Recent testing of porn several porn actors and actresses in LA prompts the main players in the adult film industry to ask for a nationwide halt to porn production as more tests are run. After a few days of stories, some of the top dogs in the porn business are suggesting that porn performers take a 10 day cycle of antibiotics to make sure they are free of this horrible STD before returning to engage in sex with other people.
Some groups are using this as a way to bash the porn business, and to add pressure to Los Angeles officials to require condoms being used in all porn shoots on the area. A majority of the commercial porn that is popular in the United States is filmed in the LA area, and some groups of people have even gotten a ballot initiative to be at the polls in November, asking the citizens of LA to vote in a law that mandates condom usage for performer’s protection. (see the story recently published by Reuters news on this syphilis and condom issue) As to where I think condoms can be used in some porn without an issue, I also see many issues with making it a requirement.
First off, what about husband and wife teams who only shoot with each other – should they be required to wear condoms when making an adults only video to share with the public? Secondly, what about the lesbian sex videos? Should they be required to use dental dam? Thirdly, I think a majority of people in the world don’t care so much for watching condom mandated porn – and so it could possibly hurt sales for American entertainment companies, and put a bunch of people out of work, and we would see production moved to another state, or possible out of the United States entirely if consumers do not embrace the “All condom all the time porn from LA”.
Don’t get me wrong, I think condoms in porn can be done in a way that has it’s niches. There could be several stories written where a condom being brought into the action would make sense in the fantasy and it could be used in a sexy way. I also think the thought of protection for performs is a good idea, but there are other things that can and are being done to help insure safety. I think that every performer should be given the option to use condoms, and that they should not lose a job because they request such a thing. I also think the individual performers should be able to request tests on the day of the shoot, and they ample time for an inspection of the other performers would be a good idea. These things would help prevent some issues that condoms do not protect from anyways.
I also get that there are people who think that porn performers wearing condoms might spur other people around the world who are watching porn to use condoms as well. That’s a great thought, and as to where I agree that some condom scenes could make using them sexy, not every fantasy movie is going to work with condoms and dental dam everywhere. I also think that condom usage might put it into people’s minds that using prophylactics will prevent you from transmitting any sexual disease – which is just not true. If you think someone watching a condomless gangbang is less apt to use a condom, then those same ignorant people may think that watching a 30 guy gangbang with condoms means that you could bang 30 people in one night and not have to worry about disease (or pregnancy) as long as you have 2 boxes of rubbers with you.
We certainly need more education about sex, and sexual diseases and health. I think we need more education about all things sexual in this country, but trying to get the porn industry to push some kind of Trojan agenda is not the best idea. It’s like saying that every war movie needs to show people putting in ear plugs, shooting glasses, and following all the other safety rules for using a firearm. These are movies, fantasy movies, not instructional videos.
I’ve got to say that the news of this Syphilis outbreak is a good thing for the industry, and the public as a whole. IT makes a lot of people think about the sexual diseases out there, and hopefully gets more of a dialogue going about preventing and hopefully curing / completing eliminating these diseases. The group of performers will certainly be talking about this one, and information about the general tests being a 90 day incubation test may spur some performers to discuss more with each other. It’s a good reminder that having sex with someone else who has sex with other people carries some risks with it – even if they have been recently tested.
Some people think that porn needs more regulation, but I must say I think (at least in this country) that the porn industry is doing a pretty good job of regulating itself, and discussing important issues like this. I wish college campuses across the country had the same kind of testing and open transparency – imagine if you could get an entire college to stop having sex for 10 days while people were treated. You could wipe out several STDs in huge sections of the country.
Of course I still think we need more discussions about STD such as Herpes and HPV – things rubbers do not do a good job of protecting against – and people need to talk about oral sex without rubbers as well. Just because a company like vivid made a lot of movies promising protected sex, does not mean that the cum shots and blowjobs without pink rubbers were not risking the transmission of all kinds of diseases anyway. Really they were more like anti-pregnancy videos not safe sex instructional series.