Why Porn Valley Opposes Measure B, And Why You Should, Too

Whether you're a sexually active, swinging urbanite, a corn-fed Midwestern rake, a student learning the ropes, or any other non-monogamous, non-fluid-bonded adult, you are encouraged to wrap that rascal. Here's why Porn Valley opposes condom legislation for adult sets.

Los Angeles County voters who choose Yes on Ballot Measure B, AKA the Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act, will be mandating condoms for performers engaging in anal or vaginal sex onscreen, whether in big studio films, cam shows, or delightful gangbang outings.

Measure B will also require licensure and permitting for every producer, fees from which will fund regular inspections by County officials.

The Anti-B effort, Big Porn's most organized campaign ever (The Free Speech Coalition frames its argument as an attack on government waste), faults the measure on a number of fronts:

1. It "solves" a public health problem that is not there.

Measure B was authored by a coalition headed by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has paid for testimony by HIV-infected performers who contracted the disease far from the L.A. porn industry's built in safeguards. It misleads the electorate, suggesting falsely that HIV and other STDs are bred in this hyper-aware environment, and that the infected then carry those diseases into the general population.

Performers like Steven St. Croix have come forward to dispel the myth that L.A.'s porn industry is a festering Petri dish of disease.

"In 20 years and over 2,000 scenes," he says, "I have only tested positive for chlamydia—once."

2. It creates an actual and even bigger problem elsewhere.

Committees and sub-committees within L.A.'s County Health Department have tossed some figures around, including one that would assess a $62,000 fee per year on ten studios, in addition to a charge of $300 per production. This would be on top of the filming permits already required for adult productions not shot on L.A. soundstages, which is most of them.

Like any business that is a bedsheets Democrat but balance sheets Republican, Big Porn would up and move to a friendlier locale, leaving an unwashed mass of Libertarian guerilla pornographers to operate without the regulation that Porn Valley's structure provides.

3. Oh yes: Civil Liberties.

Why are we not required to wear hairnets when cooking for our children at home? Well first, they chafe and are unsightly and unpleasant to wear. Second, our homes are not open to the public. Measure B imposes public rules on the private enterprise of porn sets, using the false argument that, well, employees at restaurants need to wear protective gear, so why shouldn't porn stars?

Involvement in porn tends to bring out the nascent civil libertarian and free speech advocate in anyone, and sometimes it is obvious that pornographers hide behind those terms to gussy up their native lack of willingness to be told what to do.

But laws like Measure B do set a dangerous precedent of government encroachment on private enterprise and private life. Porn performers—more than other adults, I bet—know the risks that are out there and choose to lump the potential consequences.

Vivid and director Axel Braun produced a No on Measure B video starring Ron Jeremy and Tera Patrick.

But I like what Bobbi Starr said about her decision to get into porn.

"If I wanted to get gang-banged in an alley," she says, "—and I do—then I want that camera on and everyone doing the job to be tested, so I feel safe exploring my sexuality."

· No on B, No on Government Waste (noongovernmentwaste.com)
· Measure B arguments on Smart Voter (smartvoter.org)