I for one am tired of companies and individuals that take it upon themselves to consider me a child not able to make my own informed decisions and not to know the difference between what is real and what is fantasy

When I can see the pink while you were out note that says “god called and left you in charge” I’ll give it more thought.

I also think this is totally hypocritical of titan. How many of the signers of this letter practice “un-safe” sex? I know one from personal experience

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It is quite possible that some members of Titan's staff and/or some of their models practice bareback sex in their private lives. It is exactly for this reason that the use of condoms in video production is important.

The straight adult video industry utilizes a systems of regular testing for STDs with proof of recent tests required for participation in a production. No such system exists in the gay video industry; and, were such a system implemented, it is highly unlikely that it would be effective or enforceable. Therefore, until there is both a vaccine and a cure for AIDS, the socially responsible action is to promote safe sex. New bareback sex videos send the wrong message.

You may not agree with Titan's position. That's your prerogative. However, it does not make their position any less supportable.

~ GaySatyr

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I don’t want to sound redundant—we’ve had this discussion before—not that it is inappropriate to go over some of these points of view again and perhaps learn something new.

Titan’s public statement of its policy is probably a good thing if only because it lets models and us purchasers know exactly where they stand and what to expect from them. But it is a bit disingenuous, however slightly, for them to go on and on and on about how “reprehensible” this all is. They are, after all, selling sex. And how will they know? Are they going to hire investigators to do thorough background checks on the sex lives and histories of everyone who works for them? As Billy Wild points out in his interview with Joe Blow, studios tend to be hypocritical about such things, particularly when it suits their money-making purposes. And maybe this is stretching it a bit, but in this time of sensitivity about what “government might do next about porn,” this over-righteousness about barebacking strikes me as a feeble attempt to stay on the right side of the boundary, or at least hedge against community ostracism. Like, “Yes we do porn, but we CERTAINLY don’t do THAT!”

Consider these two probabilities: A) I suspect all the guys who appear in bareback films are positive and probably most became so before they decided to do barebacking films. B) Barebacking films probably do not cause a tidal wave of people rushing out to have unprotected sex. As someone pointed out earlier, just because I watch the movie, In Cold Blood doesn’t mean I’m going to run out and kill someone. Given A and B, exactly how measurable is the harm of such films to the performers or the viewing public? How is this “promoting” irresponsible sex and to whom? Who and what does Titan think they’re “responsible” for saving? Apparently it’s carnal idiots because...........

If you’re a gay man, unless you’ve been living in a cave in Waziristan for the last 25 years, you undoubtedly know that unprotected sex can lead to HIV infection and AIDS. Thanks ever so much, Titan, but I really don’t need you to get all high and mighty and point this out to me in an effort to win some lame kudos from the Gay Community.

If Titan were truly acting out of a concern for their stars’ health and well-being , they would, as GaySatyr suggests, implement a system of mandatory testing for all their models for all sexually transmitted diseases. However, I don’t think they will, out of a concern for their own bottom line.

The fact that so many people know people who are living with the disease longer and longer is probably the major reason people are increasingly irresponsible in their sexual behavior, not watching bareback sex. We still live in a society where we have the right to make choices. And for me, the whole thing has a bit of the aura of “big brother” about it. Sorry, Titan, but no kudos from me.

Billy

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I don't work in the gay adult business, so I don't presume to tell them what to do. However, it seems that switching from condom use to mandatory testing would have many, many problems. Many of the gay performers have STDs, whether it be herpes, hepatitis or HIV. So I don't know how they would figure out if those performers would still work, or with who, or with condoms. It's something that wouldn't be decided overnight.

Again, I'm not telling anyone how to live their lives. I'm simply pointing out some of the reasons why I personally support Titan in their decision.

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BTW --- This is the same gut feeling that makes me be opposed to helmet laws and most gun control, however well-intentioned one might think those those efforts may be. I guess it’s as much a philosophy of life more than anything.

Billy

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What about the friends/family you leave behind after you land headfirst on the pavement with no helmet, or the passenger you crush in the seat in front when you go flying into the back of them because of no seat belt? These laws are in place to protect not just those who wear them.

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One of the reasons that I love America is because I have high hopes that someday it will be even more like the democracy it was intended to be. No special interest groups, no bribery... well, maybe that's just a utopia fantasy, but my point is - as an American libertarian, I only support laws which punish people who criminally hurt others.

And I simply don't consider making someone sad that you recklessly hurt yourself a crime. I wouldn't support making suicide a crime either.

I'm not aware if backseat seat belts are required to be worn in England, but they currently aren't in the States except for children under a certain age and weight.

Sorry to get so off-topic. I've been having an off-month, and I'm particularly mad at the American government right now.

