Pornography creates a variety of negative impacts on both its consumers and its creators. Among the most obvious of these, in regards to the consumer, are the objectification of women as well as the development of unrealistic expectations in terms of both the acceptable appearance of sexual partners and the normal roles and behaviors of those partners during sexual encounters. These expectations can lead to real world dissatisfaction and a cheapened sense of sexual identity. The ultimate effects of these attitudinal changes, however, are difficult to apprehend at a glance and I do not intend to discuss them at present. Instead, I will focus on the more obvious, measurable impacts that pornography has on the lives of its creators.

Adult entertainers are often paid questionable, up-front sums and are rarely offered any kind of salaried positions or employee benefits. As reported by one studio director, many scenes are priced starting as low as $100 to $300, an income comparable to that of a prostitute in many urban American areas.

According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, there were 2,847 STD infections diagnosed among 1,884 performers in the hardcore pornography industry between April 2004 and March 2008. According to one porn actress, "Chloe", I have herpes, after you've been in this business for a while, you have herpes. Everyone has herpes.

Adult entertainers are degraded and humiliated. In response to a question about degrading women in her films, adult film director Lizzy Borden defensively said in a PBS interview: They're degrading, no matter what. Everyone gets degraded. I mean, even if she was a secretary in the office, she's going to get some kind of harassment, whether sexual or verbal -- you know? So this is normal. Women get degraded every day, and so do men.

Porn actresses are frightened, threatened and caused physical pain in some shoots, against their will. Says Regan Starr of acting in "Rough Sex 2": I got the shit kicked out of me. I was told before the video - and they said this very proudly, mind you - that in this line most of the girls start crying because they're hurting so bad... I couldn't breathe. I was being hit and choked. I was really upset, and they didn't stop. They kept filming. You can hear me say, 'Turn the fucking camera off', and they kept going.

Studios often pressure actresses into doing scenes they are uncomfortable with in order to maintain an income. Says Jonathan Morgan, porn director: A hundred movies in four months. She's not a fresh face any more. Her price slips and she stops getting phone calls. Then it's, 'Okay, will you do anal? Will you do gangbangs?' Then they're used up.

Adult entertainers suffer long term damage to their personal relationships. In an interview with The Guardian, one actress says: But I don't want you to write about [these relationships]. And could you not mention my real name? I don't have relationships any more. They make life unstable. The only sex I have is the sex on screen.

The porn industry at large unquestionably takes advantage of people, throwing their health, wellbeing, and personal security to the wind. Unlike other industries with a track record of treating their employees callously and inhumanely (take, for example, apparel manufacturers such as Nike or foodstuff giants such as Nestle), responsible consumerism plays little or no role at all in curbing these behaviors. This is due not only to the lack of responsible consumers, but also to the decentralized nature of the industry in which no single studio accounts for a substantial share of the market at large.

The ill use and demoralization of people fully deserving of fair treatment is inseparable from the pornography industry as it currently stands. The responsible consumer who does not wish to hurt the people around them through their market creating behaviors cannot support such an industry.