In the 1990s urban white middle class people like me were very concerned about where our sneakers came from and who made them. We worried about the abuse of child and adult labour in third world and developing countries, and whether our purchasing decisions made us indirect exploiters of people with far less economic security and power than ourselves.

This social concern became even more widely discussed after the publication of the influential book No Logo by Naomi Klein. I was working at Curtin University at the time and remember sitting on the outside balcony of the library cafe discussing it with colleagues and friends.

More recently, we inner city white people have become concerned about where our coffee and chocolate come from. Fortunately, the fair trade movement allows us to indulge in such consumer luxuries without feeling guilty about exploiting others through our self pleasuring. You can read more at Oxfam and the Fair Trade Association of Australia and New Zealand. I’m a regular at Jasper coffee on Brunswick St Fitzroy, which sells great coffee and ethical vibes freshly ground for your convenience.

Speaking of self pleasuring and exploitation, what does the ethical wanker do about porn? The feminist argument that all porn exploits all women has always seemed a nonsense to me, particularly in that it is sometimes claimed that even gay male porn (that does not feature women) still somehow exploits women.

The main problem I have is that by denying women freedom of choice, including the freedom to make choices that we think are poor or with which we disagree, governments (usually dominated by men) merely perpetuate their gross prejudices and hypocrisy about women, sexuality and personal freedom. I remember my former University of Western Australia undergraduate colleague and current head of the Scarlet Alliance, Elena Jeffreys, being rather definite on that point, and I agree with her.

In the same way that consuming coffee and chocolate grown and manufactured under inequitable and exploitative conditions outside Australia is a morally suspect choice for the ethical consumer, so too is the choice to consume porn made in Asia or Eastern Europe, where conditions are lax and many of the women models and performers seem far from enjoying themselves on set.

What is the horny hipster to do? Some people argue that feminism and porn are not mutually exclusive. The answer may be fair trade porn: porn produced where the social and economic conditions do not force models and performers (most of whom are women) into making choices they would otherwise avoid.

Some of the porn made in Australia, featuring locals and international traveller models and performers, could be classified as fair trade porn. The models and performers are educated, economically and socially liberated middle class adults able to choose to participate with informed consent.

The Australians are definitely not representative of economically desperate lower socio-economic stereotypes. Neither are the European backpackers exploring Australia during breaks between their university studies and making some cash on the side. Such models would not be attractive to educated middle class porn site subscribers if they were.

I’ve given up trying to understand other people’s choices in life. I can accept or tolerate many behaviours in others that I simply cannot understand or relate to as long as they don’t negatively impact on other people, whether myself or others.

So while I cannot easily relate to the choice to perform in porn, I can see why earning a week’s wages in a single day by appearing in porn can be a safe, sane and consensual choice for some people. It harms no one else, and whether it harms the performer is something that others cannot determine.

We can merely agree or disagree with the choices made by others. Neither porn performers nor porn consumers are necessarily morally suspect individuals. Like all labours and consumers in middle class Australia they have choices.

What we can do is alter our choices and moderate our behaviours as consumers. We can consult the Ethical consumer guide. We can follow its recommendation to not eat Nestle chocolate and other products because of that company’s dishonest and unethical behaviour.

We can also choose not to buy the equivalent of Nestle porn and instead buy a locally produced fair trade alternative. We can consume the product without worrying that we are exploiting the performers.

I am yet to see any porn publisher label their product as ‘fair trade’, but I’m not the only person thinking this way: read this checklist for determining if the porn you consume could be considered fair trade. Would your views about porn change if it was certified fair trade?