BDSM MEDIA NEWS!!!!
November 12, 2013
CALIFORNIA: Will porn actors have to wear safety glasses?
* A bill requiring condoms during porn shoots is currently being stalled in the Senate
* STIs are transmittable by ocular contact of bodily fluids
* Draft regulations are trying to 'basically criminalize the production of porn,' claims Kink.com CEO Peter Ackworth
Source: Dailymail.co.uk. - Mail Online - UK
USA - CALIFORNIA - A Draft from the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) may require porn actors to use condoms on shoots--not too surprising for an industry laden with STIs.
A bill called AB640, which requires condoms on porn shoots by law, is currently stalled in the Senate.
However, the new 21-page draft may also require actors to have sex during porn while wearing safety goggles.
The OSHA claims goggles will avoid semen from entering the eyes, a body part susceptible to diseases such as HIV and Chlamydia.
Salon, reports that according to OSHA's deputy chief of health Deborah Gold, barrier methods such as condoms and eye protection are already technically required on porn shoots. Few porn companies adhere to those standards.
If the new guidelines are deemed mandatory, there may be a trial period in which actors can ditch the 'barrier method' during oral sex. The safety rules would be reconsidered again in 2018 and either kept or discontinued.
Slate, reports that Wicked Pictures is the only mainstream porn production company that requires condom use during anal and vaginal intercourse.
Porn insiders are not thrilled with the new safety laws and some think the draft regulations are trying to rid the porn industry all together.
Peter Ackworth, CEO of the fetish site Kink.com told Salon that the draft regulations 'basically criminalize the production of porn.' He even told Salon that he's thinking of selling Kink's San Francisco porn palace named the Armory.
He said he'd 'have to invest in a warehouse in Nevada or Europe,' to produce his porns. Unfortunately, porns that use protective barrier methods during sex don't sell as well as porns that don't.
One porn actress Lily Lebeau told Slate, I wouldn't mind using condoms more. It's just not what people want to see.'
The porn industry started using condoms more after a 2004 HIV outbreak, but after porn sales went down, condoms came off, reported
ABC.
The Huffington post, reports that The Free Speech Coalition, a trade group representing the adult film industry, is opposed to laws requiring condom use because it may stop required STI testing for actors. Actors currently test every 28 days or more.
While the draft guidelines don't require regular testing, they do require that employers provide hepatitis B, hepatitis A, and HPV vaccinations to actors.
The guidelines also require that studios, 'provide for post exposure prophylaxis' and that they provide counseling.
Some porn actors are forced to pay for their own testing so the new law may alleviate some financial strain and force companies to take responsibility for their talent's health.
The draft also says that porn shoots will have to instill new post shoot clean-up requirements such as disposable materials and plastic coverings.
On the one hand, the new law promotes health and safety to workers put in health-threatening conditions. On the other hand, the porn industry in California may die out all together.
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www.smh.com.au.
