I laughed when I read they were considering this a year ago. Due to only a few HIV infections, they want to impose condoms. lolz. If you want to wear condoms when doing porn, fine. But there is no need to require a law.

if california forces its trailer trash porn stars to wear condoms, I predict that the south will rise again

> [TI] Sitting Duck wrote:

> Workplace safety is extremely important. The number of people injured, killed or infected with extremely severe diseases in the workplace should be minimised where possible and if industries and employers are not willing to do that themselves then it does require government to intervene to ensure the safety of the workers. Maybe there is a perception that because here we are talking about pornography we can all have a bit of a giggle but there is no reason that the same principles should not apply.

Condoms are important to ensure the safety of the people working in the adult industry and since the workplace has clearly (or so I'm told...) not only failed to provide them but in most cases prohibited their use then it is up to government to do the right thing.

Justinian, saying "only a few HIV infections" is an incredible over-trivialisation. "Only a few" people have had their life expectancy slashed, their career ruined, a lifetime dependency on drugs, reduced life quality due to weakened immune system and drug side effects.... "Only a few" people (proportionately) are killed or seriously injured on construction sites but would you say that wearing a hard hat on a building site was unnecessary or an over reaction?

Additionally there is a social benefit from the use of condoms in porn as it would act as a promotion and increase awareness of condoms, helping to reduce the number of sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies in the wider general population.

The use of condoms in porn films is therefore the right thing to do for the wellbeing of the performers and also to add a social benefit. The argument that Flint is making is that "they do the wrong thing elsewhere, so we should do the wrong thing too". That doesn't make any sense. There are more lax rules and enforcement on child labour in some South-East Asian countries which makes it cheaper to manufacture goods there, giving those countries an economic advantage over the West. Would Flint advocate allowing child labour in the USA to reduce production costs and make the USA manufacturing sector more competitive with South-East Asia?

Agreed...but you both make valid points...what I would recommend is a compromise...manditory STD testing by all porn stars before a porn shoot...would stop the spread of STI's in the industry, whilst still allowing the films to be made in California...as for the promotion of safe sex, I have to agree that it would be good publicity, because people at risk are often looking for a dirty night out, if they see all porn stars using a condom, then they may get the hint that even being dirty needs some proection...

after being a way for a long time from IC I glanced at politics and saw that einstein was still at it. nothing changed.

but I do have to say he has developed a new skill to present his points and stories almost comically and fun to read. nice work.

on your topic: I sort of agree with you that the measure is bit of overkill.

but mandatory testing already has proven to be circumventable.

in short it would be far better if there were a fast an easy way to test everyone when they arrive on the scene and have results in 15min but there isn't for most of the STD's.

in short they would better spend the money the are going to have to invest to enforce this in other things like more testing, research into faster testing etc.

that way "normal" victims can benefit too whilst now it only hinders the porn industry and only benefits the porn stars who frankly should know the risks of the trade.

if you are a police officer you may get shot at
if you are a soldier you may have to go to war
if you are a top businessman you may get a pie in the face and blackmailed
if you are a pornstar you may get STD if you are not carefull aka smart.

There was BBC documentary a couple years ago called "Hardcore Profits", here's an excerpt from the general gist:

"Tim finds out that the spread of porn is having far-reaching consequences. On porn film sets in LA, Tim sees that condoms are rarely used, and in Africa, he finds that these American condom-free movies can undermine safe sex education, increasing the risk of HIV infections."

It was a pretty interesting documentary.

http://eztv.it/ep/16169/bbc-hardcore-profits-1of2-xvid-ac3-mvgroup/
http://eztv.it/ep/16188/bbc-hardcore-profits-2of2-xvid-ac3-mvgroup/