STD problem in porn industry
Safe sex is an important topic that every human being must learn about. By being educated about safe sex, you'll be able to prevent pregnancies, keep yourself safe from STDs, protect yourself and your mind from harmful sexual myths, know what your boundaries are. You will also learn how to turn down people who are trying to pressure you into giving them sex. Many people don't know these different topics of safe sex, and that is probably the fault of the American education system. But beyond you and me, who date and have sex for fun and for free, there is a different community that needs to uphold and practice safe sex the most. That industry is the porn industry. You would think that for an industry that deals exclusively with sex, they would be experts on how to protect their actors and actresses from getting STDs. Unfortunately, this is not the case. And the last ten years, there have been outbreaks of STDs all over the pornography industry in the United States and abroad.
So why is there an STD problem in the porn industry?
The rates of STD and STI contraction
A study done by a university in California gathered data on 168 male and female porn actresses between 4 months and found that 28% of then had contracted either chlamydia or gonorrhea.
There was also another study that said that porn actors' and actresses' likelihood of getting reinfected with a disease they once had is over 26%.
Researchers searched through STD infection rates for over four years and found that almost 22 of performers got at least one type of STD during that time. And of that 22%, ¾ of them were porn actresses. Based on the amount of the infected, women are more at risk than men from being infected with an STD onset.
A study recently came out that stated porn actors and actresses are infected and reinfected with STDs at much higher rates than the legal prostitutes that live in Nevada. And not only are they infected at higher rates than the Nevada prostitutes, but the Nevada prostitutes also go through more rigorous STD testing. Both sets of people use urinary tests, but the prostitutes in Nevada also do mouth swabs, and they are allowed to use condoms when they're with their clients.
Prostitutes in Nevada must also undergo weekly STI testing. Because of such strict regulations, there have been no HIV contractions among them. The same cannot be said for porn actors and actresses.
One major problem that is contributing to the high rate of STDs and reinfection is the industry's lack of regulations regarding testing, protection, and personal reporting. Also, there are no rules around the number of partners a porn worker can have between testings.
Little to No condom usage
Many porn actors and actresses have reported being fearful about contracting HIV during filming, but many porn videos that are produced do not feature any type of usage of condoms. Studies show that wearing a condom can drop a person's possibility of being infected with HIV by over 90%. Many porn directors do not want to put condoms on their actors when it comes time to film. It takes away from the watcher's experience, they say. They fear that if someone was to click on their video and see that their actors are wearing a condom, the person would be less likely to watch it or less likely to buy it.
No STD tracking
When is a porn actor or actress contracts an STD, the production is shut down until the person is cured or the disease is managed. However, there is no investigation on how they got the STD, who they have been with, and what other movies did they participate in recently. STD tracking could help find the origin of breakouts and prevent future breakouts by making everyone involved in sex with the original person get tested before they also sleep with someone else.
Is there anything being done?
So far, there have been several pieces of legislation around the porn industry that aims to make the industry safer. The regulations some of the legislations are proposing are more rigorous STI testing, condom usage during sexual acts, and partner limits within a period. Unfortunately, many of these pieces of legislation have not been approved of or given the green light. And, at least in the US, if the porn industry were to ever be regulated by laws did not like, they are willing to pack up and leave. This exact incident happened when Los Angeles passed a law requiring all male porn actors to wear condoms during filming, and each production would have to acquire a health permit before they started shooting. The porn industry did not like this, and most of them move to Las Vegas, where there was no such law and where there were even more relaxed regulations.
Conclusion and Suggestion
The pornography industry needs stronger regulations that protect all actors and actresses immediately. The environment they work in is dangerous to their health, their mental health, and their safety. As you've seen from this article, the porn actors and actresses are not protected, and it looks like they may not be even cared about. The porn industry is rife with sexual exploitation, assault, and manipulation. Any law that is created also needs to be a federal law so that porn producers and studios cannot escape the law by changing different to a different city or state, as we saw with LA to Nevada move, all because of condom usage. The use of condoms shouldn't depend on how the director feels about seeing them in their video. Condom usage is basic safe sex, and not using them causes the infection rates for all STDs to skyrocket. Whether or not you agree with pornography, you must know that these actors and actresses are human beings, and they are working in an industry that is excited to manipulate and endanger them. This is a worker safety issue, so possibly OSHA could come in and regulate the sex and pornography industry.