Disclaimer: I’m a PC guy, not a Mac guy. While many people around me use Macs every day, and associated iProducts, my sole contribution to Steve Jobs’ retirement fund is an iPod Shuffle I got as a gift. I like the Shuffle, but I’ve yet to iPurchase anything at the App Store.
And Steve Jobs just made that a lot easier to defend, in my Mac-heavy environment.
I work in porn – on the periphery, perhaps (no, that’s not me with the 12” ego on screen – sorry ladies!) – but the fact is I make my living because people like to be entertained about sex. Sometimes they might even masturbate because of something I’ve helped create. Now some desert mystics have proposed that sex is, indeed, a bad thing, but while there are certainly horrible things that happen sexually to people every day, in general I personally consider sex to be a Good Thing. A Good Adult Thing.
It might surprise you to know that people in “the Industry” are not all wild perverts ready to encourage promiscuity at every turn and convince a whole new generation of youngsters into habitual masturbators or sex criminals. Far from it: most parents associated with “the Industry” are actually far more aware of how sexualized our culture is than folks in the mainstream. We see the sexual “sizzle” not just in Cosmo and Maxim, but even in the cute Disney shows, and we are aware of how subtle and insidious the creeping mainstream sexualization is to our children.
Yes, people "in porn" have children, too. Daughters, even. Granddaughters, even. We love them as much as any parent could love a child, and want the best for them just as any other parent would. And while most of us would prefer not to see our children in "the Industry" when they grow up and are adults, we usually understand the nature of the term "adult", and understand that it implies a free and independent choice. Parenthetically, it's unlikely any of our children would end up in "the Industry" without us letting them know exactly what that means, the potential for exploitation, and the consequences associated with that free and independent choice. It's not that we're ashamed of what we do, most of us, it's that we know better than anyone outside of "the Industry" just what is possible, and most of us want our kids to have all the information about their career choices, whether it's porn, the military, or something sordid and fly-by-night like an App Store developer. Having daughters doesn't make us more callous to the less-savory aspects of "the Industry", it makes us even more sensitive to them. And it isn't just about "our little girls" -- our sons are just as much in our hearts and minds when we attempt to prolong their childhoods as long as possible. We are sensitive to sex in all of its mainstream manifestations, just like Tech Nerds are sensitive to digital technology. Hell, we usually give sex and our society a lot more conscious thought than the average parent does.
My kids will never have “Bratz” dolls, for instance, because I think that the styles and presentation of the toy encourage a premature introduction to the pressures of adult sexuality to its target demographic. Nor do I allow them to watch certain shows that are ostensibly about kids, but end up being all about the clothes and the boyfriends and the gossip. Those things tear at the essential innocence of our children long before they even get the glimmer of what a penis or a vagina is actually for. Being in “the Industry” has made me achingly aware just how brief the innocence of childhood is, and how eager society in general is to introduce our kids to sex prematurely. If I had to guess, I’d say that most people in “the Industry” feel the same way. We’re parents too, many of us, and while some folks might disagree with what we do for a living, the fact is that we are citizens doing legitimate, legal work in a well-regulated business in an effort to support our families. And most of us, I believe, try to do that with some sort of ethical and moral compass in hand. Just because we're "pornographers" doesn't make us any less morally guided people or responsible citizens -- or parents -- than other people.
Why don’t I go make a living doing something less tawdry, you ask? Because I’m good at what I do and I enjoy doing it. I like knowing that what I do contributes to grown-up people’s sexual happiness and general well-being. I enjoy putting out a quality product that makes people happy, gives them a little entertaining break from the stresses of everyday life, and, by Aphrodite, porn is a hell of a lot cheaper way to have fun than, say, nine holes of golf on a decent public course. I’m an adult in a free country making legal entertainment for other adults, and my product is both taxed and regulated. I don’t want any of my stuff shown to minors – ever. That’s the last thing I want. You could say I have strong moral objections to anyone doing that. Just as a responsible gun manufacturer or a pharmaceutical developer knows that there is a proper customer base for their products as well as those who should not have access to them, I know that kids should not have easy access to pornography. I’m all in favor of age verification and other mechanisms to reasonably restrict the ability of minors to view pornography.
But Steve Jobs wants an internet devoid of porn – and he said so.
Or, at least, he wants to “be” the internet of the future, via iPhone, iTouch and iPad, and he wants to make that internet as non-sexual as possible. I’ve already commented at length on Apple’s removal of all adult content from the App Store, but this recent email exchange between Jobs and a critic is telling. The man not only sees himself on a crusade against porn, like so many others, he sees himself justified, by virtue of his creation, to censor the content and restrict the free-flow of information that is the heart and soul of the internet. Only he’s rather selective in his judgment: violence of any sort doesn’t seem to be a big issue for him, just boobies.
Not that the Apps at the App Store were anything to write home about to begin with, sexually speaking. And it isn’t like you can’t access third-party porn via the net on an iPad or an iTouch – yet. But it’s the principal of the thing. Yes, as the brains behind the iPad Jobs has the right to restrict the data any way he chooses – that’s his right in a free market democracy. He can ignore the fact that porn has driven the success of the internet, including Apple, for decades. He can pass the inconvenient truth that the Mac is the choice of professional pornographers everywhere for creating their product -- that's a pretty small market, anyway. He can turn his back on the millions of full-grown adults, men and women, who have masturbated in front of Macs for years. He can decide, on his own, just what our kids should and shouldn’t be exposed to on his platform.
But the fact is, Apple risks a lot by doing so, and Google (who doesn’t mind making money off of masturbation one little bit) is salivating in the wings with Android and Chrome and other fun stuff that might not be as flashy (no pun intended) as Apple, but usually cheaper, more compatible and more . . . open. Not everyone is in love with the iPad, after all, and not just because of a lack of porn. But because people aren’t going to want to have to buy a second device to view their porn on, and the people will have their porn, after the iHype wears off and other companies copy the good stuff without the bad stuff from Apple I believe we'll see the iPad join the Newton (does anyone remember the Newton?) on the storage shelf of archaic technology. Jobs’ vision of a pornography free internet isn’t just bad business, it’s laughably naïve – and long-term Apple investors should remember that.
Until they do, I'm pricing Android phones and waiting for the first non-Apple pads to come out. I can wait. Having children has taught me patience -- and that being first kid on the block to have a shiny new toy isn't the same thing as an adult making an investment in a data appliance.
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