In this year's Academic Salon theme of sexual justice, it seems perfectly appropriate to turn our attention to the recent temporary shutdown of the pornography industry in Southern California.
In mid-April, there was a sudden shutdown of the $4-13 billion per year industry due to an HIV-scare. Actor, Darren James, and actress Lara Roxx were found testing positive for HIV, prompting a voluntary quarantine of about 50 other actors and actresses, and the temporary shutdown of multiple adult film production companies.
James, who had an impeccably clean record for the last seven years, tested positive in March of this year, after working on a "non-condom" adult film set in Brazil.
The other performers in question agreed to take an HIV-test, and take a follow-up test one month later. Reports from cbsnews.com state that out of the 50 performers, only 20 have been cleared to return to work, and five have been found HIV-positive.
While it's all fine and dandy that adult film stars are required to take HIV-tests every three weeks, and cannot work until their test results return, it really doesn't seem like an entirely foolproof method to me.
After the last HIV-scare in 1999, the porn industry seemed to wise up enough that they didn't have another scare until now, but honestly, if they're still having this problem, that means they're still not being entirely safe.
Several well-known news sources have quoted Director of Public Health and Health Officer, Dr. Jonathan Fielding, saying, "the [HIV] discovery [in the porn industry] shows that screening programs are not perfect and the only way to prevent AIDS is not to have unprotected sex."
According to Sharon Mitchell of the nonprofit Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, only about 17 percent of adult film stars use condoms. If you ask me, that's a strikingly low percentage of people who want to preserve their lives. Many performers are now deciding to only work on sets that promote using condoms in any on-screen sex scenes.
It seems only with the recent scare that the performers are realizing that their lives are in a constant state of danger with their line of work. Hello, your lives were always in danger, but it took danger staring you in the face for you to realize that compromising your "art" a little bit by using a condom to protect yourselves wouldn't be such a terrible idea. Seven infected film stars (so far) later, and 25 performers still waiting for clearance, perhaps the industry is finally getting a clue.
There are other adult film stars, however, who still adhere to the "non-condom" policy, contending against the recent talks to implement a law that makes condom-usage on adult film sets mandatory. "That would be an overreaction," said Kat Sunlove, Executive Director of the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the pornography industry. "Do we really want condom police?" asked Sunlove.
If it was me, and thank the stars it's not, I would say hell yeah, I want condom police.
Seriously, it's irresponsible and reckless endangerment on the part of the actors as well as the directors and the production companies to not use a condom doing what they do. I don't know why they don't value their lives more.
I understand that to some degree, it's the immortality, it'll-never-happen-to-me mentality that all of us have, but what happens when you continue not using condoms and end up with HIV or another incurable sexually transmitted disease?
Guess what, it can happen to you, because you thought condom using was stupid, compromised your art, didn't feel as good, made it harder to sustain for the shot-whatever excuse you want. And, while we're at it, it's also going to happen to everyone you love, and everyone who is sexually involved with you outside of your work. For life's sake, honestly, protect yourself and everyone else around you, use a condom.
