Condoms in porn is a touchy subject (or lack of touchy subject as it were). We have to wonder if the same people advocating for legally requiring condoms to be used in all adult entertainment ever secretly type that “b” word when they’re closing the deal on a dimly lit date with their right hands.
We aren’t trying to say safe sex practices aren’t important — of course they are — but forcing a layer of latex over the private parts of consenting professionals? Not sure that’s going to get us to an HIV-free world.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) disagrees, however. They recently backed Assembly Bill 1576 in the California Senate which would require condoms in all porn production. There’s already a law to the same effect in Los Angeles, which along with Disney Channel Movies is also a big producer of X-rated features.
The California Senate Appropriations Committee has effectively killed any chance of the bill ever even reaching a vote though, saying the budget required to enforce it is nonexistent.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
AHF has vowed to introduced a similar bill next year, and you can bet they’ll remain vigilant as ever.
But for now, skin-to-skin friction remains a thing of the present in web browsers the world over.
AHF is currently fighting kink.com in Nevada over a complaint the organization filed with OSHA claiming Kink employees were exposed to bodily fluids that spread HIV.
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Paul Nadolski
Personally, I do believe that the rise in HIV infection rates among younger gay men, and the increase in the amount of bareback porn available on the internet, are very much connected. Putting a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie (or whatever you want to call it) reminding viewers that the “models” are engaging in unsafe sexual activity, and that you should do otherwise, is pointless when everyone skips that part anyway.
CJones01
@Paul Nadolski: I agree: how many of us read the disclaimer?
I would rather have the models negotiate condom use in scene, be it bareback or not. If a condom is used, it can illustrate the the “break in the action” doesn’t have to be that (making out while he puts it on, doing it for him, etc.). If not, at least bringing up status or what have you make both parties aware.
I also think that porn sites should be required to make (sexy) sex-ed videos about condom use, testing and what not to cement the fact that these “professionals” take their jobs very seriously and are acting with informed consent.
Please note, I quoted the word “professional” because porn, being what it is, is a flash-in-the-pan industry. A model may show up once and never again, or do the circuit, or become the main stay of a studio stable, not to mention the laundry list of “amateur” porn available.
samwise343
@Paul Nadolski: So you think that people are really stupid and cannot make their own choices? They’re all horned up sheep, ready to boink at the drop of a hat.
samwise343
@CJones01: People murder other people. Some of them are inspired by the violence on TV and in movies. Shouldn’t there be a disclaimer attached to every piece of entertainment containing violence that we watch. And what about when people get drunk and forget about putting a condom on before sex. Shouldn’t we do something about the alcohol people imbibe?
SteveDenver
Barebacking in porn has become common because those who profit bear none of the financial risk, it usually falls on public health programs — I doubt many porn ponies are executive-level employees with gold-plated insurance.
Change that financial structure.
Require porn companies to insure “actors” for a minimum of 6 months. Let’s see if actuaries think unprotected sex is “just a fetish” or an actual risk factor.
CHOAM88
Man, those porn actors wearing a condom would really change my life. It’s just like how, when I watched a movie about a guy murdering people, I totally just started doing it. Give me a break. How about we focus on sex ed in schools. You know why I don’t have hiv? My jigh school taught me all about safe sex an the effects of std’s. I’m a big fan of government helping leading the charge for changing the world, but this more “big government focusing on meaningless minutiae.”
QJ201
Can’t they push PREP on straight porn actors too?
Haightmale
WTF! It’s bad enough that as a sexual minority that we constantly have to fight for basic civil rights in the land of the free and the home of the brave. It is bullshit plain and simple. Whether one is gay or straight, every individual must take responsibility for the choices they make. It was only 11 years ago that the Supreme Court ruled that what we do in the bedroom is no one’s business but our own (Lawrence v. Texas), and it’s unconscionable that an AIDS organization is pushing to have the government regulate what two consenting adults choose to do with their lives and bodies. This bill is ridiculous, and should be treated as such. And the puritans here need to do a little more research about this issue before proselytizing about safe sex.
