California Votes Not to Enforce Mandatory Condoms in Porn Films
A porn rep even compared condoms to hazmat suits.
On Thursday, California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) rejected a proposed regulation that would require all porn actors to wear a condom, after a 5-hour testimony from porn actors, writers, producers, and directors, stating that the law could destroy the porn industry.
Porn industry representatives contended that condoms are a turn-off to viewers, and that requiring actors to use protection could also lead to them having to use dental dams and safety goggles to keep the trend going. And if that had happened, the porn industry would have crumbled for sure, because safety goggles are definitely not sexy.
“For the consumer, there’s not going to be the fantasy, there’s not going to be the artistic vision and the expression of sexual freedom,” Eric Leue, executive director of porn industry trade group, Free Speech Coalition, said during the hearing. “If you think about how porn is looking today, and how it’ll look after Feb. 18, we’re talking about gloves, full body cover and goggles…It’s going to be hazmat suits.”
Representatives also argued that approving the condom rule would more than likely push the porn industry underground, where films would be made in secret, and actors and actresses wouldn’t be required to get tested for STDs bi-weekly (the current requirement), thereby increasing health risks rather than decreasing them.
Adult film star Ela Darling told BBC’s Outside Source radio program, “If one performer in a scene wants a condom, everybody uses condoms. Performers want the option to use condoms to make themselves feel safe — denying us choice hurts us.”
Under certain rules approved in 2012, actors in all porn films made in Los Angeles are already required to use condoms. Due to these rules, James Deen’s porn company, James Deen Productions, is under investigation due to “serious workplace health and safety violations” for not providing condoms on set.
Stay tuned until November, when Californians will vote on whether or not LA’s law should take effect across all of the state.
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