Source: BBC News, GayWired, The Sword, Angel's City Devil

Three gay porn films have been withdrawn from sale in Britain following an investigation by the BBC program Newsnight. The report looked into the health risks of so-called bareback gay porn, which shows men having unprotected sex.

 

It follows concerns within the gay community that performers are being infected with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

The controversy over bareback porn has raged since the late 90s, with the rise of retroviral therapy and cheap video production equipment fueled an insurgent condom-less industry.

Safety on gay porn sets has received an increased amount of attention after a series of inspections by Cal/OSHA. Shortly thereafter, bareback porn studio HDK said that it would begin testing models for STDs (in association with AIM, the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation) and pairing the models according to HIV status.

Testing is a contentious issue on porn sets. Many producers feel uncomfortable with privacy issues that come with holding HIV results. Many are unwilling to participate in the discrimination and exclusion that have plagued so many HIV positive gay men.

Sam Dixon of Tipo Sesso told Out Magazine, "We're an adult industry. We're not an educational industry."  

The heterosexual porn industry currently exiles anyone with HIV, but the safer-sex gay porn industry has made an effort to protect everyone no matter what their status.

Two of the DVDs withdrawn this week featured footage from a week-long shoot during which eight British models had sex with each other in multiple combinations without condoms.

Four of those who took part were diagnosed as HIV positive soon after. One of the men told the BBC he was distressed that footage which he believed showed him becoming infected had been put on sale.

In a separate case a British producer, Rufus Ffoulkes, was jailed last week on a child pornography charge for putting a 16-year-old boy in a gay porn film in which he had unprotected sex.

The US company which released the film had refused appeals to stop selling the DVD until it was approached by Newsnight.

Now, Britain's leading bareback film company, Icreme, has told the BBC it has decided to only do films using condoms.

The rise of bareback porn exasperates many who lived through the 1980s and 1990s.

In the US, the leading gay porn director Chi Chi Larue has taken a very public stance against bareback films.

"After all the gay community has been through why are we putting people at risk for porn," Larue says in a new ad aimed at persuading consumers to boycott bareback films.

Last month, LaRue began a public service campaign, calling on consumers to boycott trendy bareback gay porn.

Related in Qnews: Gay porn king sparks controversy at Stanford, but for politics, not his films (3/21)

Larue has produced countless award winning films on both the straight and gay side of the industry throughout his career, and has been one of the strongest proponents for safe sex and the health of the models that he works with.

Earlier this year, his self-created studio became the largest gay adult company when it purchased both All Worlds Studio and the legendary, now defunct, Catalina line of films. The Channel One conglomerate has been vocal about the protection of the models in the industry, and after 20 years of directing and producing films, LaRue has become legendary for his success and his strong stance against unsafe sex.

In 2006, Larue turned down a huge contract with the famous Vivid Video over condom and safe sex issues.

Larue explains that in the past, "it was pretty obvious to most that the models 'appeared' to be HIV+ and were having unsafe sex with what 'appeared' to be other HIV+ models" in barebacking films.

The trend, however, seems to have shifted, and more and more companies are relying on younger men who are willing to do riskier things for money.

To get some numbers thrown into the discussion, gay porn industry website The Sword gave a survey filled with HIV, STD and other related questions to nearly 100 gay porn stars. The results show that industry concern is warranted.

Over 80% of performers strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that condom-using studios provided adequate safety measures to protect them from HIV, but little more than half of the respondents felt that the they were being protected adequately from non-HIV risks like hepatitis, HPV or syphilis.

Also, some performers worry that the common test method by studios for HIV, the AIM test, allows for more risk than assurance.

One-third (30%) of the performers answered as HIV-positive or "Unknown". Performers say that there is a lack of communication on sets, with studios and scene-partners not wanting to offend anyone by asking.

While performers were critical of the lack of information given to them, a majority of performers still would "never" appear bareback films -- even with the type of testing being promoted by HDK. Said one performer, "The window for the AIM test is like 4 days. Who knows what my partner has been up to in those 4 days? We're all in this industry because we love sex. Who knows what they're up to after the test gets done?"

Good news did arise out of the survey, however. Many of the models surveyed were vocal about their awareness of the HIV problem on gay porn sets, saying they assumed and acted as if every partner was HIV positive.

Full article: BBC NEWS | Programmes | Newsnight | HIV scandal in gay porn industry
Porn Stars To Producers: Condoms Not Enough! | The Sword
Survey Finds Gay Porn Stars Concerned About HIV | Angel City's Devil
Chi Chi LaRue Takes a Stand Against Barebacking in Gay Porn | GayWired

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