- By Vanessa Belmond - Ex-Porn Performer, Stripper, Camgirl & "Escort"

- Anti-Porn and Anti-Prostitution Writer, Speaker and Activist

- AntiPornography.org Volunteer

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I'm often skeptical when a law is proposed that will impose more regulations on businesses, and this was my mindset when I was working in the porn industry in 2012 and I first heard about the new "condoms in porn" measure for Los Angeles County. Measure B is an ordinance that was proposed to "require producers of adult films to obtain a public health permit from the County; follow all health and safety laws, including condom use; and pay a permit fee sufficient to cover all enforcement costs."(1)

When I look back, I realize that my real concern was that Measure B would slow down porn production, and therefore make it harder for me to "get work." Well that was over a year ago, and Measure B passed in November of 2012.

Recently a new law was proposed: Assembly Bill 332. AB 332 would impose the same requirements as Measure B throughout all of California. My first thought this time was: "This has to pass." Amazing what a difference a year can make, right? 

Ever since I left porn a few months ago I've had to take a hard look at myself, my choices, and the harsh truth about the "adult" industry, and I've realized that sometimes regulations are in fact needed -- especially in an industry that has next to no regulation.

The truth is that the porn industry is ridiculously under-regulated. No other industry gets away with as little regulation as the porn industry does, and it's time for that to change. I'm not a fan of big government, but in this case the government needs to step in and protect the performers in the industry. (And the members of the public who sexually interact with them.)

Sexually transmitted diseases are entirely too common in porn and the testing system alone clearly isn't working. (For more on this issue please see my other article on how unsafe the porn industry is: "Is Porn Sex Healthy and Safe Because Porn Stars Get Tested? What About Stripping and Escorting?" - Porn Lie #2 of 100 Exposed Click here.)      

The testing system works like this: Every month each performer has to go to Cutting Edge or Talent Testing to test for HIV, chlamydia and gonorrhea. There is a syphilis test administered every six months. If someone gets a clean test result, they are free to shoot for that entire month without ever re-testing. That means that a performer can test clean, catch something the next day, and continue to work and unknowingly spread it around to other performers and their off-set partners for the entire month before they test again.

Opponents of condom laws will argue that the testing system is fine and that the industry is "clean." This is a lie. And why wouldn't they lie? No one wants to turn off porn consumers or admit that STDs run rampant in the industry.

All one has to do is look at the case of porn performer Mr. Marcus to see some of the problems with the testing system. Marcus contracted syphilis and then knowingly altered his test results so he could continue shooting and earning income in porn.(2) Although the performers that he worked with luckily came up negative, there were nine other cases of syphilis in the porn industry during that time span.(3)

Yes, syphilis is curable. So are chlamydia and gonorrhea, which are both very common in porn. But the more these diseases are spread around and cured with antibiotics, the more they become resistant to treatment. Already there have been cases of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea occurring around the world.(4) With thousands of performers coming through the L.A. porn industry every year and contracting these STDs, I believe there will only be more antibiotic-resistant strains of sexually transmitted diseases and infections occurring in the future.

This is not just a "porn performer" problem. This is a problem for anyone that is sexually active, including the non-industry sexual partners of porn performers. It's also important to keep in mind that the majority of women in porn "escort" on the side, often engage in oral sex without condoms while doing so, and sometimes also allow intercourse without condoms. (If the price is right.) If any other industry operated this way, especially one where there was such a high risk of contracting diseases, there would likely be mass protests and outrage from the public and from government officials. Why should the porn industry be treated any differently?

Performers and directors often like to bring up "performer choice" when it comes to this issue. What choice? Anyone working in the industry knows (even if they refuse to acknowledge it) that there really isn't much of a "choice." If you dare to go condom-only, you will not get hired, period. (Unless you are one of a very small group of contract performers for one high-end studio -- Wicked.) There are very few companies that will even consider shooting a man or woman that demands condoms. With all of the competition out there it's simply not feasible to go condom only, or for active performers to even come out in support of condom laws. (Only Aurora Snow and Jenna Haze have done so openly that I know of. If anyone knows of any other active performers who have spoken out in favor of condoms in porn, please let me know by tweeting me at @ExPornStarVLB. Thanks.)

Ultimately the company owners, directors and producers run the show, and they don't want to shoot porn with condoms because they are too concerned that their "customers" don't want it and won't purchase it. (Note: The use of condoms could be edited out of films in post-production, if the porn producers chose to do so, so they can't really use that excuse of condoms turning off their "customers." But the producers aren't willing to use that solution because it would cost them additional money which they're not willing to spend because that would cut into their profits.)

