Wednesday, June 17, 2009

[Nina]

Sorry for the incorrect date yesterday. I didn't catch my mistake until it was too late. Tomorrow is the 18th, not yesterday. Oy.

HIV In The News

I just realized that I had nothing on the front page regarding the recent story in the Los Angles Times, since picked up all over, about a woman in the business having tested positive for HIV.

Since then, the usual talking heads have gotten their panties in a wad about how Porn Sets Bad Example For The Viewing Public, and Porn Is A Menace To All Who Work In It, and Those Poor Women Who End Up In Porn: What Shall We Do To Save Them?

For the best response to all of this, do a search for "the blog for pro-porn activism," and read the 5,000 word essay that Ernest so generously took the time to write. It tells it like it is much better than I can, so why duplicate work? It won't take long to read, trust me.

In a nutshell, performers as a rule don't care for condoms for several reasons. For most of the men (with few exceptions), condoms make for a very-much-more difficult scene; just one more huge distraction to add to the host of other ones on the set: uncomfortable set, no chemistry with the female player, asshole director, late/early hours, too hot/cold, bad food, personal issues, etc.

For the women, there are just four words: rubber rash/friction burn. Not only do I have to work harder for him to feel anything, the scene takes much longer to get through, with the changing out of condoms, needing to give the guy a break and suck him again, and the total passion-killer that is on-set condom use. It's hard enough to create a real connection, so the scene doesn't feel to the viewer like we faxed it in, on a set as it is. If all of our energy is focused on our working parts, there is none left over to actually connect and show a spark, which is what the people at home want to see.

There are a few men who are voluntarily condom-only and so have little trouble with them, and their work is cut by 2/3, at least.

I know it sounds harsh, but it's not porn's job to set a good example to the viewing public. It's an entertainment medium like anything else out of Hollywood, and mainstream entertainment is not held up as needing somehow to set a good example. It's a shame that our country does such a piss-poor job of educating its young people so that they're driven to view porn to try to get a clue about sex. Except when a movie is expressly done as education-the Guides, Tristan Taormino's movies, etc., their job is to arouse and entertain, period.

I hate it when those who are made uncomfortable by sex or porn project their issues onto our business.

Porn is pretty safe. If a player says "no" to the most egregiously stupid acts (cream pies, whether anal or vaginal), then he or she is unlikely to get a deadly disease at work. People do get the non-lethal ones, but they get treated, as do their partners, and they get to work again when their new test comes back clean.

Of all of the dead porn stars on the Dead Porn Star site, most have died from auto accidents.

[dom noob]

Nina,

Thank you for this very well explained, heart felt testimony as a "taken advantage of" porn star!

Regarding your last line about dead porn stars, so porn stars are pretty much like "mainstream" stars and die from the Hollywood lifestyle of fast cars much more than their fast ways!

Originally Posted by Nina

Sorry for the incorrect date yesterday. I didn't catch my mistake until it was too late. Tomorrow is the 18th, not yesterday. Oy.

HIV In The News

I just realized that I had nothing on the front page regarding the recent story in the Los Angles Times, since picked up all over, about a woman in the business having tested positive for HIV.

Since then, the usual talking heads have gotten their panties in a wad about how Porn Sets Bad Example For The Viewing Public, and Porn Is A Menace To All Who Work In It, and Those Poor Women Who End Up In Porn: What Shall We Do To Save Them?

For the best response to all of this, do a search for "the blog for pro-porn activism," and read the 5,000 word essay that Ernest so generously took the time to write. It tells it like it is much better than I can, so why duplicate work? It won't take long to read, trust me.

In a nutshell, performers as a rule don't care for condoms for several reasons. For most of the men (with few exceptions), condoms make for a very-much-more difficult scene; just one more huge distraction to add to the host of other ones on the set: uncomfortable set, no chemistry with the female player, asshole director, late/early hours, too hot/cold, bad food, personal issues, etc.

For the women, there are just four words: rubber rash/friction burn. Not only do I have to work harder for him to feel anything, the scene takes much longer to get through, with the changing out of condoms, needing to give the guy a break and suck him again, and the total passion-killer that is on-set condom use. It's hard enough to create a real connection, so the scene doesn't feel to the viewer like we faxed it in, on a set as it is. If all of our energy is focused on our working parts, there is none left over to actually connect and show a spark, which is what the people at home want to see.

There are a few men who are voluntarily condom-only and so have little trouble with them, and their work is cut by 2/3, at least.

I know it sounds harsh, but it's not porn's job to set a good example to the viewing public. It's an entertainment medium like anything else out of Hollywood, and mainstream entertainment is not held up as needing somehow to set a good example. It's a shame that our country does such a piss-poor job of educating its young people so that they're driven to view porn to try to get a clue about sex. Except when a movie is expressly done as education-the Guides, Tristan Taormino's movies, etc., their job is to arouse and entertain, period.

I hate it when those who are made uncomfortable by sex or porn project their issues onto our business.

Porn is pretty safe. If a player says "no" to the most egregiously stupid acts (cream pies, whether anal or vaginal), then he or she is unlikely to get a deadly disease at work. People do get the non-lethal ones, but they get treated, as do their partners, and they get to work again when their new test comes back clean.

Of all of the dead porn stars on the Dead Porn Star site, most have died from auto accidents.

[Hedwig]

I have such a crush on Nina. :-)

[Anthony_JKenn]

Actually, you can skip the Google search and simply click on this link to catch Ernest's well written rebuttal on the HIV-in-Porn brohaha:

Blog of Pro-Porn Activism: The Latest HIV-in-Porn Panic: Rumor Control Central Opens For Business

Also see these followup posts from Ernest while over at BPPA:

...And An Extra Helping of Crow For The Good Doctor (BPPA)

The Vampires Strike Back (BPPA)


Anthony

[JulietteKlonk]

Hy,
I like Nina.
thank you for the informative post and keep up the good work!