Pornography, Policy, and Public Health: The Case of Measure B

In 2012, voters in Los Angeles County passed Measure B, a controversial law requiring porn performers to wear condoms on set. Many people predicted the porn industry would flee California, relocating to cities with more lax regulations, while the media fuelled speculation about the long-term impact of Measure B on California’s economy. Although claims that the industry would abandon California were exaggerated, several porn production companies did establish in Las Vegas, a city known worldwide as a sexual entertainment destination. In this chapter I examine the campaign against Measure B, arguing that it casts a spotlight on the shifting “spatial contours” of the U.S. porn industry and reveals how competing “geographies of pornography” are produced both discursively and through regulatory measures.