Porn defenders love to put out the illusion that the "stars" or the women in porn control the industry, but that is far from the truth. Sure there are some women that have done well for themselves and that own companies or direct movies. But they are a minority. The fact is that female performers are a dime a dozen in the porn industry, and if a woman insists on using condoms, they just won't shoot her. There are fifty more women that are just as pretty as her that need the work, and those other women won't demand that condoms be used. The bottom line is that agencies won't even bother taking on a woman that will only work in porn with condoms. It would just be a waste of their time because they wouldn't be able to get her any work. 

As I said before, every industry has regulations, and in my opinion sometimes too much regulation. But porn has been able to flout reasonable, appropriate and fair regulations for far too long, resulting in far too many preventable diseases and infections being contracted and spread that have severely affected many performers' lives. (And their partners.) Additionally the general public is affected by having a large population spreading STDs around, and they deserve protection as well.

The sad fact is that most porn performers simply aren't going to stand up for their own health and safety because many of them are too young, naive, transient, uninformed, in need of work, or afraid of the repercussions, etc. So it's time for the government to step in and ensure that the porn industry protects the performers that they claim to care about. 

Ultimately porn needs to be held accountable for treating their workers properly, just like any other industry. For many years now porn has tried to present itself as "just another business," so it's only fair and about time that the government treated them that way. 

As many as twenty-two cases of HIV have been detected in porn or tied to the industry since 2004,(5) and chlamydia and gonorrhea are considered "no big deal" because everyone contracts one or both regularly. Herpes is not even tested for, and while it's rarely talked about, it's a known fact that many performers contract it at some point in their "career." This situation is completely unacceptable when the majority of these diseases and infections could be prevented with condom use. 

So. Porn wants to be seen as a "legitimate industry"? Let's treat them like one. Pass AB 322.   

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REFERENCES:

1) & 5) L.A. Supervisors to Certify Election Results Tuesday; Condoms in Porn/Ballot Measure B Becomes Law

- By AIDS Healthcare Foundation - Dec. 5, 2012

http://www.aidshealth.org/archives/15276 

2) Mr. Marcus Admits Starting Porn Syphilis Outbreak By Altering His Test Results

- By Kathleen Miles, The Huffington Post - August 23, 2012

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/23/mr-marcus-admits-porn-syphilis-scare-alter-test_n_1826003.html

3) More cases of syphilis in porn found by LA inquiry 

- By Shaya Tayefe Mohajer - Aug. 21, 2012

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/more-cases-syphilis-porn-found-la-inquiry-002123078.html

4) Sex and the Superbug: Meet Antibiotic-Resistant Gonorrhea

- By TakePart.com - May 24, 2013

http://news.yahoo.com/sex-superbug-meet-antibiotic-resistant-gonorrhea-191743846.html

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FOR IN DEPTH INFORMATION ABOUT AB 322 AND TO SUPPORT IT, PLEASE VISIT Fair4Ca.org AND FOLLOW  @Fair4Ca AT TWITTER. 

Also please check out the below articles:

Condoms In Porn? Just Another Day for Wicked Pictures

- By Chris Morris, CNBC.com - 15 Jan 2013

Now that voters in Los Angeles have passed a resolution mandating condoms be worn in any adult films shot in the county, porn companies are scrambling to fight the law. Among their arguments is that the presence of prophylactics ruins the fantasy elements of their films – and that using them will cause further declines in already slumping DVD sales. But that reasoning conveniently ignores Wicked Pictures. Since the late 1990s, the studio has been using condoms in all of its films, yet it is still one of the biggest filmmakers in the porn industry. "We've never waved our flag about it; it's just something we do," says president and owner Steve Orenstein

L.A. County Clears Immoral Productions in Condom Investigation

- By Dan Miller, XBIZ.com - May 21 2013

“The way the County is interpreting the law and enforcing it, it’s livable,” Leal said. “Go out and get your Film LA permit, it’s roughly $800. Get your County Health permit, it should be under $2000 a year, and use condoms for anal and vaginal sex. My sales haven’t taken a dip, my sales are increasing.”

Condoms in Porn: One Adult Star Says Yes to Measure B

- By Aurora Snow,The Daily Beast - Oct 18, 2012

Knowing that a person I am working with is tested doesn’t always mean they are STD free. Not everyone that works in porn has sex within the industry, nor do they always use condoms in their private lives, which increases the STD transmission risk from performer to performer between tests. Some of the industry men I know often date three or four girls at a time: there is the main squeeze, the distant girlfriend, the mistress, and the random one-night stand. I have been one of those girls, and not known I was one of a crowd. With the high sexual activity of performers both in and outside of the business, when an STD scare happens it can be lengthy due to reinfection rates from partners that have been treated still having sex with those that haven’t. Even though telling someone you gave them an STD is the right thing to do so they can be treated for it, it is a talk most people would rather avoid. This is a part of being in the adult business; it’s the less glamorous side.