Roy Steele
http://www.jiveinthe415.com/
Haightmale
@Paul Nadolski: Paul porn is fantasy, and there is NO evidence (anecdotal or otherwise) to suggest that barebacking in porn is attributable to the rise in HIV infection rates among gay youth. Suggesting that there is a correlation when the CDC has devoted a tremendous amount of resources to studying this issue is like yelling fire in a crowded theater. Every website that caters to MSM sex has a question about one’s sero status. That’s what kids rely in for information. Because of that no one speaks about HIV anymore. Think about it.
Paco
Barebacking in porn has become common because there is a demand for it. It is what people are doing in real life and they also want to see it while enjoying their rosy palms. BUT, employers do have an obligation to provide a safe work environment for their employees, especially when the job puts the workers in direct contact with potentially infectious bodily fluids.
michael mellor
Porn is such a horrible enterprise all round. It is basically prostitution on film.
The women who do porn for kink.com are really quite disgusting and creepy as they allow themselves to be hit and choked while straight men and lesbians penetrate them.
This co-operation between straight men and lesbians is utterly degrading to the cause and rights of GLBT people.
Saint Law
@michael mellor: “The cooperation between straight men and lesbians is utterly degrading to the cause and rights of GLBT.”
This sort of drool makes your’Jim Bryant’ sock-puppet sound sane by comparison.
michael mellor
Saint Law,
Your response is pathetic. Try being intellectual next time.
CJones01
@samwise343:
Let’s add in some additional factors. The average age for the first time a male to begin using porn in 11, and at least one major study was canceled because there was no control group (males who have never seen or used porn). The standard of sex education i this country is appalling. It ranges from “comprehensive,” which neglects the LGBT community entirely, to pretty much nonexistent. Studies about teenage STI transmission and pregnancy soars in areas with little to no sex education.
If I had no working knowledge of consent, self advocacy and sexual responsibility, and gleaned all my knowledge of gay sex from redtube, I can’t imagine how different my sex life would be. Because apparently, one’s viewing habits may dictate behavior: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24729135
I’m not saying barebacking is bad, and I’m not saying bareback porn is bad. It’s a personal choice. I think that if the industry wants to provide this entertainment, they should also provide something more than a 15 second still frame at the beginning of a scene.
Random
The curious thing is, whenever someone comes along and suggest that the widespread availability of porn over the internet is not necessarily a good thing and it should be curtailed, men – both gay and straight – throw their hands up in horror, and state unequivocally, that pornography is ‘just a fantasy’, and doesn’t influence their real life behaviour.
Fair enough.
But then when the issue of how to tackle HIV infections arises, gay men swiftly point to bareback pornography as being a primary factor.
So either we are influenced by watching porn, or we’re not. And if porn does impact on our behaviour, should we also be looking to ban other genres ie. BDSM, alongside bareback porn? Indeed, some have argued that ALL pornography has a corrosive effect on sexual relations so should we look at banning it altogether?
My own view is that gay men tend to look for easy answers when it comes to HIV and making bareback porn illegal definitely falls into that category. But if bareback porn IS banned and HIV infections continue to rise, what happens then? Ban anal sex too…?
tdx3fan
@Paul Nadolski: I believe the Easter Bunny and Santa come to my house once a year… the rest of the time they are off getting laid. Wait… no I don’t. My point being, you can believe anything. Show me some actual studies. The reason that there is a rise in HIV rates in younger adults is because they think they are invincible and that they can always just take meds if they actually contact the virus. Some of them, shockingly enough, actually believe that it is inevitable that they will contract the virus anyways, so they simply don’t care (that is more a side effect of the just say no to unsafe sex education era). It probably doesn’t help that education in general fails in the area of sexuality.
I think porn is by far the last thing to blame. Especially when you consider that a great deal of bareback porn is probably not what these kids would want to watch anyways.
tdx3fan
@CJones01: You linked an abstract. There is no telling what the actual text of the article says. Also, the article (study) cannot prove causation. Perhaps the reason that men viewing bareback porn are more likely to engage in unprotected behavior is that they were already into bareback to begin with which is why they watched it on porn. Hmm!
DCFarmboi
@samwise343: If condom use is just the “personal preference” that some people have rather than an objective good, then I am tired of my tax dollars going to facilitate some one else’s personal preferences. Let’s end all of the government grants and charitable tax exemptions to these “AIDS prevention” groups that push condoms.