Speaking Up: Bijou Video's Steven Toushin

In answer to some questions posed by AVN as part of our July 2012 celebration of free speech, Steven Toushin submitted the following essay. Toushin is the president and founder of Bijou Video (BijouWorld.com). In 1969, Toushin exhibited Jack Smith’s underground classic, Flaming Creatures, at an experimental avant-garde theater where he worked as a manager. The decision to show the provocative film led to his first obscenity arrest. Which free speech activist in the industry has inspired me? There hasn't been anyone. But there are two men whom I respect. Reuben Sturman, who was the legal umbrella in the industry, helped others in their trials. Then there was Russ Hampshire of VCA, who was indicted with some of his employees; this was done to put pressure on Russ, who was the target. Russ arranged a plea deal where the charges against his employees were dropped; VCA paid a fine and he went to prison. Free speech in the adult industry was—is—all about the money; the money created the will to fight for obscenity/free speech, not principles. There's nothing wrong about making money, but no one goes into the adult industry and continuously makes porn for free speech. In truth, in the end it really didn't matter why someone fought for free speech, the results were that they fought. I have been at meetings (in the industry) where people preached, spewed free speech, yet they had no concept of free speech—all they did was debate how correct their speech was, while criticizing those whose speech was not to their advantage or their conventional liking. (The controversy surrounding Max Hardcore is a good example.) Remember this very important cliché: Most people are very brave when there's no threat of danger; most people are brave when they are in a group/crowd. When that moment comes to stand on a principle, it is not the crowd that holds truth but the individual. It is the individual who goes against the prevailing norm, against convention, champions an unpopular idea and who is ostracized, condemned. Who do I admire, who inspires me outside the industry? Edward R. Murrow, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mary Ware Dennett (she protested for women's suffrage, peace, sex education for children) and Margaret Sanger [founder of Planned Parenthood]. As far as whether the industry will have fewer or more rights in the future, what are you talking about? The industry has all the free speech rights it could ever want. Who's bothering mainstream porn? No one. There is porn/sex coming out of every nook, pisshole and crack in America and Europe. Yes there will be a local and federal prosecution here and there, but there will never be another dark age like the Meese years. For the most part an adult industry free speech (porn) trial is old news—last decade's news, in fact. That's not to say there will never be any more free speech/obscenity battles. There will always be a few prosecutors and preachers here and there in Republican conservative areas who will use obscenity for advancement and profit; it's politically beneficial, and a moneymaker. Now, if today's Republicans get back into the White House, there will be prosecutions to appease the religious right for their support. That's another story. There will always be a free speech fight in certain areas of this country over children's books: Romeo and Juliet (child pornography), Alice in Wonderland(drugs) … Just look at the new campaign financing laws. The Citizens United ruling came about because of free speech (airing of the Hilary Clinton film by the right). Do you know that there have been more free speech battles fought by the libraries here in America? There has been far more book bannings by schools boards then obscenity trials in the adult industry. The segment of the adult business that is controlled by laws in the start-up stage is the brick-and-mortar business—not the internet business. But let’s understand that zoning laws regulating adult also regulate where beer, wine and liquor can be sold and dispensed. Zoning regulates industrial (manufacturing) from commercial business areas. Zoning regulates residential areas, In San Francisco, communities can regulate how many ice cream stores can be in their community. So basically zoning is a tool for communities to regulate the makeup of their communities. Zoning at times impedes business, but the adult industry has the same right to fight zoning as a tavern has. The next generation of free speech will be the world outside the U.S., Canada and Europe. As I see it, here in America the sex/porn industry needs to fight for some kind of acceptance within society. There are only two threats that I see that are lethal to the adult industry and they’re taking a toll alongside a bad economy: piracy and free porn. Who ever heard of giving away your product for free and staying in business? Over the last few years every type of porn that a customer would want is for free by the boatload. I'm sorry, but it doesn't take long to beat the meat to climax. Why buy? So let's talk about “free” for moment. Didn't the music industry close down Napster? I wonder why. What do you think would happen to the television market if Sony gave away TVs, to the car market around the world if General Motors gave away cars and trucks? If I were a conspiracy theorist and wanted to write a book, I would summarize that free porn (companies that offer free porn) and piracy were part of a financed government plot to destroy the adult industry from within. If you notice, most of the free porn sites are owned by one or two companies. How do you stay in business offering “free”? The American adult industry is 42 years old (as I see it), starting from the first commercial hardcore film in the U.S.: Alex DeRenzy's Pornography in Denmark. The adult industry is the only openly thriving industry in the world where even Fortune 500 companies participate, that is regulated by criminal laws and punishment. What the industry needs here in the U.S is to be recognized as legitimate economic and social functioning industry. It needs an organization of business owners, people of influence, with respected lobbying, who will work through the stigma of sex and build political alliances. In truth this will not happen for a long time. The industry is too fragmented and very few people see the long-term potential for themselves. The intriguing aspect of the industry is that it is made up of every sexuality, nationality, race, religion, gender and sexual attitude. So at the moment many companies in the industry are fighting for survival. Some of the larger companies (free porn, many of them techy nouveau riche, not porn people) want to make as much money as they can, and not spend any time working toward a larger industry vision. So to end this, I have no idea about the future. What I do know is that it will be different.