Bringing something like condoms into porn may contribute to ruining the fantasy, because in fantasy land no one has to think about safety. But if I were your girlfriend, your sister, your mother, or your daughter, what would you want the law to be?

All Porn Stars Should Wear Condoms: An Ex-Porn Star Speaks Out for Change in the Adult Film Industry

- By Jessie Rogers, BroBible.com - June 4, 2013

AB-332 was an Occupational safety and health bill for the State of California's adult film industry that was recently put on hold in an appropriations committee. The chair of the board, Mike Gatto, rejected the bill. This bill would implement safety and health regulations on adult film sets which would have helped open the door to performers getting workers compensation and benefits such as paid STD testing, paid vaccinations, and all medical follow up. Coming in to the adult industry at 18 years old, everyone glamorized it to me and told me it was safe. But I found out a lot the hard way.

What made me really step back and think twice about the industry was when they had the syphilis scare in the summer of 2012. The way they were handling it was very unorganized. Then I realized how they pretty much disregard all the STD's except HIV. Porn stars do get tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea, but treat it as if it's just a common cold. I even know some performers who like to refer to gonorrhea or the clap as “the pussy flu.” I know I can’t speak for all adult entertainers, but I can speak for some performers because I befriended and even dated a lot of people in the industry, so I know their true feelings about the bill. They obviously aren't going to speak out like I have because then the industry will shun them and they won't get work anymore. They say there is a “choice,” but if you choose to work with a condom they will flat out tell you that there are hundreds of other girls willing to work without one.

Porn star 'Mr. Marcus' sentenced to jail in LA for exposing female co-stars to syphilis

- By M. Alex Johnson, NBC News - June 4, 2013

An adult video star known as "Mr. Marcus" was sentenced Tuesday to 30 days in jail for knowingly having exposed at least two female co-stars to syphilis last year.

Mr. Marcus, 42 — whose real name is Jesse Spencer and who was inducted into the Adult Video News Hall of Fame four years ago — was the main figure in a scandal over the spread of the communicable disease that temporarily halted video productions last year.

Spencer, who admitted having altered documents recording the results of mandatory medical tests all porn actors must take, pleaded no contest in Los Angeles Superior Court to knowingly exposing another to a communicable disease. He was also sentenced 36 months' probation and 15 days of community labor.

The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office said Spencer got a penicillin shot on July 13 after having tested positive for syphilis. After he tested positive again eight days later, he altered a photocopy of the original test form, it said

Is Porn Sex Healthy and Safe Because Porn Stars Get Tested? What About Stripping and Escorting? - Porn Lie #2 of 100 Exposed

- By Vanessa Belmond, AntiPornography.org - April 2013

I've wanted to address something for quite awhile. It's a lie I hear constantly about the "adult film" business. I couldn't speak out before -- after all, I was a "pornstar." I felt like I had to defend the porn industry work no matter what, and make it look good. Letting the "fans" and the public in on this dirty secret would be terrible for business. But now I've broken free from the hold the porn industry had on me, and I'm ready to speak on it.

Disease. Illness. Infection. Yup. The porn industry will tell you over and over again that "porn sex is safe!" They will say that because performers test regularly, (every month or every two weeks, depending on the company or person you're working with), it's under control. Nothing to see here folks, everything's clean and safe! 

Nope. Now, when it comes to HIV, no, you probably won't get that. It's most definitely a risk, but to their credit, the porn industry has managed to keep HIV rates within the business low. That, however, does NOT make porn sex safe! Not by a long shot. Want an example? I got chlamydia from my first scene. That's right, my first scene! I was told by my agent that it was no big deal, that it happens all the time. Just take the meds and forget about it. So, I did. But that was far from the only time this industry would get me sick.

I went on to contract chlamydia two more times. And that was nothing compared to the other health problems I had to deal with. I got pink eye every few months or so. It was sometimes the result of "cumshots" (ejaculations or our faces, also known as "facials"), but it was also from dirty sets and just swapping fluids with so many different people. The sets are often not disinfected, and sometimes there's no shower on set so you have to wait until you get home to clean up. It's really disgusting!

Read the rest of this article. Click here.

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Please feel free to read more of my writing about the harms of pornography, prostitution, stripping, and related issues! Click HERE.