ARTS & CULTURE I APRIL 2, 2012 I THE CHRONICLE 23
udge. His website conceals the faces of everyone because they don’t really make any distinction between rticipating in the video to protect them from damage the two.” their jobs or reputations. Law said the porn industry struggles in Chicago for A major issue in the porn industry is the high risk of this reason. Producers in California have peace of mind ectious diseases. Porn companies are often unwill- about the legality of porn since the state declared in g to foot the bill for testing, so they seek perform- the 1980s that it is a form of expression, not obscenity. s from other countries who are willing to go without The Midwest has a more conservative mindset, he said, sting, Law said. Many performers in the U.S., how- making it difficult to find willing participants and financial er, will not work with actors who have performed success like that of the industry on the West Coast. tside of the country because of the increased risk “To me, I think prostitution is for personal services,” contracting disease. The same stanLaw said. “[Porn is] for entertainrd applies to the gay porn industry, ment purposes. I don’t perform hich he said has been less vigorous necessarily for my own gratifiout regulating sexually transmitted cation. I do it for entertainment sease testing. It’s an energy purposes, for the camera and Legal battles are another danger of that you’re like, to create a product. That’s the ing in the porn industry. In response ‘Goddamn it, I want irony of it. The more public you claims that pornography is prostitumore of that.’” are doing this, the more legal n, Lewellen said the participants in it seems. The more private you s videos aren’t paid, but he can under–Lane Place are in the sexual exchange, the and why people would consider porn more illegal it is.” be prostitution. By the same token, he According to him, Chicago inted out that there are married coudoesn’t enforce any laws peres filming pornographic videos in their taining to the production of mes and selling them to companies, and he ques- adult films, such as condom laws. However, he said a ned whether that could be considered prostitution. license is needed to film, and if porn is filmed regularly in “If you look at the companies that are finding random a particular area or house, it could be deemed a “house of ople and paying [them] to shoot a scene and look at ill repute.” e definition of ‘prostitution,’ it is prostitution,” Lewellen Lewellen was hit with an obscenity case after attending id. “I think that’s why it’s illegal in a lot of places, and filming a swingers club at a friend’s house two years
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ago, which was raided by the police. He said after they found out he was involved with a porn company, they took his cameras and erased the contents in order to use their own edited surveillance video against him and accused those involved of having sex in a public area. Educated in computers, he was able to retrieve the deleted film on his camera and give it to his lawyers as evidence, and the charges against him were dropped. Others involved in the raid chose not to fight the case and plea bargained the charges down. All people involved in porn do it for different reasons. Lewellen said some people do it for the money, others to satisfy their needs as exhibitionists. According to Place, he chooses to perform as a way to counteract sex addiction. Instead of doing a 12-step program or succumbing to the issue, he said he feels this is a healthy way to manage his problem. Porn is an industry that exists behind the scenes but is no secret to the public. The first words welcoming guests to Law’s website are “Publicly abhorred, privately adored.” While Chicago may not be the command center of the industry, its adult performers work together in their own close-knit niche, making sure their careers continue to move forward. “It’s an energy that you’re like, ‘Goddamn it, I want more of that,’” Place said. “The older I get, [I realize] any kind of addictive personality is never going to be satiated.”
fferent women, both girlfriends and acquaintances. The women in his videos have the option of nd change their names because they aren’t paid. If they were, they wouldn’t have that option.
tballanger@chroniclemail.com