XXX = HIV?

I came cross an article today that was sort of unexpected. News broke today of 2 major porn production companies in California shutting down production as a result of a porn star testing positive for HIV. I was shocked to read this because I always thought that there were strict rules about testing in this industry. In a place were individuals frequently have multiple sexual partners I just thought that testing would be strictly enforced and this issue could be avoided.

Wicked Pictures and Vivid Entertainment have shut down production and are desperately trying to find everyone this HIV positive individual has come into contact with so they can do testing (Shahid, 2010). The individual, who's identity and gender are being kept under wraps, resides in California (Shahid, 2010). Apparently, this isn't the first time an HIV positive porn star has caused the shut down of production companies (you would have thought the industry learned from their mistakes the first time!). Last year a woman tested HIV positive directly after filming and in 2004 14 people were said to be infected by an HIV outbreak that briefly shut down production studios in California (Shahid, 2010). Darren James, the individual responsible for the HIV outbreak in 2004 blamed the industry for "failing to protect actors from being infected" (Shahid, 2010).

"Under law, porn actors are required to test negative for HIV and any other sexually transmitted diseases within 30 day of filming" (Shahid, 2010). With this said I came across another interesting point, "Officials in L.A. have blasted the adult film industry for the lack of condom use on porn sets" (Shahid, 2010). This lifestyle just seem SO high risk to me. After learning that HIV sometimes will not show up for 6 months, this fact to me almost nulls the law of being negative for HIV within 30 days of filming, you could test negative but still be positive as we've all learned from doing module assignments. Perhaps in this industry no matter how careful, it is always going to be high risk. I just hope that this isn't another outbreak and that no one else is infected but honestly after reading about the lack of condom use on porn sets, my hopes are low.

"Down Low"
Last week Oprah did a show about men who were "down low''. It is funny that Teach brought this up becasue my mother was actually watching this episode and I caught bits and pieces of it. After doing a little research, I found out that "down low" is "slang for bisexual men who don't identify as gay and conceal that part of their lives- and the supposed link to HIV rates among black women" (Wright, 2010). Oprah interviewd a woman who sued her "down low" ex-husband for giving her HIV.

Did You Know?
A study of a womens prison in New South Wales, Australia interviewed 199 inmates. 36% of the inmates reported having sex with another inmate, most of which was oral sex, and only 4% reported the use of a dental dam (CDC, 2010). This is horrible! I understand protection may be hard to come by in prison but is just seems like these women do not even care that they are putting themselves at risk.

Sources:

Shahid, A. (2010, October 13). Porn star tests positive for hiv, wicked pictures and vivid entertainment studios postpone filming. Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/10/13/2010-10-13_porn_star_tests_positive_for_hiv_wicked_pictures_and_vivid_entertainment_studios.html?r=news/national.

Wright, K. (2010, October 11). More on oprah and the truth about \"down low\" black men. Retrieved from http://colorlines.com/archives/2010/10/more_on_oprah_and_the_truth_about_the_down_low.html.

CDC.(2010, August 31). Sexual practices and dental use among women prisoners. Retrieved from http://www.thebody.com/content/whatis/art58266.html.