Chewed Up
If you have ever thought that the phrase “War on Porn” was hyperbole or bellyaching by adult industry professionals, now is the time to shut the fuck up and listen.
As soon as the Adult Industry Medical Clinic received a cease and desist order in 2010, I knew that it wouldn’t be long before a full closure occurred. I experienced a bit of a panic because the world of non-profits and social welfare is infinitely more ugly and brutal than most people know. There is this impression that people who take on these roles do so from the goodness of their own hearts and a commitment to social justice. I thought that when I entered the field and boy did I get a wake-up call about that. After taking one look at the budget for AHF and the budget for AIM I felt certain that AHF would prevail. AIM wasn’t prepared for an enemy that came from within what is ostensibly a mutual goal. AHF didn’t go international by selling girl scout cookies. They got that big because they possess a cut throat business sense and an eye for real estate.
AIM is dead, the wiki that shall not be named is still on the web and harassing performers, and OSHA has decided that despite the fact that most adult performers pay state and federal taxes as independent contractors that we are actually employees (read: victims) of studios and need outside protection. It’s a shit time to get into the business and it’s been migraine after migraine for awhile now.
What adult industry performers need is a guild or a union and not an outside agency that claims to know what’s best for us. Sadly, I could not afford to fly down to Los Angeles and back for the OSHA proceedings but the results have been grim.
Make no mistake, porn has been singled out for its content thanks to the never-ending stream of bullshit from critics who either withhold studies and facts and relay emotional pleas about how disgusting the mere existence of pornography is on moral grounds. When it comes to HIV, the porn industry has fewer infections per year than a random grouping of non-performers. Given the sheer frequency and high risk nature of some of these acts it is evident that the industry is doing something right.
There are jobs infinitely more dangerous than porn that have fewer regulations and protections for workers and those people are dying. Oral sex is a relatively low risk activity and yet according to OSHA it is so risky that our “employers” must mandate barriers unless it falls into a specific window of time between tests and yet employees of liquor stores are not required to wear bullet proof vests despite the fact that they come into contact with firearms a lot.
Catherine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin forged the rallying cry that pornography is not a 1st Amendment issue in a Jedi Mind Trick that has had lasting effects. This article from 1993 is virtually indistinguishable from a contemporary article about pornography. MacKinnon has a fascinating quote in this article, “This is not a 1st Amendment issue. It makes me feel dumb to have to keep saying it. Pornography is not speech, it’s an aid to masturbation.”
Pornography is speech and it’s an aid to masturbation. Notice the suffix -graphy? That’s the Greek influence on our language and it is derived from the word γράφειν which means to write or record. Pornography is a 1st Amendment issue and I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the 1st Amendment is not a loophole. It is the very first part of our Bill of Rights as Americans.
Although censorship is still alive and well in the United States, it hasn’t ever been effective to argue that pornography is not speech. The war on porn has been forged creatively through 2257 laws that do more to put performers at risk (and keep an updated log of where we can be found at all times), zoning codes that limit where pornography can be purchased or viewed even behind closed doors and with age verification systems, and the illegalization of facials not as obscene but as a “health risk.” The OSHA regulations for porn are the “Sit/Lie” of the entertainment industry because they have both been composed with selective enforcement against specific populations in mind.
I’ve gotten a lot of messages from allies, supporters, and fans about what they can do to help out with the issue of the porn wiki or the OSHA regulations. One of the best things you can do is speak up when people make claims that porn performers are helpless victims and remind them that we are not. When you read an anti-porn opinion essay in your local news, speak up about the lack of factual evidence. Work towards promoting the idea of adult consent and sexual negotiation; reminding people about the power of consent reinforces the notion that performers are people making their own sexual choices. Even though it might not seem like a lot when casually thrown into a conversation, just telling people that consent matters is very powerful. Read blogs written by porn performers and spread the word that the people actually inside the industry are opposed to these regulations because they put us at risk. Tweet or blog about what OSHA is proposing and if you get a chance contact Deborah Gold at Cal/OSHA (DGold@dir.ca.gov) or Ged Kenslea, the Director of Communications at AHF (gedk@aidshealth.org) about your thoughts and ideas. Polite and respectful emails are absolutely encouraged.
Here is the problem as I see it: A performer does a scene and is paid a one time fee of $200 – $1,200. Then the producer, who owns the rights in perpetuity, sells and resells the video and stills countless times and the performer never get any of it. Wouldn’t a union be good to help the workers and fight outfits like PWL?
Oh there are definitely other issues that performers need to acknowledge and I agree about a creating a guild or union. In the 4th paragraph I call for one explicitly.
When the OSHA regulations begin being enforced in about 8-9 months, there will probably be some alterations in pay structures. Trade For Content shoots, for instance, would not be covered by OSHA regulations. Partnerships on shoots might also be a way to get around the regulations. It’s going to be interesting to see how studios respond.
I think the industry will be dead in CA in a year. Already their is a move to FL, and I expect it to also move out of the country; a union union won’t help that. Also, because of the whole AIM wiki thing, the industry has been badly stigmatized and people are afraid.
i am not a performer, so i don’t have the kind of experience that should be at the basis of informing these decisions, however, from my reading – while people like you object about mandating condom use – isnt the reverse a de facto reality currently? that very few companies are actually, truly supportive of performers that want to use condoms…. it seems like things are operating at the other extreme. In either case, I guess, your recommendation for performers to represent themselves seems to be the way to go. also – it’s not just about hiv infections, but also about reducing exposure to other std’s, such as herpes and hpv, for which condoms can offer some protection, no?
