The notion of business travelers being forbidden from purchasing X-rated pay-per-view isn’t anything new. The erotic offerings are — so we hear — more expensive than other titles and very few employers want to foot the bill for them. But Winona County, MN, doesn’t just want to tell municipal employees not to order hotel porn; they don’t even want them staying at hotels that offer smutty selections.

Today, county commissioners are considering a “clean hotel” policy that would forbid county employees from staying in hotels and motels that have pay-per-view porn.

But this proposal isn’t just about saving a buck. Rather, proponents claim the policy would help to curb domestic violence and sexual assaults against women.

From a county-issue paper on the policy:

In and of itself, this policy is not a cure-all, but it is an important effort to help prevent a social disease and its related costs to the public. [The paper states that Minnesota spent $212 million in 2006 on costs related to sexual violence]

It is logical to assume that prevention of certain criminal activities would reduce the costs of providing these services… Prevention would also prevent the much greater social cost to the community.

According to the proposed policy, county employees would only be reimbursed if they stay in a hotel that doesn’t offer porn; though there are exceptions. For instance, if the questionable hotel in question is the “host site” for the conference the employee is attending, or if the porn-free hotel is more than 15% pricier than a pornified hotel, then the employee will be reimbursed.

Do you think a policy like this will do anything to put a damper on domestic violence or sexual assault?

County considers ‘clean hotel’ policy [Winona Daily News]

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