OP/ED by xxxmed
XXXMed has some questions…
Members of the adult industry, including Nina Hartley, Steve Hirsch, Stuart Waldman, Jeffrey Douglas, Diane Duke, and James Lee had a meeting with editors of the Los Angeles Times. After this meeting the TImes wrote an op/ed opposing Measure B.
In that editorial, it is written,"Few, if any, performers ‘date’ outside the industry.(Yes, the LA Times put ‘date’ in quotes, I guess they couldn’t write ‘fuck.’) This leave an obvious question, Where did the LA Times get this bit of false information from? Did they get it from Diane Duke, Nina Hartley, James Lee?
The No On B committee has made many claims of false information coming from the AHF. It looks like the FSC, Diane Duke, James Lee, and Nina Hartley have decided that making false claims is the best way to get endorsements. How do all of these std’s come from outside the industry if only a few, if any, performers ‘date’ outside the industry?
Does Nina Hartley really think that few, if any, performers date outside the industry? Does Diane Duke believe this? Does James Lee believe this? Does Dr. Miao believe this? Does anybody in the industry believe this? Is this what the industry has to do to get support for No On B?
If you truly believe you are on the right side of an issue you do not need to blatantly lie to make your case. Once you get caught in one lie it makes everything else you say suspect, as any good lawyer will tell you, isn’t that right Diane?
I see you working, Mike South, or Monica Foster, or whomever the hell you are hiding behind a pseudonym.
The issue is NOT whom people in the industry “date” from the outside. The issue is that performers should have the choice to decide for themselves how to protect themselves, and not have it ceded to either the government or to profiteers like Mike Weinstein.
Also, just because performers may date outside of the industry doesn’t mean that they aren’t protecting themselves and their off-screen partners….and the success of the testing program in preventing HIV and other STI’s as compared to the general population speaks for itself.
Why, oh why, Cindi, are you allowig these propagandists a free ride to peddle such BS??
Those are the words of the LA Times editorial board – the question should be asked of them, not Diane Duke, James Lee or Dr. Miao.
I have a better question — the same editorial opined “Measure B is well intentioned.” Does anyone really believe that is true?
The editorial also states “top performers simply won’t shoot scenes with untested partners … not every pornographic film is produced by a major company, and not every performer is a much-sought-after top performer. There are more marginal companies that won’t behave responsibly, and there are vulnerable young performers just trying to get by who might not be able to say no when pressed to have on-screen sex with an untested partner.”
This leaves an obvious question: Where did the LA Times get this bit of false, misleading and prejudicial information from?
I always appreciate some good sex on a first date but who the fuck equates sex with dating? One can surmise less out of industry dating due to the stigma of being a sex star and the difficulties of engaging in close and closed (versus open) relationships, but this whole issue is stupid. It is claimed that there are AIDS epidemics but it never wiped out the porn industry. How can that be? You would think such a sexual epicenter would’ve been hit hard by AIDS, yet more porn stars die while on their way to work then do as a result of working.
Son’t escorts call “paid customers/johns” a “date” as well? Or is the new buzzword for it “paid companionship” or something similar?
Yeah, if tricks count as dates then there’s a fuckload of dating going on outside the industry, but that shouldn’t bug Weinstein as they usually engage in so-called “safe” sex. I wonder the dates Weinstein gets with all the money he’s making “saving lives”. And aren’t gays really condom conscious considering how hard AIDS has hit the gay community? So, what does that say about condoms saving lives? Perhaps behavioral factors should be studied in regards to their immunity problems? Naw, that would fuck up their fear based, lucrative racket based a magical, mystery retro-virus.
Kennerson you moron, I NEVER hide behind a fake name.
Now for the stats speaking for themselves…you might want to give this a read because its going to be entered into evidence when the vote on measure B gets appealed
“Measure B is the result of a long history of inadequate workplace protection within this industry. This is a legal industry and we feel with legality comes responsibility; ultimately this boils down to a question of corporate citizenship. The hazardous exposures performers face on the job are well documented and reported by labs and clinics to the county department of public health (as required by state law). Therefore, we have a very good understanding of the overall disease burden performers carry and how this compares to the population at-large.
When compared to the general community the cumulative incidence for gonorrhea and chlamydia is as high as 64 and 34 times respectively. When compared to sexually active adults between 18 and 24 (a group that traditionally shows high disease burden), the gonorrhea and chlamydia rates for performers are 8.5 and 16 times higher.
