose having sex with either of us, nor would we tolerate that from any of our staff or contractors, but that's just the way we've chosen to run our business, and I'm not suggesting it's the "right" way or the "only" way.