A syphilis outbreak in 2012 - which porn star Mr. In 2004, some producers briefly adopted condom use on their sets after an HIV outbreak. That wasn’t the first time the porn industry has dealt with this issue. If they do care that much about the performers, they would use condoms.” “Ultimately, it’s just a big industry, and their main concern is money. “Condoms in porn is not really that crazy a thing,” Daily, who has also performed in gay porn, said at the time. Weeks after their diagnoses, Bay and Daily called on the adult film industry to create safeguards that protects its employees, many of whom say they often feel pressured to perform sex scenes unprotected out of fear of being replaced in an industry that rakes in $11 billion worldwide, even with the threat of piracy. The contentious issue got renewed traction last year when two adult film stars - Cameron Bay and Rod Daily - tested positive for HIV, prompting studios to cease production temporarily.
Measure B’s proponents, however, say that adult film stars’ safety should take priority over production companies’ freedom of expression, especially in light of a 2013 study in the Journal of Sexually Transmitted Diseases that found that nearly one-third of 168 adult film actors who took part in a research project had a previously undiagnosed sexually transmitted disease. Some porn stars themselves have also spoken out against the ballot initiative, expressing concerns about the marketability of safe sex in hardcore porn and the irritability of latex during the filming of extended sex scenes.
FIRST GAY PORN MOVIE TO FEATURE CONDOMS FREE
Members of Free Speech Coalition, a trade group that supports the porn industry, said that adult film companies have submitted fewer than 30 permits this year - a far cry from the nearly 500 that are usually filled out annually - for production in Los Angeles County. Since the passage of Measure B, adult film companies have remained relentless in their pursuit of free speech, taking their business to neighboring areas like Las Vegas. Compulsory condom use, however, remained mostly relegated to those who performed in gay sex scenes. In the years prior to the passage of the ballot initiative, adult film companies required that actors test for sexually transmitted diseases every 28 days. The mandate, known as Measure B, requires producers of pornography to take a blood-borne pathogen training course, post a sign on set, and enforce condom use for anal and vaginal sex. “The condom mandate has only a de minimus effect on expression, is narrowly tailored to achieve the substantial government interest of reducing the rate of sexually transmitted infections, and leaves open adequate alternative means of expression,” Circuit Judge Susan Graber wrote in her opinion about the challenge brought on by adult film company Vivid Entertainment, LLC. That means porn stars in Los Angeles County will be required to depict safe sex, at least for now.
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit disqualified a pornography company’s argument that the measure violated its First Amendment rights. A 2012 ballot initiative requiring adult film stars to wear condoms while filming sex scenes survived a constitutional challenge this week, when the U.S.