Porn Stars In California Get New Health Clinics
May 27, 2011 1 Comment
Pornography is a risky business. Health and safety are a number one priority.
In a few days, porn actors will once again have access to a judgment-free healthcare network for their monthly STI testing, which will feed the results onto a new industry database.
The new program will fill the gap created by the closure of Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation earlier this month after a security breach in their database leaked information on actors and they were accused of telling actors to hide they were HIV-positive.
The San Fernando Valley Clinic had been the go-to medical provider for many porn performers and provided a safe environment for HIV and STI tests; working in the porn industry isn’t always seen with a very positive eye and the doctor’s office is the last place you want to be looked down upon.
Unlike the Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation, the new program will not have its own clinic. Instead, actors will be given access to a network of pre-screened clinics and laboratories where they will be greeted with discretion and respect.
Between 1,000 and 2,000 performers are expected to get tested through this program. Once their results are in, a password-protected database will allows actors and producers to track whether performers have been diagnosed with STIs such as gonorrhea, chlamydia or if they are HIV-positive.
It will also tell users whether an actor is available to work or not, depending on their health status documented online, but makes an exception for HIV-positive gay performers who still work in sex scenes and use condoms.
It seems appropriate that this announcement would be made just after the Los Angeles City Council planned to ask state and county officials to allow Los Angeles to require the use of condoms on adult-film sets in order to obtain a film permit.
A lot of people’s knowledge of sex comes from pornography. To see such far-reaching efforts made in the porn industry towards STI prevention and testing hopefully will get back to the viewers and push them to apply the same kind of precautions.
Contact the author here: sedera@morningquickie.com
I am shocked and horrified by this statement: “an exception for HIV-positive gay performers who still work in sex scenes and use condoms.”
I’m really hoping that the journalist who originally wrote that got it wrong. Surely the people who work in sexual health know that anyone with HIV can pass it on to anyone else?!
Men and women working in gay and straight (but not lesbian) porn really should use condoms to prevent onward transmission of the virus! If this really is their plan then it is shocking!