Background Checks for Porn?
How Much is Too Much?
By now most of you already know that Stephen Clancy Hill AKA Steve Driver jumped/fell to his death over the weekend. Wanted for the murder of fellow porn performer Tom Dong in an attack that injured four others, Hill ended up in a stand off with LAPD.
Word of the on-set murders and subsequent stories of Hill’s alleged violent past have stirred up talks for background checks on potential porn workers. I have to admit, the thought crossed my mind. I couldn’t help but think back to 2007 when Chico Wang’s past was revealed. Before being implicated in the death of girlfriend Haley Pagie and ultimately dying on the run, Wang was arrested for assault and his criminal past came to light. Before entering porn, Wang was a convicted rapist who had pistol whipped his girlfriend in college.
At the time I openly wondered whether or not there should be any sort of background checks for porn. Should convicted violent rapists be given positions of power over young women? Ultimately I came to the conclusion that even if the porn world had known about Wang’s past, he would have found work.
When I mused about Steven on Twitter I was reminded by people in and out of the industry that a troubled past is not reason to block someone out of an industry like ours. I absolutely agree. I’m the first one to acknowledge that ours is not a business filled with Boy (and Girl) Scouts, nor should it be. Having a checkered past may disqualify you from consideration for the FBI, but it doesn’t mean you can’t run a web site, work a boom mike or fuck on camera. I just have to wonder if there is some line we might draw. Is there a difference between someone who did time for smuggling weed (Katie Morgan Interview) and someone who pistol whipped and raped a girl?
Someone asked me back then if I would have considered Chico a “friend” had I known he was a convicted rapist. No, I wouldn’t have. I wouldn’t have allowed myself to get to know him and it certainly would have shaded my impressions of some of his actions. Is that right? Is it fair? I don’t know. I’ve never claimed to be perfect and believe in forgiveness as a spiritual, political and personal philosophy. On the other hand I have very strong feelings about people who do things I find unacceptable. Those who hurt children (Sexually or otherwise) and those who hurt women (Sexually or otherwise) are not at the top of my list of people who need to get extra breaks along the way. I still believe in forgiveness, but I wouldn’t let my kids spend the night at a child molester’s house and I don’t think we need to expose young women to men with histories of sexual violence. That may seem hypocritical to some, but it seems like common sense to me.
Would a background check have kept people from dying on set? Maybe. Would they scare some bad people away from the industry? Maybe. Ultimately though, I think I would come down against background checks if for not other reason that I don’t know where the line should be drawn. If I can’t draw the line for certain, there is no way I would trust someone else to do so.
That’s my opinion. What do you think? Use this new feedback to leave your thoughts.
