The First Amendment vs. Workplace Safety – Reader Mail

A while back I spoke at an industry meeting at the Hustler studio. there were about 250 people there. The very last thing I said was, “If you folks don’t get your shit together someone is going to do it for you, and none of you are going to like it.”

I like your simple, straight to the point articles Mike.  I want to make a point about the first amendment vs. workplace safety.  The first amendment is not absolute, of course you can scream fire in a theater, but you can also be help responsible if what you say is not true and it results in others getting injured. I think the same can be said about porn. If the creation of porn, which is certainly the creation of speech, requires that those creating that speech, who are working as employees, take known risks that have been proven to cause disease, then someone has to be held accountable when those known risks actually result in the spread of disease. It has often been said that your rights end when they cause harm to others. [The fundamental concept of Libertarianism.]

And regarding the argument that performers make a choice to do porn, this is true, but it is also true of the producer. The producer chooses to be in this industry too. And the producers chooses to hire people to take risks. Without the producer there is no product.

When the producer chooses to hire people to take known risks shouldn’t he be accountable when those risks cause harm to them? I am not saying he should be prohibited from making his product, which is certainly protected by the first amendment, but shouldn’t he be responsible for the consequences of the speech he chooses to create when it directly causes harm? is causing harm to someone  protected by the first amendment?