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Proposition 60 Could Destroy California’s Porn Industry

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via Rolling Stone

California is home to one of the largest adult film industries in the United States. Most of the production taking place in the San Fernando Valley which has been dubbed “Porn Valley”. Being one of the only three states in which the pornography industry is protected by law (the others being New Hampshire and certain parts of Nevada) makes California extremely important in the porn industry.

As many of you may know a measure that would enforce the use of condoms and other forms of barrier protection in adult film is on the California ballot this November, but what you may not know is that this measure is based on financially incentivizing any California resident to pursue legal action against the production company or anyone with financial interest. In today’s porn industry the vast majority of performers are producing their own content and have financial interest in the final product, meaning that the performers themselves will be the ones sued. This would allow for constant, frivolous suits against the workers.

The proposition was introduced by Michael Weinstein who seems to want to use the law to have sole control over the adult entertainment industry. Stefani Special, an adult actress and producer, says that “Michael Weinstein is essentially writing himself into a government job that he’d have to be voted out of with a 2/3 vote…he’s basically making himself a ‘cushiony’ job of being able to watch porn and sue to make money from it.” He is actively ignoring the concerns of performers and producers in the industry and taking tax money away from education, police, firefighters, etc., and using it “to have some weird job inspecting porn star’s genitals,” (Ela Darling).

The purpose of the propositions is supposed to be to ensure the safety of the performers. It states “widespread transmission of sexually transmitted infections associated with making adult films in California has been documented by one or more county departments of public health. All workers in the adult film industry deserve to go to work and not become ill. It is important that safer sex practices in the making of adult films, and in particular the use of condoms by performers, be required so as to limit the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections in the adult film industry. Not only is the risk of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections among adult film performers of immediate public concern, but so is the risk of transmitting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections between adult film performers and the broader population.”

The way this proposition is written is extremely misleading and only furthers the stigma against sex workers, there has not been an HIV breakout in the California porn industry in over 12 years. On top of that, the STI tests that adult performers are given are the best on the market. Ela Darling, an adult actress and activist, has stated that all performers are tested every two weeks and the HIV tests they use have a window period of only two weeks while most tests have a period of at least a month.

Not only would this harsher enforcement unnecessary but it would also put sex workers in danger. Julia Ann, adult actress, says that Prop 60 is “based on offering money to residents to file lawsuits when not seeing a condom in a film. With the suit our private info become public record.” Making the private information of performers public in this manner puts them at a serious risk of stalkers, assault, and other forms of harassment. This kind of harassment would force the industry to go underground or out of state. Killing a 12 billion dollar industry would be catastrophic to California’s economy and put thousands of workers out of a job.

Laws like these really set a precedent on how lawmakers think sex workers should be treated. Sex workers all over the world deserve to feel safe in and outside their work environment. Whether you live in California or not, be sure to always be on the look out for sneaky measures that strip marginalized groups of their rights.

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