PORN ACTORS DO NOT WANT RUBBERS TO GET BETWEEN THEM AND THEIR LIVELYHOOD

The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards board voted down a proposal to make actors use rubbers while filming porn movies

Dozens of porn actors appeared before the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards board to voice their opposition to a proposal which would have required actors to use rubbers while filming porn movies. They succeeded … at least for the time being.

For those not familiar with the scene, there are thousands of men and women participating in pornography films. Porno is not an underground industry! To the mom and dads of aspiring actresses who went to Hollywood to make it big, you might ask yourselves, 'is our darling little daughter getting fucked in films?' And mom, if you pushed the little darling with your dreams of her being a 'Hollywood star,' has your dream turned into a nightmare?

PORN STARS APPLAUD FAILED VOTE ON TIGHTER RULES

By Matthias Gafni

San Jose Mercury News
February 19, 2016

OAKLAND -- More than 100 adult film workers at a packed auditorium erupted in cheers Thursday afternoon after a state workplace protection board shot down proposed regulations that some predicted would have spelled the end of California's legal porn industry.

After six hours of emotional testimony at the Elihu M. Harris State Building by porn actors, producers, agents and couples who broadcast sex through a webcam in their own home, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards board fell one vote short of approving new rules requiring the performers to use condoms, goggles, gloves and other fluid barriers, while recording sex acts. The board voted 3-2 in favor of the regulations, but a fourth vote was needed for approval.

Mona Wales, a Silicon Valley porn actress who has been in the industry for four years, celebrated outside the meeting.

"I'm just utterly thrilled. It seems like it's the first time they understand the flaw of not listening to the sex workers," she said. "Had this passed, as a legal industry, porn would have ceased to exist in California."

Advocates argued that the rules are needed to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, but Thursday's audience was predominantly opposed to the new rules with performers and producers flying in from around the country. They described how the added regulations would make their products "unsellable," and force workers to ply their trade in places where there are no regulations. Others shared stories of harassment and fear that made them concerned that some medical records would be kept by their employers under the new rules.

Mickey Mod, an Oakland high school graduate who's been in the porn industry as an actor for more than eight years, said no one cared for their bodies as much as sex workers, and the new rules would make the industry less safe.

"You would see a shift of people moving out of state or underground," Mod said. "You would see a shift of people moving to comply with the regulations, but they will struggle to be competitive."

Sex workers argued that the current industry standard has kept them safe for decades except for two instances of on-set transmission of HIV. Currently, adult performers are tested for HIV, chlamydia and other sexually transmitted diseases every two weeks and actors share those results with each other before any scene is filmed.

"They're looking for a problem that's not there. There's not a threat to the public and there's not a threat to ourselves," said 33-year adult film veteran Nina Hartley, who said she felt safer having sex on a porn set than after meeting someone at a bar. "You can't make the risk zero, for that you must be celibate."

But a handful of speakers who spoke disagreed and said stricter workplace protections were needed. Joshua Rogers and Sofia Delgado spoke about how they became HIV-positive while working on the adult film industry in 2013.

"I strongly support condoms and testing together," Rogers told the board.

The two dissenting CalOSHA board members Dave Harrison and Barbara Smisko had differing reasons for their "no" votes. Smisko had reservations about medical confidentiality issues, while Harrison felt there needed to be more input from within the industry.

"I'm more torn over this than I can ever explain," Harrison told the crowd before his vote. "I don't think I'm ready to vote today ... without more involvement from the industry."

Despite the vote, board Chairman David Thomas told the crowd of sex workers that the requirement to wear condoms was inevitable.

"You're already required to wear condoms, you're just not doing it," he said.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation has been pushing for the increased regulations. The organization also stressed that CalOSHA regulations already require condoms to be used in adult films, but the requirement is largely ignored.

"This is not private, consensual sex behavior," foundation spokesman Jed Kensley told the board. "This is employment, it's different."

The same issue will appear on the November ballot with the Condoms in Pornographic Films Initiative, a ballot measure requiring condoms to be used during adult film sex scenes. In 2012, Los Angeles County voters approved a local ordinance requiring condoms while performing sex in adult films there.

The board voted Thursday to start the process over, with more industry input, and return with new rules within a year.