In his influential book ’Folk Devils and Moral Panics’ (1972) sociologist Stanley Cohen used the phrase ‘moral entrepreneur’ to describe somebody who starts a public campaign of panic when they feel that certain ‘folk devils’ (for instance, sex workers) are threatening social or cultural values.
Nearly always these panics are seen as ill founded in hindsight. For instance, the campaign Mary Whitehouse ran again ‘Video Nasties’ which led to the introduction of the Video Recordings Act 1984 in the UK. Whitehouse said that 40% of all 6 year olds had viewed a video nasty, an impressive statistic, yet one that was soon proven to be incorrect by journalists who found 6 year olds admitting to seeing films that had not been made. She also argued that these 6 year olds would grow up to perform the acts they had seen in these films, on the streets of the UK. The bloodbath Whitehouse predicted in the early 1990’s did not happen of course and these days most people see films like Driller Killer as harmless kitsch. Other examples of moral panics would be the various air born illnesses, which have hit the news over the past decade.
When I have taken part in debates defending porn I get moral entrepreneurs accusing pro-porn industry campaigners from profiting from the immoral porn industry. I have felt it necessary in recent times to point out how much moral entrepreneurs make from their anti-porn careers (and anti-sex work campaigns) either financially or in social kudos. Some of them make much more than pornographers with book deals and university lecture tours, all based on the existence of the adult industry, (I’m in the wrong game!).
Here we list some of those people so that you will be in a position to balance both pro and anti sex campaigners’ balance of personal gain from the debate. We are not saying we don't have commercial interests in the sex industry, just that we are not alone...
Coming soon...