An interview I read with famous porn star Nina Hartley was fascinating. Here's her take.
"She said that in straight porn there have been no HIV-related deaths in the last 15 years, and that the rate of HIV among porn performers is actually much lower than that among residents of Los Angeles County in general. Hartley argued that the drive for condoms is "not about our health at all, it's about politics, as always," and that some people who advocate for it really want to bring the porn business down."
She also had some other interesting points.
"We have tall and thin we have short and thick we have boxy-waisted, short-legged, long-legged, flat, big big butts, small butts, bit of a tummy. Women who are actually not the standard of beauty get work in pornography who would never get work in mainstream Hollywood."
No HIV-related deaths doesn't mean no one got HIV, only that they haven't died yet.
No HIV-related deaths in the porn industry doesn't mean that people watching porn, where no condoms are used, might not be using condoms when they should be based on that, and getting HIV with some of them dying. It's like how so many actors used to smoke in film and when there was medical knowledge that smoking caused cancer and there was a cultural move away from smoking, that its depiction on films was greatly reduced as well.
Yes the porn industry is threatening to move out of LA if the law requiring the use of condoms is passed in LA. Porn is big business.
Ho