JUST REMEMBER...*WATCHING* PORN IS SAFE SEX...

...even if performing in porn isn't. There's nothing that will get porn stars on CNN quicker than an HIV outbreak in the industry, and last week the airwaves were full of sound bytes by starlets who just happened to be snagged by the camera crews as they left the AIM Clinic after getting their test results. The clinic has been beyond busy all week as performers respond to the AIDS scare by running in to get state-of-the-art tests that are supposed to be able to catch even a very recent exposure. And as they emerge into the sun on Ventura Boulevard, the crews are there to stick mikes where usually they see penises hovering right before their eyes. I wonder how many performers have been outed to their folks this way? "Hi Mom! Hi, America!"

It's not the kind of PR anyone in the industry wants, of course, even though a few of the sudden-onset interviews are with performers who look and sound smart and together. Most mainstream attention to the porn industry is happy to feature people who might be a little on the messed-up side, the better to subliminally suggest to teenagers that this is a poor career choice. But this time the drama is built in: AIDS! See, you run away from Idaho, you make a dirty movie, and look what happens.

In fact, though this is obviously a fairly dire moment for the industry and certainly a serious time for those exposed, it's a little surprising that scares like this happen only every few years. The last one was a good five years ago, and it's not like HIV went away, porn performers stopped doing high-risk activities, or the condom industry made vast inroads interfacing with the adult world. Nope, people have been fucking like bunnies, mostly sans protection and involving pretty much the same amount of anal as has become usual in the porn biz: that is to say, quite a lot of anal. (The exception to the high-risk rule is much gay male porn, which went condomized some time ago and still seems to be sellling just fine.)That the porn industry isn't more heavily impacted by HIV is mainly due to its policies around testing. And in the hetero porn world, those policies probably wouldn't be in place at all without the efforts of one woman in particular: Sharon Mitchell. Mitch, who just got her doctorate a couple of months ago, created AIM Clinic and got backing from every sector of the adult industry to get people tested on a regular basis, and without her indefatigable activism and the support network she created, many of the most powerful people in this industry would have kept their heads in the sand. Mitch is undoubtedly up to her ass in alligators this week, but she should be proud: Whatever else happens as a result of this outbreak, she and her staff certainly intervened in time to save some people from infection.

IS PORN DANGEROUS?

Not to you, pal, unless you're spending the mortgage on it. Whatever else I have to say about this situation (and I have quite a bit to say, thank you), I want to remind you that porn is a profoundly important element in many people's safer sex lifestyles. But at least as far as het porn is concerned, it's not as safe for the performers as it might be. Testing helps, probably a great deal. But condoms would help more, and most companies don't use them.

Do you remember the early days of safe sex education, back in the '80s? There was a graphic that somebody designed that showed two people-shaped icons and a sort of "family tree" of their other partners and their partners' other partners, etc. Pretty soon the numbers of people went off the edges of the paper the graphic was printed on. The point was to remind those supposedly not-at-risk folks that you're having sex with everyone your partner ever fucked, and everyone those people ever fucked, and...

Well, pretty soon you're screwing the entire population of Paris, see? (This is, I confess, an idea that I always kind of liked. But I'd use condoms in the first place.)

Well, the thing about the porn industry is, they aren't just doing that figuratively, like you and me. They're doing it literally! And pretty soon everyone in LA is three degrees of separation away from a smutty assignation with a porn star. (Hey, isn't that why a lot of them moved there in the first place?) And if HIV is in that pool of sexual activity, it can get spread around pretty fast.

Here I'll just pause for a moment and mention that while we're worrying abotu HIV, we might as well count in all the other sexually transmitted conditions too, because frankly, it'd be nice if we could all screw everyone in Paris without catching *anything*. HIV gets all the press, still. But it's not the only contagious thing in town.

Let's also take a minute to acknowledge that when we're doing needle drugs with someone, we might as well be screwing them. Yes, I realize that when you do some drugs, you pretty much can't get it together to screw anyone. But drugs are not absent from the equation of how quickly one person with HIV can infect a bunch of others.

