Derrick Burts, a porn actor, had sex with six men and 10 women—on set, in all but one instance—in the two months before testing positive in October for HIV, a diagnosis that caused a temporary shutdown of the adult film industry. According to a new report, though, officials have been able to contact only five of those 16 partners—and of those five, not one was willing to help. “Limited cooperation from many adult film industry companies restricted this contact investigation. Rarely did industry legal counsel give information for investigation,” wrote its author, Dr. Francisco Meza, a physician with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This should come as no surprise. Most porn actors want to keep their identity secret, for obvious reasons, and often use pseudonyms not just for film credits, but in their production contracts, too. The porn industry in general, meanwhile, has always tried its best to operate in the shadows of American culture, hoping not to draw any undue attention that might inspire the public—and lawmakers—to crack down on what remains a legal, lucrative business. Of course, it’s also in the industry’s best interest to avoid scandals and work stoppages.
How avoidable, though, are HIV diagnoses? Yes, production companies need to keep better records, ones that include actors’ real names, and better cooperate with officials in preventing an HIV outbreak. But the real issue here is the resistance to condoms. As the L.A. Times reports, “Burts used condoms during scenes involving anal sex with male partners, the usual practice among adult film performers, but not during vaginal or oral scenes, which is also standard industry practice.” As long as porn stars are having unprotected sex on set, there will continue to be cases such as Burts’.
After a similar shutdown in 2004, former porn actress Sharon Mitchell told The New York Times, “Films are picked up for distribution faster if the actors are not wearing condoms, and the talent earns more money for not wearing condoms.” The question, then, must be posed to anyone who watches porn: How important is it to you that the man not wear a condom “during vaginal or oral scenes”? As a straight guy, at least, I know my eyes are fixed elsewhere.
—Photo PinkMoose/Flickr