The porn industry has many safety tips for the Covid-19 era

A 2017 Gorbach study of 360 adult film workers found that 24% of performers were infected with chlamydia or gonorrhea. One third of these infections were found in the throat or rectum and were not detected by the urine tests used by the industry to screen for sexually transmitted infections and act as a reservoir of ongoing infections. The findings indicate that the test protocol needs to be carefully considered, she said. (For example, chlamydia and gonorrhea help prevent HIV infection and can become infected within a selected 14-day repeat window.)

Her study also hoped that more than 20% of healthcare workers would self-treat without medical advice when symptoms appeared, reducing the amount of time they could miss work. .. Gorbach fears that the same could happen at Covid-19, so he can misuse or abuse improper treatments to heal himself or cover his symptoms so as not to miss work. I am trying. (Porn performers, like other workers without sick paid leave, don’t get paid when they can’t go to the set.)

Gorbach says the coronavirus testing program has found clear lessons that can be gained from the film industry and thinks about ways to deal with people who “float” or work in multiple locations with vastly different screening or protection criteria. Including that. “People in nursing homes are as floating as the adult film industry. They are floating, they work in multiple places with different rules and standards,” she said. “If an infection is screened in one place and not another, they can bring the infection from one place to another.”

The film industry has addressed this through frequent testing, and Stabile said most performers do not work with untested partners. The test program is voluntary, but Stabile said clear test results are a requirement for most mainstream sets.

It also matters who pays for the test. In the film industry, performers typically have to pay a test fee of about $ 150 to complete their work. Public health officials argue that workers, especially low-wage workers, should not be charged for coronavirus testing costs. “Public health is trying to reduce barriers to prevent the spread of illness, especially economic barriers,” says Angela Battz, assistant professor of community health sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health who studied the health of sex workers in Mexico. Mr. i says. , Kenya, Ghana, Boston. “If we inflict this burden on individuals, that is of concern.”

Geography of testing is also an issue. When producers needed permits and condoms on the Los Angeles movie set, many producers moved to less restrictive locations. According to experts, employers can do the same, avoiding coronavirus testing programs that they find costly or troublesome.

It was interesting to think about what we can learn from programs that make actors in the adult film industry safer. “It’s beneficial,” she said. “They’ve obviously gone through a decision-making process.” But she added, coronavirus testing can be much trickier for practical reasons. Testing of adult films was started more than 10 years after the outbreak of HIV and only after years of research to improve HIV testing. Coronavirus testing is still a work in progress.

“HIV has seen decades of testing progress, but new tests are still being developed,” Bazzi said. “With the coronavirus, there are still many unknown elements about testing.”

Politics may also play a role in the coronavirus inspection program when the film industry is the indicator. Test programs are constantly being attacked by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and their leaders believe the tests are not enough to prevent the development of HIV infection and require condoms. Another issue is the controversy over whether HIV-positive performers with low levels of the virus that are unable to infect the virus should be allowed to participate in the shoot. At this time, regardless of virus titer, if you are positive for HIV, you will be disqualified from performing in the PASS program.

Now that people in the movie industry are working on coronaviruses, the fear of sexually transmitted diseases has faded. The clinic remains open, so performers can get tests that need to be cleared in order to run, but few people are involved, as production is suspended, mainly because of the coronavirus. .. (Other users can take a solo video or shoot a video with someone in quarantine.)

Like many industries, the Stabile group is trying to determine when and how to safely resume work. Like workers across the nation, movie industry workers are experiencing the financial pain of losing their jobs. However, people who run subscription porn sites say the business is booming during quarantine. “My income is sold out,” said Hart, raising funds for make-up artists, production assistants, and other hard-working set workers while at home with his wife and four cats.

The Free Speech Coalition task force meets twice a week in Zoom to see if Covid-19 can be integrated into the test protocol, camera operators, makeup artists, and other field workers who don’t require testing. We are addressing questions such as how to protect our staff. Previous. “We ask questions like whether directors and photographers can shoot with N95 masks on them,” Stabile said. “We’re actively trying to figure out how to secure the set, which means coronaviruses and HIV.”