elmtelligence

AN OPEN LETTER REGARDING TESTING AND CONDOM USAGE

I have said all along what my opinion on bareback porn is and if there was some sort of way to protect the model I would not have a issue with it. Yet the industry thinks that just because they advocate the use of a condom that they are not promoting unsafe sex paractices. The real truth is they are, don’t be fooled a condom will protect you to a degree but the knowledge of knowing your viral status will protect you and your partner. So get tested and know you are truly safe. this open letter was Posted and then removed. I wonder why, could it be that it slaps the gay porn industry in they’re collective mouth with the truth of the hypocrisy that they use?

Posted on 17. Sep, 2009 by Kyle Majors in Blogroll, Gay Porn Updates

As you may know, California is the porn production capital of the world. Recently, Cal OSHA and the California Legislature have begun to take a serious look at porn producers’ practices regarding STD testing and mandatory condom usage.
Yesterday a major gay porn blog posted an article claiming that the gay adult industry is rallying to “wage war” to stop the California government from requiring STD testing on porn sets. The article suggested that the industry is united on this, and that such a requirement would cripple bareback production and drive everyone’s production costs through the roof. I replied to the article suggesting that it was one-sided, pointing out that CockyBoys.com requires AIM testing AND condom usage, and suggesting that anything less is unacceptable.

The blog pulled the original article, stating that a revised article is forthcoming. The blog also removed my commentary. The gay adult industry is absolutely not united in opposition to AIM testing and condom usage. Having been silent in the public debate, and having had my post removed yesterday, I decided to go on the record in my own blog and other blogs who find the topic of interest.

CockyBoys has been AIM testing almost since we started AND requiring condom usage. We pay for the AIM tests, not the models. And, we are not alone. Many web-based studios have required testing and condom usage for a long time. Bait Bus, Randyblue, NextDoorMale and Suite 703 require AIM testing. Sean Cody and Collegedudes247 require HIV testing.
Testing is NOT prohibitively expensive, except maybe for studios that pay models crap to begin with. It’s especially a meaningless cost if you are shooting the model in more than one scene and amortize the cost across those scenes. The AIM folks will work with you to find local testing centers near the models so out-of-state models don’t have to come to California to be tested. The problem is that there is a general sense that profits come before models. My God we have an obligation to models – to protect them – not expose them to unnecessary risks. If a studio really can’t afford testing, they probably shouldn’t be in the business.

Further, many “condom only” studios like to pretend that they have no responsibility because condoms are used. A lot of condom studios give models a false sense of security spreading myths about the level of safety on their sets. Condoms break and have a statistical percentage of failure. One studio boasts that it not only uses condoms, but also inspects models before a shoot for any visible signs of STDs. What a crock of bull – as if the naked eye can detect STDs.
There is also the issue of “facials” where one model cums in another’s mouth. Although less risky than bareback sex, oral cum shots pose certain risks. A number of studios who use condoms, but don’t test, then turn around and shoot oral cum shots. They usually give the model some line about how saliva is acidic and oral sex is safe. That’s simply not true. If the ejaculating model is infected with an STD, the receiving model’s mouth is potentially vulnerable. This is especially true if the ejaculating model has a cut on his penis, has blood in his semen, or has a high viral count, or the receiving model has a cut in his mouth, a bleeding or receding gum line, recently brushed his teeth, or is “deepthroating.” Even with testing oral cum shots raise certain moral questions for me, but without testing they are clearly irresponsible and unsafe.

