Reading the recent threads about supposed abuse on the set, laws based on the aftermath of the Traci Lords incident, but also remembering the discussions on the latest HIV outbreak, makes me somewhat ang^H^H^H... time for a rant.

O.K, let’s start.
I want to see porn and I want to be entertained.
It is not entertaining at all, if I find myself wondering if I have seen a case of abuse or if I have seen a great performance of a performer hollering “Please don’t!” when subjected to a penta-anal-penetration and one gazillion creampie, etc., e.g.
And no - you understand: No, no as in N-O, I do not want to go through hours of behind the scene footage and do hours of web-research, if the performers involved acted as risk-aware, responsible consenting adults and if the director/crew have done serious risk-assessment and –management.

I also do not want some nut-head politicos go out creating laws, which have negative impact on the production of an art or product I want to consume, while the action or rather inaction of the industry involved serves them arguments for these laws on a silver platter.

AFAICS the adult business has failed and continues to fail in terms of public lobbying.
There is no striking evidence the adult business does some industry wide PR.
The concept of “Work on your own, but when it comes to lobbying strike (or stroke) together.” does not seem to be valued.
Every fucking little industry has it’s lobbyists, to wander around on discussions and so on. The teams of the NFL may be competitors on the field, but they strike together, when it comes to promotion, the museums and theatres in a city may be competitors for attendance/viewers, but they work together under an umbrella to make it clear that this very city is worth a visit in terms of culture; etc.

What is done by the porn business?
Nothing.
O.K., there is the occasional starlet sent to some afternoon freak show. Monday: Living with 1000 cats and dogs. Tuesday: Pussy Mammanda, Porn Star which^W who fucks 500 dudes, Wednesday: I was abducted by aliens and forced to sleep with Elvis. ...

First, anyone is smarter in retrospect.
But given the number of incidents up to now with repercussions on (the image of) the porn biz, the porn biz must be considered downright stupid, because the (re)actions of the porn biz are inexistent and reactive at best, but not pro-reactive and in no means active.

So maybe it is about time to implement some proven concepts in porn also.
Yes, I want a vignette which is on the cover and says “Don’t worry, all action in here was filmed with the approval of the DGA^W Animal Health^W^W International Union of Erotic Artists or the International Association of Ethical Artists and Companies in Erotic Arts”

Two issues – abuse/exploitation and safety/health - have to be addressed.
If some feminist or religious right, family value concerned politico blows the horn, he is to be shut up with the relevant guidelines of the Union/Association.

Explore the novel concept of contracts!
If a contract does not state that the performer does anal in a scene, then the performer will not do anal – period!

So you say it is sometimes “necessary” to “convince” a performer on set.
Why the fuck don’t you do a decent casting/pre-selection. Yes, get yourself a professional. A professional who knows how to do a certain act, wants to perform it and says so, before s/he arrives on set!
BTW, if a stuntman, who is an expert in falling down stairs, is hired for a scene, which requires a stunt-expert for driving cars, this is highly unprofessional.

Have your Union/Association set up a legal department!

Will the porn industry wait until there is a law demanding the presence of three police officers (of course paid by the production company, i.e. by the consumer in consequence) on a porn set to ensure safety of the artists?

Or will someone indulge in the theory of BDSM discovering the concept of a safe-word?

The Union/Association creates industry-wide safe-word. If someone uses the safe-word the action stops, without discussion and delay.
And if the action does not stop, everybody on set helps the user of the safe-word. Anybody means director, dolly grip, make-up artist, fellow actors or actresses, etc.
If you don’t respect the safeword, or do not help the user of the safeword, the consequences are simple.
You are not a member of the Union/Association any longer.

It is obviously too late in the USA for the laws which root in the Traci Lords incident.

Why not create a central database which contains the relevant data (real name, date of birth, etc.) and hand out a “badge” for the members of the Union/Association which they have to show before the play^W shooting starts, e.g. This is a concept used in various team sports.
Maybe this could be an argument for revoking and preventing further laws about this matter. (BTW, there is a reason I do not restrict this Association/Union to regions, but name it international. Nut-head politicos are not only found in the USA. Some politicos in Europe, e.g., will certainly find it a convenience to present themselves as the saviours of ill-favoured people, who have no other chance than to earn money in the loathsome porn biz.)

When we are at names.
Protect thy screen name!
Make it a principle that the screen name belongs to the performer, not the company.
This is not only to protect/ensure the performer, but also companies may benefit from consistent screen names.
Take our actress, let’s say Pussy Mammanda, who started with some filthy company and climbed to the stars and honours of $generic_high_value_company.
If company “Gang Tramway” , Pussy made her debut with, decides to do a compilation “A Sperm Drinking Harlot named Pussy Mammanda” or market a series named after her, $generic_high_value_company may be interested that Pussy can have these titles cancelled, and if Pussy is retired, she may be happy if she has the right to get some money from the use of her name.

Before I step right into the safety/health issue...
It is not a matter “if” but “when” the next STD/HIV case will take place in the adult business.
Then there will be the anxious waiting and the pledging if the esteemed producer of the movie the infection happened turns out to be an altruist or is inclined to charity.
I can see the “please give pittance”-posts already.
In the real world a Union/Association would already have set up an insurance/fund for exactly such a case.

Imagine a discussion with an esteemed anti-porn activist mourning about such a tragedy and you say “we don’t only have words of pity, we also talk money(insurance)!”, silencing the well esteemed hypocrite instantly.

