Jizz-covered sluts everywhere choked out a gag of relief this weekend as the as-yet-unidentified porn performer whose positive HIV test caused voluntary shutdowns on porn shoots across Southern California last week took a follow-up test which came back negative, according to reports. That makes this pretty much the best day ever, as long as the performer doesn’t turn out to be Evan Stone. (I kid, I kid. I wouldn’t wish AIDs on anyone, not even that cheesy, gap-toothed mongoloid).
HIV tests detect antibodies to the virus in a person’s blood. But because they are developed to be especially sensitive, they can sometimes generate a false positive result, according to the World Health Organization. Therefore, positive results must be confirmed by another test method.
That other test method? You guessed it, the if-your-hand-is-bigger-than-your-face test.
The HIV scare came less than one month after the Free Speech Coalition [the adult film industry’s main lobbying group -Ed] launched a new online sexual health database aimed at preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among porn actors through mandatory testing. To be listed in the database — a requisite for getting work — porn actors must get tested every 30 days and present a clean bill of health. But critics say routine testing does not prevent STDs from creeping in.
“Testing is not a substitute for condom use, and it never will be,” said Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation in Los Angeles. “No test can detect HIV from the moment of infection. There will always be a window period,” which might not reflect recent infection.
If only adult performers weren’t having so much sex outside of their porn shoots, we wouldn’t have this problem. Sadly, that sluts make the best porn stars is the industry’s dirty little secret. Tis a paradox.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is pushing for mandatory condom use in the making of adult films — a move that’s met with strong resistance from the industry itself.
“If the market would accept condom-positive movies, that’s what we would all be making. The fact is consumers don’t want that,” Christian Mann, general manger of Evil Angel Productions and unpaid Free Speech Coalition board member, told ABCNews.com when the database launched.
“The market will always trump regulation,” said Mann. “If you make it so California-based productions cannot compete in the market, you’ll just drive production out of the state.”
And doggone it, porn is one of Southern California’s only remaining exports. If we lose that, we’ll be just like Hollywood.
The adult entertainment industry has had its share of sexual health scares. In 1998, veteran porn actor Mark Wallice tested HIV-positive after reputedly hiding his positive status for two years and infecting several co-stars. In 2004, Darren James spread the virus to three women, shutting down film production industrywide for a month. And in 2009, a positive HIV test for a performer known only as “Patient Zero” [I believe they mean the Derrick Burts case in 2010 -Ed] sparked a legal battle between the California Department of Occupational Safety and Health and AIM Medical Associates over performers’ rights to medical privacy. [ABC]
Just to go further down the rabbit hole (possible porn title?), the Darren James case in 2004 was reportedly caused when James was in Brazil having unprotected anal sex (IMPORTANT GOOGLE SEARCH TERMS) with Brazilian actress Bianca Biaggi. Back in the US, he ended up infecting Lara Roxx (who’d only been in the industry two months at the time), Miss Arroyo and Czech-born Jessica Dee. Here’s the unnecessarily-detailed block quote for that:
In all three cases, the performer is believed to have been infected while performing in a double anal scene, an extreme sex scene that involves two men simultaneously inserting their penises into the woman’s anus [THANKS FOR THE CLARIFICATION -Ed.].
All three scenes also involved an internal ejaculation into the woman’s vagina.
Mark Anthony was the other male in all three scenes. Currently quarantined, Anthony’s first HIV test was negative. [AVN, 2004]
So this Mark Anthony guy did three double-anal scenes swordfighting with a guy who was HIV positive, and managed to not get infected? He must have a charmed penis. A charmed, disgusting, poop-covered penis [Hello, Pulitzer committee? I’ve got something you have to read!].
ABCNews.com spoke to several performers who favor mandatory testing over mandatory condom use. Bobbi Starr, a relative newcomer with five years in the industry, said she wouldn’t work with someone with a troubling sexual health history.
Really? Because… uh… you work in porn.
And Nina Hartley, a veteran porn performer with 27 years in the industry and a degree in nursing [and mouthpiece for the Free Speech Coalition], argued that condoms make on-set sex uncomfortable and possibly more dangerous.
“I would say it’s different in a civilian population,” said Hartley. “But public health is not served by forcing a small group of professionals to use condoms instead of being tested.”
The new HIV case brings all these issues to the fore again.
“There really cannot be an argument over the fact that these performers would be far safer if they used condoms,” said Weinstein.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is lobbying for a measure on L.A.’s June 2012 ballot that would mandate condom use in porn productions that seek city film permits. [ABC]
From what I’ve read, all of the HIV cases thus far have occurred outside of the mandatory testing standards in the US (it’s a little unclear in the Darren James case — he clearly caught it from someone not subject to the testing standards, but once back in the US, testing apparently wasn’t enough to keep him from infecting others). Mandatory condom use probably would make performers a little safer, provided they actually followed the rules (kind of a big if, especially when it’s only a city ordinance). But hey, I don’t have all the answers, I’m just some jackass with a website. All I know is that if someone’s making a Cosby Show porn parody, “The F*ckstables” would be an awesome title.