Activists submit signatures for California condoms-in-porn vote

[Little Tich]

Source: Yahoo! News / Reuters

(Reuters) - A campaign to require condom use in pornographic film productions in California has submitted enough signatures to election officials before Monday's deadline to put a ballot measure before state voters in 2016, organizers said.

"Unlike most politicians, voters are not squeamish about this issue, seeing it as a means to protect the health and safety of performers," Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and a backer of the measure, said in a statement.

"It's only fair that adult film performers be afforded the same safeguards as other Californians in their workplaces."

Organizers said they collected 557,138 signatures from registered voters, more than the 365,880 they needed by Monday for the initiative to be on the ballot in November 2016. The signatures must still be verified within 30 working days by election officials.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/activists-submit-signatures-california-condoms-porn-vote-184439841.html

[yuiyoshida]

1. I agree with it,

I don't know why it was ever an issue, made sense to be safety conscious.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Porn producers say porn customers won't buy such protected porn.

[yuiyoshida]

3. I don't know, visually its not an impairment

I am sure people complained about actors wearing a helmet on a motorcycle in a movie as well..it makes sense to wear one, and anyone who thinks its a bad idea, must think they can give a woman a kid, and not have to pay the consequences. I remember this advertisement;

[TreasonousBastard]

5. I remember that one, too, and...

I was having a conversation earlier today with a woman who is despairing over her teenagers and wondering why she, or anyone else, ever wanted kids.

But, I digress. Porn customers apparently want to watch their fantasy sex, and very few fantasies include condoms.

Other than that, yes, STDs are far too common with sex workers and something should be done.

[yuiyoshida]

19. Maybe the answer is for actors to wear a certain blue screen

colored condom that can be screened out and replaced with a fleshy looking..well you know, an animated tool, special effect.

[Travis_0004]

4. They will leave the state

San Fernado passed a similar law and permits are down 90%

[TreasonousBastard]

6. And I betcha San Fernando didn't care if they left.

[Lychee2]

9. On the contrary, the Valley would lose an economic mainstay.

Porn movies are a multi-billion dollar business, and some of that money actually gets spent in places like Woodland Hills and Van Nuys.

[TreasonousBastard]

10. I don't doubt that for a minute, it's just that...

it's tough for anyone, especially a politician, to get up and defend the porn industry.

It's easier to brag about the sacrifice of the tainted money from the evil... yada yada...

[Kotya]

14. Is there still a multi-billion dollar porn industry in the Valley?

As far as I can tell these days, the porn industry is anyone with a video camera, a tripod and a hotel room. And the "talent" he films himself having sex with.

The big budget porn films that were churned out of the Valley seem to be relics of a bygone era.

[Lychee2]

25. You're right. Amateur porn is king nowadays.

Including fake amateur porn made by professionals.

[Kotya]

26. The genre is called "pro-am"

As in "professional amateur" and makes up the majority of porn that is currently being produced. And by professional amateurs, we're talking about 18-21 year old women from small towns across middle America. They answer ads on craigslist, are flown out to Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Tempe, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and work for 6-12 months tops before being discarded and replaced by countless other young women lined up to take their places. They all dream of stardom and wealth. It never happens.

A very good (and very depressing) documentary on Netflix, "Hot Girls Wanted" explores this world.

Anyhow, the people supporting a condom requirement likely don't understand the state of pornography production in modern America. Many still have an 80s-90s view of it as an industry controlled by a handful of wealthy producers centered in the Valley. An industry that once employed stagehands, lighting directors, camera operators, makeup artists, writers, directors and composers making films that cost 6 figures and featuring legitimate "porn stars" under contract who made hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

That industry is gone (or at least on life support) as far as I can tell.

[Tumbulu]

16. Good riddance, hope they leave the planet!

Sick jerks, why hasn't OSHA come down on them for this. Why do the voters have to demand that a particular class of workers be protected?

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

17. My asshole relatives took their business to Phoenix

They have not been missed.

[RandySF]

7. Imagine

Being on set all day with a porous condom scraping away at your, well you know.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Porous?

The market is saturated by now. Totally generic.

[yuiyoshida]

20. I would imagine a studio can afford a cart full of condoms

that can be lubed up and ready to go, so there is no, using the same one for hours and hours.

[PatrynXX]

11. thought it's been banned for 3-4 years now

when did it change?

[Kotya]

13. I believe that was a Los Angeles ordinance.

This one will be state-wide.

[earthside]

12. Talk about self-righteous nannies minding other people's business ...

... this effort really proves it.

I don't like people on the left telling other people how to run their business or lives any more than I like the sanctimonious religious right doing it.

[Tumbulu]

15. It is a health issue

and OSHA should requie it. Why does OSHA ever do anything to protect these workers?

[aceofblades]

21. Ther are a lot of health issues out there

agreeing to participate in football, mixedmartialarts and other activities, to varying degrees. My issue here is that there seems to be no provision for participants (those ostensibly having sex) to opt out on their own mutual accord while still being able to work on camera. The folks behind this bill seem to want to apply regulations for working in a lab, to working on a bedroom(but making adjustments so the full logic of the former no longer applies to the latter).

In theory, under this law, a married couple could have sex in their bedrooms without condoms. But if they turn a webcam on and collect money for it then they could be fined. Just not a completely sensible policy in my view.

[Tumbulu]

27. sorry, there are bigger problems to worry about

this is ridiculous. Workers need protection. I don't care about if amatuers want to jump into commerce. They still have to follow the rules of commerce.

[LanternWaste]

23. Yeah... those self-righteous nannies eventually forced doctors and nurses to wear medical gloves

Yeah... those very same self-righteous nannies eventually forced doctors and nurses to wear medical gloves-- which is the same as running their business and lives too.

[earthside]

24. This isn't like that at all.

The religious right proclaim biblical declarations to try and enforce their morality on other people.

Sadly, too often, liberals use "health" and/or "safety" as a rational for trying to impose behavior on people.

Don't tell actors how to act; don't tell my kids they have to eat carrots; don't tell me where I can let my children play; etc. ... there is nannyism of the left that is just as tyrannical as the moralism of the right.

[Unknown Beatle]

18. It's simple, really.

Have porn actors get tested for STDs regularly if they don't use condoms.

[RandySF]

22. They supposedly get t tested monthly