I am sick and tired of the DVD and bareback guys whining over this issue. This is a situation where the industry should have banded together and self-regulated. There might have been some means of establishing “truly informed consent” that could co-exist with testing. That didn’t happen. Now the only state in the Union where producing porn is clearly legal is considering government regulation – it’s policing an area where the industry failed to police itself. CockyBoys approached a couple of the pro-condom DVD studios a year or so ago about creating an industry trade association and we were privately told to “not rock the boat” over bareback content. Now the government is stepping in, and frankly, it’s about time.
Condoms are a “must.” Bareback has no place at all in legalized porn production in my opinion. In an insightful piece written for TheSword.com entitled, “Pornstars to Producers: Condoms Not Enough,” the author highlights models’ genuine concerns over the risks and the general lack of communication by studios regarding potential STD exposures. The article states that 30% of gay adult models are HIV positive. I suspect that number may be higher viewed on a studio-by-studio basis. In that light, bareback studios are downright irresponsible. There is NO REASON to permit bareback production. It presents an unacceptable degree of risk rising to a level of reckless endangerment in my view.

I recently read a quote from a bareback producer stating two models could cost three hundred dollars or more to get tested. The producer said most models don’t have the money so they’re not going to pay for it. Are you kidding me? The producer should pay for it. $150 per model is what we are talking about? So let’s say “fuck it,” not pay the $150, have them shoot bareback and roll the dice? Interestingly enough if you google the same producer you find claims from a model that the producer pressured the model to do bareback work (even though the producer also shoots condom scenes).

With power comes responsibility. Models do porn principally because they need the money. I can pull out my check book, and if the number is big enough I can make just about anyone do just about anything. Could I give our models a bunch of bullshit about how testing minimizes the risks, write them a check, and get them to do bareback? Yes, I probably could for many. But they wouldn’t be doing it because they wanted to, or because they really feel comfortable, they would be doing it because they need the money.

Here’s where the “free will” people chime in. It’s suddenly all about models’ rights and the models’ ability to make their own decisions. This is probably the only time you will hear studios advocate models’ rights, so listen up. The idea is that models are at least 18 years of age, and are informed adults. They have the right to make their own decisions regarding their health. They have the right to control their own bodies. This is America damn it – who is the government to regulate what we can do with our bodies? Well this argument is so silly it only merits addressing because so many people toss it about. The fact is that the government regulates what we can do with our bodies all the time, principally in an effort to stop us from doing something stupid in the name of money. Selling blood and semen is legal in most states. Selling kidneys isn’t. Prostitution is legal in Nevada on a county by county basis. Most states think prostitution is a bad idea. There are tons of examples where the government protects us from doing something potentially dangerous for money. If you can’t sell a kidney or a lung for money, it seems to me you shouldn’t be able to engage in unsafe sex for money either. The model is not only endangering his health, but the model in question almost certainly is without health insurance. When he gets sick he’ll probably be a burden on the state as well.

There are at least two primary reasons to oppose bareback porn: the health risks, and the message it sends. I’ve already discussed the obvious health risks to models. The “message” point is more subtle. Bareback porn arguably sends a message that bareback sex is “ok” or “safe.” The idea is that bareback porn encourages others to engage in unsafe sex. This argument not only indicts bareback producers, but also distributors of bareback content and “pre-condom” content. That’s right; if you find the “social message” argument compelling, you have to condemn the “pre-condom” companies too. It’s not about when the content was produced, it’s about the social message it sends. Personally I’m less moved by this argument, as model safety is my primary motivating factor. However, the argument is not without merit.

Finally there’s the argument that if California adopts regulations on porn producers, production companies will move to another state and California will lose hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue. Producers informed on the law governing adult entertainment production know that California has more favorable laws than any other state. However, if California’s actions pose a real risk of state flight by producers, then it’s an argument for regulation at the federal level. As opposed to allowing producers to “state shop” for states that don’t regulate, perhaps the federal government should adopt national regulations. Instead of devoting so much energy to 2257, maybe the feds should take a close look at bareback porn and the benefits of condoms and testing.

