Today a traveler reading roadside signs promising "clean rooms" at a hotel or motel is likely to think about the quality of the maid service. But the description would take on a whole new meaning if a proposed "Clean Hotels" initiative that's meant to voluntarily turn off pay-per-view pornography takes hold in Rochester.

A group of public health advocates is asking area hotels to stop offering in-room porn, and Olmsted County commissioners will likely soon vote on a policy that would prioritize those hotels considered "clean" for county employees traveling on taxpayer money.

Both proposals are related to concerns about the linkage between pornography and sexual violence, and both have the backing of the Minnesota Health Department. Officials hope that just like the antismoking movement, what starts small becomes big. "There is a very clear parallel," explained Patty Wetterling, a well-known child safety advocate, former congressional candidate and now the Health Department's director of Sexual Violence Prevention. "This is not unlike what we went through with smoking. Back in the '60s and '70s, people would say, 'I have a right to smoke -- it's my body.' But then, we recognized there is the secondhand-smoke thing. And even though you don't smoke, you are impacted by somebody else who smokes. It's not unlike that with pornography.

"What we're trying to do is to stop the demand. We know sexual violence is very complex and there is a lot of things that have to come together to actually get us to our goal," Wetterling said.

That complexity is reflected in research, according to Prof. Eli Coleman, director of the Program in Human Sexuality at the University of Minnesota. "There has been no demonstrated effect of pornography leading to violent sexual behavior," he states. "I think we're all concerned about stemming the tide of sexual violence, but I don't think there are any quick fixes. It really stems from a whole culture's attitude toward respect for other people, and gender equity, and the importance of comprehensive sexuality education to make people more aware of these issues. When people are educated, they act more responsibly."

Coleman suggests a focus on risk factors cited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which include individual, relationship, community and societal risk factors that include poverty, but not pornography.

Of course, with the ubiquity of pornography online and in print, targeting hotel porn may be mostly a symbolic effort. But perhaps that symbolism is needed, especially given today's coarser culture, in which Paris Hilton is more famous for the big fuss over her sex tape rather than her small screen roles. And the mainstreaming of pornography has hit a cultural critical mass this decade, with porn stars Sasha Grey cast as the lead in Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh's film "The Girlfriend Experience" and Jenna Jameson jarring the New York Times bestseller list with her autobiography, "How To Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale."

All of this is indeed a cautionary tale to Wetterling. Of the "Clean Hotels" initiative, she says, "I think it could be huge. I would love to start a revolution where we start treating women and children respectfully. What's the downside to this?"

None. That is, as long as the initiative does not become a ban. First Amendment case law protects pornography, however distasteful to many Minnesotans. And the initiative should work with, not against, the many hotel and motel owners and operators who themselves may not want porn but are contractually bound by franchise agreements to take TV service that includes it.

Ultimately, this initiative is about changing the cultural conversation. But the conversation should be comprehensive, going well beyond pornography, and include the other risk factors identified by the CDC that contribute to an unacceptable level of sexual violence.