LOS ANGELES, CA, December 9, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The porn industry has shut itself down for the second time in three months over concerns about actors and actresses contracting HIV/AIDS. The industry shut down in September when four “performers” contracted HIV/AIDS.
According to reports, a heterosexual “performer” – the industry's word for someone who engages in sexual acts on camera – was found to have contracted HIV/AIDS during routine testing. Last year, the voters of Los Angeles enacted a ballot measure to require the use of condoms in the porn industry. It was upheld by a judge earlier this year.
The industry has said the use of condoms hurts tape sales, and causes other problems such as rashes in screenings that go for several hours – which increases the odds of infections being spread, it claims. HIV/AIDS testing is done every two weeks instead of using condoms, which the Free Speech Coalition – the major trade group in the pornography industry – says is preferred by performers.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein – whose organization pushed the ballot measure in LA – told ABC News in September that “we need to stop taking medical advice from pornographers.” Weinstein was critical of the LA county inspectors for allegedly not investigating non-condom-using pornography businesses.
The ballot measure is being credited for drastically diminishing the number of pornography permits requested in LA in 2013, and driving filmmakers to take their business out of LA, which at one point hosted over 90% of porn filming.
The harm of the pornography industry to performers is well-recorded. According to the faith-based Pink Cross Foundation, which works to transition people out of the industry through emotional, financial, and other support, the average life span for a performer is 36 years old, less than half of that of the total American population. Morality in Media has recorded dozens of HIV/AIDS cases, as well as other sexually transmitted infections, that have harmed performers.
According to Morality in Media President Pat Trueman, “this is a tragedy that repeats itself every few months. But harm to the actors is just a small part of the tragedy. The public is incurring a pandemic of harms, including addiction to adults and children, broken marriages, abused and exploited women and children, sexual dysfunction and a host of other ills, all associated with pornography.”