A new Op/Ed by Natasha Lennard at VICE News.
AB 1576, a piece of legislation which would mandate the use of condoms and other barriers in adult filming anywhere in California, is currently in the state Senate’s “suspense file” and will be shelved unless revived by the Senate Appropriations Committee this week. The bill has been pushed by AIDS Healthcare Foundation honcho Michael Weinstein as a centerpiece of his years-long campaign against the adult business. VICE now joins the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the L.A. Daily News in their opposition to the bill –
I’m not concerned about the continued existence of porn. So long as there is an internet, so long as there are cameras, so long as there are tits, asses, cocks, pussies, and toys, we will be able to watch smutty content with varying degrees of engagement. Amen.
I am, however, concerned about concerns about porn, which can change laws and affect the lives and well-being of the people on either side of the camera.
The man behind both Measure B and AB 1576, latex fetishist Michael Weinstein (left), shares a laugh with his Assemblypuppet, the Baptist minister Isadore Hall III (D-AHF)
For example, the Los Angeles Times reported this week that porn production rates in the area have plummeted since the introduction of a law requiring that adult performers use condoms when filming in Los Angeles County. Its article noted that “the number of permits issued for X-rated productions plummeted about 90% to just 40 permits last year compared with 2012,” the year that the county condom law — Measure B — was carried through on a referendum ballot with 56.96 percent of the vote. The point of the measure, proponents said, was to protect workers in the industry and limit the spread of sexually transmitted infections.
This is no death knell for the industry. Shoots without permits proliferate in the area, unabated and unregulated, while major production companies are shooting instead in laxer states like Florida and Nevada, or even abroad. My concern, however, lies with the individuals directly affected by Measure B — those who work in the LA-based industry — an overwhelming number of whom argued against the condom mandate.
Wrongheaded
While I have no special love for the LA economy, the troubling manner of Measure B’s passage and impact is something I hope to not see repeated. The public’s misguided concerns about safety won the day, while the performers’ own expressed concerns were ignored.
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