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If you fail to wear your seat belt and cause yourself a serious injury so what , you probably reason . But what about the other patients in the hospital who would have been receiving treatment were it not for your prang ? This is by no means a rare occurrence , there are instances of people being forced to wait while a serious road accident sufferer is seen first . Most serious cases are always shnted to the front of the queue . And while Lady Trish is being treated for her preventable head trauma , little Jimmy has to wait . Do you really have no care for the suffering and possible long term damage that could be done in those circumstances ?

This isn't meant as an attack on you Trish , just a vent of some long festering spleen . To be honest I find most of your posts and views shadow my own thoughts remarkably closely .

And now back to the question : To rubber , or not to rubber !

I say , sure , fine , whatever . If it's a private company then they have any prerogative within the law . The proof of the pudding will probably be in the profit column . Who knows , maybe this'll play well for them , and legitimize their product in a wider section of the gay community .

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1) Yes, $75+ is of course outrageous but unfortunately roughly the going rate for gay porn and that is at least a small part of the reason for my annoyance with a private gay porn company trying to come across all holier-than-thou as a shining example of a good citizen doing noble deeds serving the Gay Community. They (and all the rest of them, if the truth be told) are ripping off the gay community. I say fine, whatever, also, but don’t preach.

2) The ER example, I hesitate to say, gets us on that slippery slope. What do ER nurses call motorcycle riders? Organ donors. Perhaps we should severely restrict cycle ownership to, say, those over thirty—the more “responsible” segment of the population. What about hang gliding? Or skydiving? Or for that matter scuba diving? Or smoking or obesity? We could pass laws mandating people be no more than 5% overweight and ban smoking completely. Those who don't comply, we execute. (Sure would eliminate a lot of those “heart episodes” clogging our ERs.) The point is, what society chooses to restrict with laws in an effort to do something for the so-called “common good” is all a construct. It’s just whatever the majority of society will allow. In any case, some of us feel the majority is wrong and goes too far.

Billy

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I have an interesting personal story regarding bareback porn. I've always been a very strict condom-only man in my personal life. There was never any doubt that if I was going to have sex, there'd be a condom, and if the other guy didn't like that, he'd be out the door. Then, something weird happened. I fucked up. For some reason, I ended up having bareback sex, on 3 occasions (with the same guy). (Luckily, I've been tested, and so far, I'm still HIV-). This is so out of character for me, I've been racking my brain trying to figure out how/why I'd do something like that.

The only thing I can think of, is that I have been watching a lot of bareback porn lately, and I wonder if somehow it created a sort of desensitivity to barebacking in me? OK, I know that sounds lame, and like I said in the other thread, I am personally responsible for my own actions. I have to do whatever I can to get back into my 100% condom only mindset, and I think, for me at least, that means I won't be watching/buying any more bareback porn.

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I've said repeatedly and I'll say it again: Considering the risks, including AIDS and other STDs, I consider it irresponsible of studios to produce new bareback material.

If they want to mitigate that responsibility, they should include disclaimers similar to the one JoeBlow69 posted in another thread:

I'm well aware that some people don't want to be told what to do. Personally, I don't give a damn what they don't want to be told to do or not do. I've been peripherally connected with the gay porn industry for 25 years. I've seen dozens of actors I knew and hundreds of others die horribly, victims of a disease they did not understand.

Well, today we do understand it. And people are still catching it. And, in spite of the drug cocktails, they are still dying.

So, to those of you who don't give a damn and object to some kind of warning regarding the dangers of unprotected sex and to those of you who produce bareback videos without clear disclaimers as to the possible consequences: GET OUT OF MY FACE!!!

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~ GaySatyr

Edited by - GaySatyr on 4/13/2004 1:33:25 PM

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This is, again, just my opinion. I don’t think watching bareback movies alone would make a person decide to participate in that behavior, especially if you are negative.

It sounds like there are some underlying issues around un-protected sex that are the cause and the symptom of this behavior.

Reach out to some one that can help you with this issue; I’d hate to see you sero-convert.

BTW I don’t watch much “bareback” porn myself. The models doing it are not usually appealing to me. They usually look as if they had been boiled (steroids) and then dipped in body hair.

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Sadly, many (most?) of the actors in "classic" gay bareback videos are dead: a very great number of them as a result of HIV/AIDS and its complications.

~ GaySatyr

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I know many “classic porn” stars still living today, Did gay porn lose any more people to HIV percentage wise than say hairdressers or interior decorators? At the peak of HIV awareness (about 1985) guys around me were getting the news that they were POZ at a very large rate The pool of people doing gay porn is a small constantly changing one, so guys missing from the scene are noticed. This isn’t to say that HIV didn’t devastate gay porn because it did, in many ways.

People get past the age of performing and move on to something else. Some of the ex-performers I know live quiet lives and would like to forget the past altogether.

The “industry” until recently has been run by a select few who dictate content, the look of performers and (big surprise) prices. In the business world it’s called a monopoly or a cartel.

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