Panic In Porn Valley as Actor Tests Positive for HIV

At least five major porn studios have shut down after an actor tested positive for HIV this week.

In my latest story for Working In These Times, I report on potential structural conflicts of interest in the industry-sponsored HIV testing program for straight porn in the San Fernando Valley. The industry often holds up the program as an excuse for why it shouldn’t have to follow California’s occupational health and safety laws about condoms on the set.

Industry representatives often claim that the testing program keeps the talent pool so clean that condoms are unnecessary. So, it should give us pause that the very (industry-supported) organization responsible for testing is also in charge of investigating itself when the system fails.

[Photo credit: Eschipul, Creative Commons.]