Prop. 60: Require porn actors to use condoms for health’s sake
CHRONICLE’S VIEW
“... workplace safety is better done by regulation and statutes worked out after hearings and study, and can be adapted to address problems as well as best practices that emerge. That’s the way other industry standards are reached. In this case, the eventual rules need the input of performers who are willing to consider options other than a condom law. “Voters may be tempted to impose a restriction that suggests health protection, not wishing to give a borderline industry further thought. Prop. 60 trades on that skittishness, selling itself as a simple way to tidy up a seedy part of the entertainment world. “Sexually transmitted diseases are a serious problem and an obvious risk for adultfilm production. This is a job for state regulators, not a narrow mandate through the initiative process. Vote ‘no’ on Prop. 60.”
Let’s be clear: Adult film industry performers deserve the same healthy and safe workplace Californians in other professions now enjoy.
Unfortunately, many pornographers routinely ignore workplace health and safety laws and get away with it because their performers know they risk losing their jobs if they raise their voices. Proposition 60 will help put an end to the irresponsible corporate conduct of California pornographers.
Prop. 60 will help Cal/OSHA — the state’s workplace safety watchdog — do a better job of enforcing the existing law that requires condom use in adult films shot in California. The porn industry regularly and ruthlessly exposes young women and men to diseases that could be significantly mitigated by a more effective enforcement of the condom rule — a rule on the books since 1992.
It was originally crafted by federal health and safety professionals to protect hospital and medical workers from blood-borne pathogens, such as HIV. Cal/OSHA correctly interpreted the federal law to mean that condoms are required in porn films, and the agency has successfully filed more than two dozen complaints against porn producers for failing to see to it that their workers wore condoms.
Yet the pornographers continue to ignore this commonsense health and safety rule and dare overworked Cal/ OSHA investigators to catch them. They also have employed various tricks to evade the law. Prop. 60 will help Cal/OSHA better enforce the condom rule by extending the deadline for filing health complaints from six months to one year and allowing Cal/OSHA to file its complaints against talent agents who represent adult film actors and distributors who sell adult films — not just producers, as is now the case.
When producers can get away with bullying and intimidating their performers not to wear condoms, the consequences are a health nightmare. Two studies show 1 in 4 adult film performers are infected with one or more STDs. A third study found young porn performers are 34 times more likely to suffer from chlamydia and 64 times more likely to suffer from gonorrhea, compared with the general population.
And make no mistake, condoms are the gold standard for protecting workers. According to the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Cal/OSHA, condoms are the single most effective way to protect adult film workers from HIV and STDs.
It is time to take the politics out of worker health; it is time to protect all of California’s workers. Prop. 60 is needed to ensure the adult film industry finally acts like an adult and obeys commonsense rules to protect its workers — just like thousands of employers in other industries must protect their workers. It’s only fair. Vote “yes” on Prop. 60.
Sandra Ribera Speed is a practicing attorney in San Francisco who serves on the Board of Governors for the Consumer Attorneys of California. She represents three performers who are suing San Francisco adult film producer Kink.com.