A lot of the links in the article will take you to articles and blogs about that very topic but I recommend this one by Jiz Lee.
The OSHA model would forego testing and rely solely on barriers. While performers who opt for barriers (I use condoms for vaginal and anal sex with a penis) should be supported by directors and producers, that is not the same thing as mandating the use of barriers without exception. This would include, for instance, married performers working together for a studio.
The system wasn’t perfect. The system was far from it. Risk for HIV and other STI’s is contextual and every performer needs to be able to make the right choice for their unique context. The OSHA requirements take that empowered choice away for something inflexible that may ultimately enhance our risk. Thanks for reading!
Honesty is always good when the eyes are on you…those eyes need to be shown that decent steps are being taken to protect performers/employees/independent contractors…OSHA was created for such things, right or not…It’s hard to protect yourself against such eyes when you’re paying folks and those folks encounter disease and infection while working for you, independent or not…while having sex or not…They see steps to stop the possibilty of those diseases spreading…it’s all about cutting off possible blood or semen contact…this may be how OSHA sees it…I think it is…Although it may very well be a plot against porn in general, they seem to have a good point for protection and condom use…if you assume thier mission is to protect workers in any industry from encoutering physical harm inclusing diseases…including STDs…then they seem to be on path for that mission…
If this is a conspiracy to rid the US or California of porn, Im surprised they didnt think about it earlier cause it’s the most founded attack yet…Well, the jailing of Max was pretty founded!
We need to make pamphlets for new models and old…To say the truth…and the truth is, within six months of regular performing, chances are 99 percent that they will contract a disease and that they may contract HIV. That’s the truth…performers deal with it everyday…does anyone think they are getting out without an STD? Ridiculous…
But, it is a free country…with testing and waivers, there seems no reason that an adult cannot agree to those dangers in order to make a living as they like…Ill make a waiver and tell every model that they may get HIV, herpes, hpv or any number of things, including the flu, from today’s shoot…Ill ask them to sign it…they acknowledge the danger and we move on…just exactly how it’s been happening so far…but a little more honestly…and one more form…
If you can pay someone to bungee jump, you can pay someone to eat cum…word…great posting by the way…
Thanks for commenting! It’s cool to hear from a pro-kinkster down in LA.
Porn is like stunt work for the movies. We all do our own risk-reward analysis and for me the risk of STI’s is far lower than the personal reward I experience in my exciting and unconventional job.
At the OSHA meetings there was a comparison to athletes, especially fighters of many stripes, who all come into contact with blood routinely in their work. People enjoy watching a match and people enjoy fighting them. It’s also a brutal job; you’ll be ripped off on your fees, it’s hugely competitive, and most people exit the industry young with little to show for their blood, sweat, and tears. We don’t pathologize the fighting industry, we celebrate it because watching human bodies pushed to their limits is pretty damn compelling. I got into SM porn because it’s an extreme sport with a happy ending.
Maybe this whole debacle comes down to the mainstream getting pissed off that most of us report to no one other than ourselves.
As a lapdancer from the UK, my knowledge of the US laws is a little hazy, but I have always noted that the USA has a trend for very strong lobbies which polarise the debate on many topics. To me, some of these lobbies which veer towards the religious right and puritanical values are labouring under a lack of common sense. Indeed, some of the attitudes, just seem downright shocking as they only ostracise people and split them up by industry/race/sex etc, as you highlighted in the post above.
The UK loves regulation and laws, don’t get me wrong, but in many ways we are quite apathetic in comparison to the USA’s gung-ho lobbiests. I’m not saying that we don’t have regulations, its just that our debates don’t seem to be so loud or the laws they pass so far-reaching. However, several efforts have been made in the UK – and Europe – to sanitise our sexual attitudes and sexual industries. I really hope that the wind of change which is blowing over the USA doesn’t come across the pond onto my shores.
Excellent article, Maggie. There’s a heartbreaking irony in the fact that OSHA showing so much interest in porn workers while workplace safety and other protections are being revoked from workers in every other industry. Policies in the last forty years have been based more and more on the belief that workers have no rights to protection from predatory or exploitative practices by their employers. Somehow, it’s very different when it’s sex.
But there is something in common between this situation and what’s been happening in Wisconsin: the voices of the workers themselves are being ignored. This makes me wish more than ever that the “work” part didn’t disappear whenever the media covers sex work issues. The people on porn sets might have their own unique issues, but they have an awful lot in common with people who work in factories and offices. You put your finger on it when you mention how there are more dangerous occupations. There definitely are, but it’s almost treasonous at this point to advocate stricter safety codes for mines or factories. Meanwhile, AIM, the one thing that was making porn sets safer, somehow became the scapegoat for disease. In the end, whether people live or die doesn’t matter quite so much as the right moral posturing.
I love how you focus on HIV, when you talk about thus subject, and ignore AIM doesn;t test at all for a lot of other serious sexually transmitted diseases. In the Porn indistry in California over 60% of the workers have Herpes, only one of the STD’s they do not typically test for. You speak for a bullshit organization that pretended to have the backs of the performers, but instead put them at risk http://elizabethrollings.blogspot.com/2010/12/memoir-truth-about-aim-adult-industry.html?zx=faa89b3789cd2fba
this industry is deadly, and dangerous, and anything that is done to mediate it is a threat to people who find their weakly disguised self loathing challenged.
You need to stop picking and choosing your statistics so carefully and admit that AIM was only the merest hint of safety. They gave out flak jackets and sent people to ground zero.