Note these rates demonstrate orders of magnitude that are unacceptable from a public health perspective.”
That doesn’t look so good for the we have a lower STD rate mantra that everyone knows is BS.
I am against Measure B but fighting it with lies, mischaracterizations and bullshit isnt going to win, thats a guaranteed losing strategy in the long run.
Courts tend to side with facts and that is where we had better be putting our efforts.
G n C r curable infections, not STDs. Certainly compared to the general pop rates r much higher. But, so what? With all the anal and mentally deranged ATM scenes, that’s a given. Sports players also fracture limbs and get concussions at a much higher rate then the average Joe. No risk, No reward. But people r not dying. AHF however is dying to make this a life or death issue to accrue more meaningful influence, importance, money n power.
The deceitfulness of Mike South truly knows no bounds.
He claims here that he is against Measure B, however on his site he would NOT endorse NO on Measure B, and basically claimed that if Measure B does not pass, performers will get HIV (and then the industry will drag them through the mud the way it did Derrick “RentBoy” Burts — whom Mike has saluted on his site as a man who tells the truth).
Then he comes here AND QUOTES FROM AN AHF PRESS RELEASE. He cites AHF’s argument as truth and the adult industry’s position as “lies, mischaracterizations and bullshit.”
Wake up, ladies and gentlemen.
see Uncle Peg…its that word deceit that is the operative word here….I refuse to deceive my readers with bullshit, lies and propaganda So no I wont endorse No on Measure B I turned down money to endorse yes on B because I dont endorse it.
I realize this may be beyond the ability of simpletons like you to grasp so please carry on….you personally have done more harm to your cause than good.
Keep reading though I will explain how this can be won in the long haul, whether people are smart enough to get it…well thats not up to me.
Nothing will change Nov 7th either way…or even Dec 7th…this will be won or lost in the courts.
If you want to win you had better start presenting facts and not bullshit
It will change on December 21, 2012.
XXXMed is Tim Tritch. duh
And Tim Tritch is aka “Joe Know” (as MW has pointed out), who became quite deranged, vicious and pathetic upon public revelation about HIV te$ting and the bogus and murderous AID$ racket. But how else does an asshole on the losing side of an argument deal with an adversary, thus proving himself wrong?: retarded personal insults and harrassment, while acting like they’re possessed by demons… which they are… the demons of self-deception should be exorcised in all of us.
LOL at the treacherous hillbilly. He can’t rebut a single point, so he tries to distract us by turning to personal attacks (followed by another attempt to drive traffic to his piece of shit site, where he “will explain how this can be won in the long haul”). Poor hillbilly…
Hey Mike… on Wednesday, while you were picking your toes, I sat among a group of industry leaders who can rightly be called “porn’s power elite” — a veritable who’s who of the adult industry. Men and women I’ve known for nearly twenty years in some cases. Funny how they agree with me, and thanked me for my efforts. Your name never came up. I guess they’re all “morons” and “simpletons” too, right Mr. Mike “Amateur Blowbang” South?
@origen — Bingo
Come back, Joe Know, you’re missed in this mental hospital called Luke Is Back.
The Guy Holding a Fish: Shill for AHF. South is so far out of touch with this industry that it’s laughable. That his site gets any hits at all is equally laughable, except from the cretins who go there to look at the trailer-park-dwelling sag hags that he pimps. Mike South is the very definition of irrelevant.
Jeremy: I am a porn fan. I prefer my porn without condoms. That said, you may win the ballot measure, but you’re talking about a public health issue and an employment issue. Your argument that syphllis and the clap are treatable diseases is not an excuse. Food born illnesses are treatable, but the guy at the sub shop has to wear latex gloves. Your sports analogy proves the point. Yes, sports are dangerous. Yes, football players have a higher incidence of knee injuries than the general population and boxers get knocked out more often than you and me. But, football players cannot choose to play without pads because they inhibit their movements and boxers must wear mouthguards and gloves weighing a certain number of ounces to prevent greater injury. Heck, referees must wear latex gloves to prevent blood born illnesses. In a sense, this is a reflection of the little regard the public has for sex workers. Your dentist has to wear goggles and latex gloves to protect him from diseases passed from saliva and other bodily fluids. But sex workers – who cares if we want to watch condomless ATM and double anal.
