The New Puritanism

Former porn star now reportedly working as EMT in Virginia

This story is just one of several I've noted in recent years where women -- it is almost always women -- have faced loss of their jobs when previous "unsuitable" job choices have come to light. These choices have been everything from Hooter's girl, to pin-up calendar girl, to modeling for nude photos or art, to stripper, to porn actress.

In each case, the woman has engaged in entirely legal behavior in the past, and is now pursuing a tamer, more "respectable" forms of employment.

Don't we all consider that a good thing? If you disapprove of those activities, shouldn't you commend a young woman for changing her life and going into an admirable career like teaching (that's usually the situation) or, in thise case, EMT? It's not like these women are taking their clothes off in the classroom or on emergency calls. I cannot imagine in what possible way the woman's previous career as a porn actress could make her unsuitable to be an EMT.

Yet time after time we see these woman hounded from their jobs. Is it the kind, moral or humane thing to do to chase a woman from an honorable, respectable career because in the past she made a perfectly legal choice that you disagree with? Should we slap scarlet "A"s on these women's chests and never allow them to show their faces in "polite" society again?

As a Christian, a bedrock of my faith is a belief in the idea of redemption. Throughout the Bible from Abraham, to the prostitute Rahab, to King David, to the prostitute Jesus saved from stoning, to Mary Magdalene, to Peter, to Paul (the self-described "foremost of sinners") we see the story replayed again and again of people who have done terrible, immoral things yet have found redemption and forgiveness from God, and changed their lives. Jesus didn't come and spend his time among the rich and the powerful. He lived and died and make his followers and apostles among the poor, the humble, the outcasts.

What does that say about the sort of people who would drive a young woman from her teaching job, not due to any current behavior, but for past sins?

The argument seems to be in the teaching case that "the children" will not have respect for the young woman or be able to learn effectively if they learn of her background or see her pictures on the internet. Seriously? First, if the kids are searching porno sites on the internet, then they're obviously not exactly Mommy and Daddy's little angels themselves, are they? Any lack of respect they display is their own behavioral problem not the teacher's and it's the job of the school administration and the parents to stand behind the teacher and not blame the teacher's past on students' current bad behavior. 

What kind of message does it send to the students if the woman is fired from her job? To me what it tells them that any woman who has ever engaged in disapproved behavior is forever a disreputable whore, not worthy of their respect. What we should be teaching them instead is "Sit down. Shut up. Pay attention. Your teacher's past life is none of your business, you little animal, and it doesn't entitle you to leer, to mouth off or to be disruptive."

I'm not going to get crude about it -- hardcore pornography isn't my thing in the first place -- but Harmony Rose is, as porn actresses often are, a very attractive young lady. It's certainly no drawback in my book if the EMT who shows up to help me has a pretty face -- it might cheer me up in what are likely to be dire circumstances. If I'm laying on the ground due to an accident or a heart attack, I'm certainly not judging the past choices of a young woman who has trained hard to learn the skills she's now using to tend to me.

I look at the pictures you see if you Google Harmony Rose, and I read her bio on IMDB, and I honestly just feel sorry for the poor girl. Some important people in her life -- her father, chief among them, because it's really a father's duty to establish a healthy self-respect and sexual identity in his daughters, by modeling for them how a man should treat a woman --  let her down big time if she thought that her best course in life was explicit pornography. I know she probably doesn't share my view of her porn career, and that's OK with me. I wouldn't criticize her for it or judge her for it if I met her. It was a perfectly legal choice, and her past is her own business. But I'd congratulate her on working hard to be an EMT, and I'd support her in that effort. I wouldn't try to tear her down or get her fired.