Porn makers face complaints of unprotected sex
AIDS activists are up in arms because porn actors are not required to use condoms, arguing this creates an unsafe work environment! California OSHA claims the porn business is already required to provide a safe and healthy work environment! As if there is anything safe or healthy about working in that business! This AP story is from MSNBC
Porn makers face complaints of unprotected sex
updated 5:26 p.m. PT, Thurs., Aug 20, 2009LOS ANGELES – An AIDS advocacy group filed complaints Thursday with state officials against 16 production companies that show unprotected sex in porn movies.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation filed the action with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, alleging the practice amounts to unsafe behavior in a California workplace.
“We will not stop until there is a policy of requiring condoms to be used in porn,” foundation president Michael Weinstein said.
By law, U.S. adult film actors must prove they have tested negative for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases within 30 days of going to work on a film.
CalOSHA spokesman Dean Fryer said the regulatory agency requires workers in any industry where there is a “possibility of transmission of fluids,” including health care and adult films, to reduce the risk of disease transmission.
“The employers of porn actors are required to provide a safe and healthy work environment,” Fryer said.
Nearly 60 adult DVDs accompany the complaints against Hustler Video, Maverick Entertainment, Vivid and other porn production companies in Los Angeles. Many people in the multibillion-dollar industry oppose the use of condoms in the films.
Hustler publisher Larry Flynt told The Associated Press, “people who enjoy viewing adult films do not want to see people using condoms.”
“While it might provide some additional protection, the sales are not going to be there to make the effort worthwhile for the actors and actresses,” he said.
Weinstein, however, said AIDS could be spread through the on-camera behavior and noted that many people get their sex education from the movies.
Watching unprotected sex could prompt them to be careless during sex acts, he said.
The labor complaints are part of the AIDS advocacy group’s broader campaign to mandate the use of condoms in porn.
“Our elected officials and our government are treating the young people who are performing in these films as trash that don’t deserve protection,” Weinstein said.
Weinstein said no legislators have agreed to sponsor the group’s proposal to mandate condoms in porn movies.
Mr. Weinstein may mean well, but he ought to know there is far greater risk to women in the porn industry than men, though not from HIV. There are plenty of real sexually transmitted diseases to be concerned about, but women in that business are treated as trash as a matter of course. That is the whole point of pornography. Mr. Flynt is correct that the viewers do not want to see condoms, but one might ask, why is that? I think it is because they do not want to think of the women as human beings, so protecting the women from diseases is the last thing they care about. Women in pornography are just sex objects, by definition. Their safety and comfort is besides the point. Men watching pornography like to see women being used and abused. That is the point of the exercise, not whether the women get hurt, sick, or scarred psychologically. Preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases is laudable, but the porn business is a disease in itself. That some take lessons in sex education from pornography shows just how sick this culture is. People should know pornography has nothing to do with healthy sexual relations. Mandating condom use will not change that in the slightest, though it might prevent some transmission of disease. If Mr. Weinstein and his foundation are really concerned about the health and well-being of women in the pornography business, they should agitate to have the women liberated, provided decent ways to make a living.
One Gyrl’s Take on the Stop Porn Culture Conference:
Rape as a Weapon of War:
Palin Power: Fresh Face Now More Popular Than Obama, McCain:
Drugs from genetically engineered animals poised to debut in U.S.:
Dept. of Agriculture Bans Raw Almonds:
Time to believe Gaza war crimes allegations:
Israel Plans to Nuke Iran?:
The Trouble with Pornography:
The Glass-Steagall Act:
LA Medical Marijuana Clinics Raided:
Cancer clusters surround cell phone towers:
Wiccan symbol allowed on military headstones:
Round #1 Compromise on Climate Bill: Cut Clean Energy Requirements:
In Health Care Battle, a Truce on Abortion:
Heart Locks Down Her Blogs:
Why Women Are Revolting:
Fear of losing drove US ground raid in Pakistan:
Child Protective Services Prosecutes Mother For Defying Doctor: