Pornstars Protest Tougher Condom Rules

'Pornstars protest tougher condom rules,' written just that way in lower case, thank you LA Times, as a headline in the Los Angeles Times, Wed. June 30 edition. Even the LA Times acknowledges that pornstars are made after a single performance, and since the Times refers to 'performers' without getting more specific, readers are assuming this is an industry wide development. The State of California Occupational Safety and Health Division (Cal/OSHA) is considering requiring condom use in all porn made in California. Well, they're talking about straight porn here...'the performers said they understood the risks of not using condoms, but believe current industry practices, which involve screening for some sexually transmitted diseases monthly, were enough to protect them.' Nina Hartley was quoted as saying she didn't feel 'any safer' with condoms. Nina should know what she's talking about and no other performer...pornstar, if you will, was reported...and that's where the Times left it. The bureaucrats are merely doing their job, and the article goes on to touch on 'employee (pornstar!) exposure to bloodborne pathogens,' 'at least 8 people were employed in the adult film industry at the time of their HIV diagnoses,' '4 of those people are confirmed to have been infected during an adult film production,' ah, well...hello. They're obviously not talking gay porn here. And then the LA County Health Dept. weighed in, saying that condoms should be required on porn sets...the San Fernando Valley, which is within the City of Los Angeles, as is Hollywood, is within the jurisdiction of LA County, and that would mean virtually every mainstream straight porn 'studio.' Gay porn is never mentioned, much less gay bareback porn...but one assumes that Cal/OSHA would make no distinction...and the squareball Times reporter, Rong-Gong Lin II (yes) didn't delve further. Of course, no decision was made at the Cal OSHA meeting in Los Angeles, and the issue was shelved until a meeting later this year in San Francisco. Of course Miss Chi Chi LaRue's stand on this issue is well-known, and she is not alone, but the bareback porn studios just blow this off. I doubt anything will come of this because of the ambivalence of the general public, but can you imagine the great California porn industry (San Francisco, Palm Springs, San Diego) industry relocating to south of the border, down Tijuana way? No shortage of new hot talent there.