Thanks for writing, Bob. Is it really a “public health issue” as you say? Has anything that’s gone around in porn been so prevalent that it would or should be acknowledged as a public health issue? Based on my knowledge and experience I’d say the only thing that would qualify is/was the staph infections that were going around in porn. Very nasty, and they left scars and marks for a long time. But condoms would’ve been absolutely useless in protecting performers and others from them. Also STIs and other infections exist outside the penile shaft area. And, again, let me ask the question, if you knew someone you were about to have sex with had herpes/hiv/hpv,etc would you still have sex with them with a condom? Would you feel sure that you were “protected”? It seems to me that prevention is more important than “protection”. Drug addicts are harbingers if not carriers of disease. So are unclean props and work areas. All performers should thoroughly wash themselves, especially their mouths before engaging in sex. Mouths are much dirtier than assholes. One is usually much drier than the other. And the biggest implied issue coming from AIDS Healthcare Foundation has to do with HIV, which is a retrovirus so fucking small that it can’t even be seen or found and “detection” of it is determined by proteins or antibodies believed (but not known) to be associated with HIV. Meanwhile, the natural void holes in condoms are many times larger than HIV so it’s like asking a flea to player goalie and stop a socker ball. But since bareback transmission of HIV is so statistically low to begin with (highest estimates are around 1/1000) condoms are given credit for it when tranmission doesn’t occur, if they are wearing one. And thanks for mentioning you prefer your porn without condoms. And I expect we will win the ballot measure.
bobt03 — Your analysis is off. As adult producer/director Eli Cross told a Cal/OSHA Standards Board meeting in June of last year.
“CalOSHA has chosen to approach adult performers as though they are actors, and that’s simply not the case. The better corollary is to stunt people or to professional athletes, which are people who have chosen to potentially risk their bodies and their health for no more noble purpose than the entertainment of others. I was a professional stuntman for three years, and I will tell you for a fact that you are allowed to wear protective equipment subject to the requirements of the project you are working on. Most stunt people get hurt through very simple gags [such as] fist-fights, often with actors who are not trained. I got hit in the face and had stitches for a fist-fight. I would not have been allowed to do that job wearing a mask because it was subject to the requirements of the shot. I fell down many sets of stairs. I would be wearing elbow pads, knee pads, but what I really needed was a helmet, the one thing I would never be allowed to wear because it would have wrecked the shot. Our industry depends on that shot. It really is that simple.”
Secondarily, for this to genuinely be a “public health issue” the government would have to be able to show — to demonstrate by proof — a connection between adult productions and an ongoing public health problem sufficient to show a “government interest.” The government cannot show this — and furthermore, every report on epidemiology and risk of disease prepared by L.A. County has pointed to other factors. NO government report of HIV or STI risk assessment has even mentioned the adult production business. Not one.
Yes “referees must wear latex gloves to prevent blood borne illnesses” — but that’s because they are not “people who have chosen to potentially risk their bodies and their health” in the same way that professional athletes are. They are paid to referee, not to be exposed. The risk of exposure is external to their job; for a boxer or MMA fighter, it constitutes the job itself.
Finally – indeed “Food born illnesses are treatable, but the guy at the sub shop has to wear latex gloves,” but 1) the sub shop is open to the public while production sets are not; 2) the food preparer is not routinely tested for an assortment of the most common food-born illnesses”; and 3) food preparation/service does not impact constitutional rights and liberties in the way that free expression and matters involving sexual liberty/bodily autonomy do.
Spot on, Michael. The unique working conditions and technical requirements of the AI make it virtually impossible to draw any comparison with other workplaces. Unfortunately your well-reasoned and accurate summation here gets drowned out by the bullhorn bullshit of the AHF, which is counting on its use of obfuscation and outright lies to hoodwink county voters. Sadly, the majority of people can only digest the juiciest sound bites, like the fattened fast-food junkies they are.
I sincerely hope that I’m wrong on that, and the final vote will reveal intelligent life on the planet.
Thank you. It’s simply a matter of getting information to voters — via advertising or other campaigning.
I’ve been campaigning against Measure B on the streets all over this county, and I can assure you that, once people learn the facts (ANY of the facts, really), virtually NO ONE wants it. Most people don’t even know it’s on the ballot.
Hopefully the industry’s radio & TV spots, and direct mail flyers will do the trick. If not, it’s going to be an expensive court battle against a wealthy and emboldened foe.
At the end of the day this is an unconstitutional and wrong-headed law, being presented through a wholly inappropriate process. Ballot measures are meant to be used so voters can decide whether taxes should be increased a quarter-percent or whether the county should issue a bond so that a new stadium can be constructed, not to write workplace or business safety regulations. This is madness.