LOS ANGELES – While this post takes up the controversial question of whether adults ought to be allowed to watch porn at public libraries, I’m not going to approach the question as a legal one or as a matter of the free speech.

The primary reason I’m not addressing this as a legal question is I’m not qualified to do so. I’m not an attorney, nor am I sufficiently familiar with the complexities of designations like “limited public forums” and other things I’d need to understand thoroughly to intelligently explore the topic, even as a layman.

Instead, I want to look at the question of porn consumption in public libraries as a matter of public relations – an area in which, despite the greater social acceptability of porn in the internet age, the adult industry still needs to tread carefully.

Setting aside the question of whether adults have a legal right to view porn in public libraries, my PR-focused question is this: Is fighting an attempt to regulate and restrict access to porn in Los Angeles public libraries really a fight in which the adult industry wants its primary trade association to make a stand?

As you consider your response to this, keep in mind the ongoing, nationwide campaign to declare pornography a “public health crisis.” Also bear in mind the oft-repeated claim the industry willfully and intentionally exposes minors to porn to get young people addicted to porn when they’re at their most vulnerable and suggestible.

Frankly, it doesn’t matter whether there’s factual support of either of the above claims. Whether porn can reasonably be described as a public health crisis (or the cause of one) is irrelevant to the politicians who write these resolutions. It also doesn’t matter to the people analogizing porn producers to “drug-pushers” whether studio operators, directors and porn marketers truly support the idea of kids watching porn. What matters to them is that this rhetoric is effective, because it finds a welcome ear among their target audience.

It may not be the wisest thing for the adult industry to take positions that make it easier for our critics to paint us as unethical, immoral (or at least amoral) porn-pushers, hell bent on peppering every corner of the planet with our wares.

To be clear, I’m not arguing with what Free Speech Coalition Executive Eirector Eric Paul Leue said to L.A. Weekly in his comments, especially the part about how “no one should be comfortable with state-funded employees determining what is or isn’t acceptable for adults to read or research.”

I do think it’s a stretch to call watching porn videos in the library “research,” though, and I strongly suspect anybody who takes their kids to the public library would prefer those watching porn therein do it elsewhere.

I don’t know how far this porn-blocking effort being spearheaded by Councilman David Ryu and Councilwoman Nury Martinez in Los Angeles will go, nor do I have any inkling about how involved the FSC might get in the fight against their effort.

I do know that although a lot of people watch porn in the library, they probably don’t represent a truly significant portion of the industry’s user base, especially with the rise of mobile technology in recent years. Put simply, if public libraries become no-fly zones where porn is concerned, there’s no real shortage of other options for porn viewers.

While I don’t think I’d have taken the route of referencing my employer’s brand in the context of a statement about “creepers,” the rest of what Evil Angel Chief Financial Officer Adam Grayson said to L.A. Weekly is worth considering – not because he’s speaking from the perspective of another person within the adult industry, but because he’s likely speaking for a lot of others out there, in terms of their reaction to this issue.

“I was surprised to hear you actually could watch porn at a public library,” Grayson said. “It might not be the most popular opinion in the adult industry, but I think this is totally common sense. I mean, when my kids go to the library to get a Curious George book, I don’t want them walking past some creeper with EvilAngel.com pulled up on the screen.”

For all the reasons cited by Leue, the issue of public library porn use isn’t as cut and dry as it may seem at first glance, or as I’d like it to be. Should the ACLU get involved in opposing whatever restrictions the L.A. City Council may (or may not) impose, I’ll watch the proceedings with great interest.

I just think as that fight unfolds, it would be preferable for the adult industry and its representatives to observe from the sidelines, not from the center of the fray.

Image © Erwin Purnomo Sidi