In the threads about law 2257 the inexperience of performers, problems with agents were also addressed.
Have your Union/Association set up a legal department!
They can also help in troubles with agents. And in addition have a department which gives the novice performer information. General information, information about risks, health issues etc. before joining the Union/Association.
Don’t do it in a filthy backyard or on set, but beforehand, and silence the critics from $Christian_Concerned_Mothers_Association.

And while I am with the legal department.
Remember the thread of Nacho Vidal and four actresses getting arrested in Mexico during an erotic fair.

This can only happen in Mexico, but not in more “civilized” countries like the USA or the EU-members?
Ever heard of Paddleboro or the raid of a fair of the Till Eulenspiegel Society.
It is not out of this world that something like this could happen to a fair with porn performers.
Did I already mention “ Have your Union/Association set up a legal department!”?

But now on to the safety/health issue.
AFAIR Jenna Jameson got ridiculed and there did not seem to be much sympathy for Selena Silver’s personal STD-safety-policy, either.

First, Jenna Jameson got ridiculed for her americo-centric view, but she did make a valid point.
Something like a quarantine does make sense and it also makes sense to define a certain standard of labs, doing the tests.

First, on the testing guidelines.
Set up an “International AIM”, because the European and US-American “porn community population” overlaps, and there are even overlaps to Brazil, e.g.
First you need a central database to identify Patient Zero in an outbreak and track down potential follow-up generation HIV-carriers.
Have the producers who want to sport the “ethical porn vignette” send in the “who does whom”-data from every movie and have the performing artists regularly tested on STD and in the case of HIV do ELISA and PCR, regularly.
Check with the WHO if the standards in a given country for medical testing facilities match with your requirements in all labs of these countries and seek out and affiliate with labs in countries the WHO cannot “guarantee” the required standards.
Or set up a certification program for such labs without respect to the labs location.

Second, on the quarantine.
Jenna Jameson may not be a rocket scientist, but she addressed a valid point.
If you have a novice performer with a negative ELISA and PCR, tested a few days before the first performance, you cannot in any means say he or she is “safe” in respect to HIV(STD).
So have them have a condom-only “quarantine” for at least the first three month (from the beginning of regular testing under supervision of “International AIM”)
Give the option for long term relationship partners of performers to – voluntarily – get tested on a regular basis by “International AIM” and its affiliates.
Also require that the regular testing continues up to three/six month after retirement from the biz.
(The incentive for testing should be the fund/insurance of the Union/Association).

Some word to condom despising fellow porn consumers.
It is incomprehensible to me how a lame scene lacking in heat/passion/romance would miraculously gain quality in heat/passion/romance if a little bit of rubber vanishes.
But I know, there are different tastes and fetishes. But the occasional rubber in scenes with novices should be tolerated.

There seem to be some porn companies, who think that the “event of watching porn” has to be linked with a certain amount of filthiness. Good they shall continue to do so.
But some companies may be concerned about “ethical” issues, even if the only concern is because it helps to stay out of legal trouble.
Or maybe stars of the genre simply refuse to work with “unethical companies”. Maybe even some porn consumers make it a criterion of their decision to buy or rent porn if the “ethical porn vignette” is on a DVD or not.

So now the industry, or the companies interested in, can sport a vignette “ethical porn” on the covers.
Start actively promoting the adult industry as an “ethical business”.

Have a few “ambassadors” – active or inactive male and performers and maybe directors – who can deliver a speech or participate in a discussion without sticking their foot into their mouth;
People, who also know the difference between portraying themselves as “fuck-bucket or mean prick”-fantasy in a product promotion and acting as representatives of their community or business.
There should be plenty of ambassadors around.

One may start promoting in the freak shows disguised as afternoon talk-shows for bored house-wives, but one may also decide to skip this approach.
But make use of shows which reach dedicated followers of the genre, AFAICS the Stern Show, or “Wa(h)re Liebe” and stuff in Europe.
But don’t stick there, especially if you want to do this lobbying and promoting to fend off “annoying” laws.
Send the “ambassadors” in “serious” talk-shows and discussions.
Maybe you get them in “normal” big TV shows like “Wetten Dass” or “Scommettiamo che...?” in Europe.

AAMOF, I am so tired of this STD-babble, the lamentations about the evil politicians hindering the prospering of the adult business, these hear-say-accusations of what kind of abuse happens on porn sets.
Give me an “Ethical Porn” Vignette on the covers, and if the industry is done with pitying itself from the witch-hunt on porn I will notice it, when I hear the following sentence in “Wetten Dass”: “And now we welcome Doctor Daniella Rush, honorary representative of the International Union of Erotic Artists. Good God you look great, and you are a Doctor also. But, now Doctor Rush, you are here to inform us about a serious issue, safe sex and you and your organization have vast experience on it, not only in theory [blink]”.

And when I hear Larry King say “After the break we welcum a magna cum laude graduate, extremely beautiful woman, Miss Deveraux, spokeswoman of the International Association of Ethical Artists and Companies in Erotic Arts, and hear what she – as a person who has vast experience in the field- has to say about the arguments of $right_wing_religious_family_value_concerned_mother_and_leftist_ultrafeminist”, I will acknowledge that the adult industry is actually an industry of grown ups.

End of rant.
(Yes, I am aware of people like Guccione, Flynt et al. But this was a rant!)
Edited for spelling, links, ...

Edited by - Zartyr on Aug 8 2004