Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place.
The porn industry has sure seen it’s ups and downs (pun intended). And now, there’s a new down (for them anyway). New legislation in LA, that was just put into effect, is requiring all porn stars to wear condoms during every ‘main event’ scene or else the city will not permit their film to be produced. Harsh? Perhaps. Wrong? Maybe. Legal? Yes. It appears the fine state of California has always had a ban against noncompliance for adult porn stars and condom usage – who knew? So now what happens? I thought California was in debt? I thought illegal immigration was still an issue? I thought drug related crime was still high? So the city of Los Angeles decides it’s really going to devote it’s police/investigative units/time and money into ‘busting’ adult film producers for their ‘stars’ not wearing condoms during sex scenes? Really? I must be missing something.
Now don’t get me wrong – I out of all people – commend the use of condoms during sex, but this tactic seems a bit on the overboard side. After all, those in the porn industry itself (for the majority) have been safely abiding by their own policies they had set up decades ago when dealing with STDs. I did a blog about it back in June – Sexually Responsible Porn Stars? – citing how the industry has changed to protect their ‘star’s’ sexual health. I almost feel sorry for many of those producers now – they didn’t even get a chance to debate this decision. The city made it while most of them are in Vegas right now for one of the biggest venues for porn – the Adult Entertainment Expo. Here’s the full article.
For the City of LA (and those of you reading this), what we need is new legislation in sexual education and STD testing. Kids (young adults) are having sex earlier than ever before, STDs are still on the rise…and the abstinence scare tactics, and now mandatory condom usage, is not the way to combat this problem. It needs to start at the beginning, when young boys and girls start thinking about and having sexual desires. I mean, for crying out loud, the majority of teens (in most states) can’t even get tested or screened for STDs on their own without some sort of approval by someone over 18 stating to be their legal guardian – so instead, they have sex and then don’t tell any legal guardian(s) until one day when they end up with symptoms/health issues they have never seen before! Our system as a society is completely backwards when dealing with sex and STDs. Earlier comprehensive sex education (on multiple levels) and confidential treatment options for teenagers is key. That way, when they do grow into adulthood, we will then perhaps have a society that doesn’t think twice about why porn stars are wearing condoms in their films in the first place.
Instead, we have film producers that will most likely leave LA now and start up shop again somewhere else in a state where this condom usage law doesn’t exist yet – and then what? Well, for one thing, I’ll certainly be doing another blog (which now is really more like a full length article) about it I’m sure. At any rate, it will be very interesting to see what happens from here. Who knows, perhaps the Mayans were right, the world WILL end this year come Dec 21st…and perhaps…this is what starts it all.
In the meantime, if you’re having sex with multiple partners and not sure about their sexual health status, do what the porn stars do – get tested. It’s simple, confidential and inexpensive…and yes, unfortunately you need to be 18 or older to order confidentially – that is the law (for now). So if you are under 18, telling someone to help you get tested is far better than waiting until you have symptoms and/or health issues. Yes, you might be punished…but making sure you know whether or not you have any STDs is worth getting grounded for a week or two. Some of these STDs like Chlamydia and Gonorrhea can do a lot of damage internally with no external symptoms for a very long time and you can then transmit them to other people you may have sex with…and so on and so forth. Use condoms and get tested, not because one day it could be against the law if you don’t, but because it’s the right thing to do.
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