CARNAL NATION

In a press conference Thursday morning, the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation announced that it will file a "Notice of Safety or Health Hazards" with California’s Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA), which investigates workplace safety. The Foundation will submit with the Notice nearly 60 adult films made by 16 porn production companies in the state. The films feature porn actors engaging in sexual activity without condoms, which demonstrate the "unprotected exchange of bodily fluids." Joining the Foundation in the complaint is the Pink Cross Foundation, a faith-based non-profit that offers emotional, financial, and transitional support to adult industry workers and helps people to "overcome pornography addiction." Pink Cross was founded by former porn actress Shelley Lubben. The AHF previously filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeking a court order to make condom use mandatory in all adult films.

During the press conference, AHF president Michael Weinstein said, "As a global HIV and STD medical provider operating treatment clinics and prevention facilities here in California, we see it as our duty to pursue action on the issue of safety in the workplace—in these instances, unprotected sex acts taking place in albeit non-traditional workplaces." These moves on the part of AHF follow the disclosure in June that a porn actress in Southern California tested positive for HIV. Furthermore, there have been claims of widespread infection with chlamydia and gonorrhea among adult performers. ABC News reports that between 2003 and 2007, there were 2,013 documented cases of chlamydia and 965 gonorrhea cases among porn performers in the LA area. They further report that 2,847 STD infections were diagnosed in 1,884 performers between April 2004 to March 2008. Weinstein adds, “This is why we are filing workplace health and safety complaints with Cal/OSHA today: to press for the enforcement of state and local workplace regulatory guidelines which would require the use of condoms in all adult films produced in California.”

It will be interesting to see what comes of both the lawsuit and the formal complaint with OSHA. Some call it a witch hunt aimed at shutting down the porn industry. In an insightful analysis of the situation, Dr. Marty Klein has urged all parties not to play politics over the issue. Others, like porn producer Mark Kleim, believe there are merits to both sides of the argument. In Ouch! The Painful Politics of Bareback Porn, Kleim even offers some sensible guidelines for both maintaining the safety of the actors and continuing to produce porn without condoms. What do you think?