Ever since the early days of the epidemic, HIV educators have had trouble communicating with heterosexuals about the risk they might be running. You'd think that porn stars would be immune from the level of denial shown by straight people populating swing clubs, pick-up bars, and for that matter church socials. Porn performers are, after all, identified by fucking, as (often) are the gay men society persisted in associating with the HIV epidemic. But there *is* a very high degree of resistence, even among sexually active heterosexuals, to the notion that condoms might be a big, lifesaving plus.

I thought for a minute before adding that "life-and-death" buiness into the mix; I know that great medical strides have made HIV disease pretty close to the chronic, survivable health condition people dreamed fifteen years ago it might one day become. No, it's not a guaranteed death sentence these days... unless you can't tolerate the drug regimen, or it stops working for you. I know too many people miserable on the HIV "cocktail" to buy into the new "AIDS is survivable" rubric that encourages barebacking and other forms of risk-taking.

Besides, how fabulous do you think porno's health insurance plans are? Mostly they're nonexistant! And once you're HIV-positive in the industry, good luck holding on to your porn-star-dom. Not a lot of work to be had once they stamp your card "+".

No, the best-case scenario is not to get HIV in the first place, which is what Mitchell managed to convince everyone back when she was creating the AIM Clinic. But this goal would be made far, far easier if porn performers would use condoms.

The problem isn't that the performers don't want to. Well, I'm sure some of them don't. But generally, the no-condom rule is said to emit from
upstairs: from the producers and distributors. And why do they want to put the merchandise at risk? (Hey, I know that's harsh, but consider the
situation.) Because, they say, consumers don't like condoms. They won't buy porn where condoms appear. It's not sexy, they say.

Well, I've got some news. Most of the gay men's companies switched over and lived to tell. And if all the porn companies got together today and decided to give the customers only rubber-clad fucking, what would the customers do?

Buy it anyway, would be my guess. Maybe you'd all fantasize about ripping the condom off, but c'mon. Bare-naked cocks have got to be more important to gay men than straight men. Doesn't that follow? So how come gay men managed to make it through the transititon to all-condomed porn?

Because they were able to understand themselves as personally affected by the issue, perhaps. And consumers of hetero porn are less likely to feel that way. But let me put it to you like this:

Your favorite porn stars are putting their mucous membranes in harm's way to get you off. You buy porn featuring them when all they're doing is masturbating with big rubber dicks. Right? So why not a big
rubber-*covered* dick?

If the porn industry is really just jumping when its consumers say "jump," do the right thing. Vote with your dollars and get used to seeing condoms in porn. Hay, who knows, it might help you get used to condoms in real life.

DON'T FORGET NATIONAL MASTURBATION MONTH!

Yes, while you're re-training yourself to like condomized porn by wanking furiously, consider doing a good deed and coming for a cause. May is National Masturbation Month! And you can celebrate two ways: in the provacy of your own home (or the booths at the Lusty Lady), by downloading a pledge sheet from the Masturbation Month pages at www.goodvibes.com. Sponsor yourself, or better yet, get others to sponsor you. If anyone has ever called you a wanker, insist on getting a top dollar pledge from them! Once you've masturbated as long as you can (don't forget the lube, you can really go for distance), collect your pledges and send them in; 100% of the take will be donated to a sex-positive charity, as usual. The Cnter for Sex & Culture is this year's beneficiary.

Or, you can benefit the Center in real time, on May 15th, at the live Masturbate-A-Thon. (See www.masturbate-a-thon.com for details and pledge sheet.) There'll be a men's room, a women's room, and a mixed room, with some porn performers there (we're not sure who's coming as I write this, but we'll list them on the website when we get confirmations). And if you're feeling super-exhibitionistic, you can sign a release and wank for the webcast! And if you miss the 15th, check out the one in Portland on May 22nd. www.masturbate-a-thon.org gets you all those details.

A good time will be had by all. How could it be otherwise? You know, if you want something done right, do it yourself.