The bottom line is this. Neither condoms nor testing is enough. Condoms break, and HIV exposure takes 9 to 11 days to show up even in AIM HIV tests. Testing combined with latex is the only morally acceptable solution. We are asking guys to have sex on camera for money. The least we can do is foot the bill (less than the cost of a decent dinner) to test. As for condom usage, well if you don’t see the health benefits of that by this point….nothing I say in closing will convince you. This is one area where the models have to come before profits. If it takes the government stepping in to force the matter, then so be it.
Thanks for listening. Be well.
Kyle Majors

Thank you Kyle for taking a stand and for showing just how chicken shit this industry really is.
thank you Disd for getting the letter
This is Elmysterio and I’m out

Kurt Wild wants to bring the art house and the whorehouse together and make artistic porn. What is funny is that many don’t seem to get it. Kurt wants to bring the heat, sensuality and the passion back to porn in the same way Kristen Bjorn, Lucas Kazan and Cadinot have. Belami has on occasion touched on that fine line as well. But most companies seem to think that two hot guys fucking is the recipe for a hot scene. I just don’t understand that rational. To me porn is not just about two people fucking. It really is about the fact that the people you are watching fuck really want to be there fucking. That they are so into what they are doing that you the viewer does not exist. You know the kind of porn you feel dirty watching because you feel like your spying on a private moment between two people.

There needs to be chemistry between the models and I have been saying this forever. It seems that lately “reality porn” or the free stuff you can watch on Xtube and similar sites is pulling the viewer away from the “big budget” porn. The one thing that I have noticed about the “big budget” stuff that I have seen is that it is just so formatted. The director has to be aware that some times he just has to step back and let the models go and make sure that he has cameras there to catch the magic. A good sex scene has a beginning middle and an end. It has to flow and it has to build in intensity. What I have seen in most of the porn lately is just a rush to a cum shot. In all truth good sex is nasty and dirty and it rarely gets depicted that way in porn.

All you have to do is think of one of the hottest times that you had sex and you know you would not want someone filming it because it was not pretty. Porn tries to sanitize that bit of nastiness and sometimes in doing so they loose the spontaneity. What I find strange in porn is that models are chosen for their looks and they don’t have an attraction to each other. The scenes often fall flat and you have just put two people through hell for what you thought would be a hot scene. Sex is really about attraction and it always has been. It is chemical and physical and emotional and it has to have all of those components to be hot.

Just because two guys have nice bodies does not make them compatible. Sometimes it does happen but for the most part I have noticed that it is the opposites that attract who make for a hot scene. I have mentioned Kurt Wild a few times on my blog and he has never failed to deliver when it comes to heat on the screen. One thing that I have noticed is that allot of the boys who are making a definite mark on the gay porn scene have come from the website porn scene. Two sites in particular have been the beginning playgrounds for allot of the models that are becoming big names in the industry. Corbin Fisher and College dudes 247 seem to be flooding the market with hot talent.

These Models seem to go from company to company and are consistent in putting on a hot performance. You have Jesse Santana, Mason Wyler, Kurt Wild, Adam Campbell and Tory Mason all from Corbin Fisher. There are others out there that are just as consistently hot too. Zack Randal, Aaron James and Shane Erickson have also made the cross over to big studio porn. And a bunch of them all went to different online sites such as College Dudes 247, Chaosmen, Sean Cody and Cockyboys, etc. These web based porn companies are putting out the best content in my opinion. And when these boys do step on the set of studio porn they are ready and they make the scenes work. But then we have what I call the dead fish of porn. You have Brody Sinclair, Mike Roberts and Barrett Long who constantly proclaim their straightness.

When will these lackluster bitches learn that we don’t care who they fuck off the screen?
Porn is about fantasy and every time these gay for pay bitches open their stupid mouths they ruin the fantasy. So to all of the gay for pay bitches out there I say shut the fuck up and quite bitching about people thinking you are gay. You fuck men on camera, get a god damn clue bitches! And to the viewing public who are offended by these “straight men” doing gay porn stop watching their shit and the producers will get the clue. As long as the scene is hot I really don’t care if you have sex with a fence post in your private life. I say make it look real make it look hot and make me want to watch it again that is the key to good porn. It is also the key to saving the industry. Buying porn is not cheap and you have to make it worth the money for someone to pay $30.00 a month or to drop $50.00 on a video.

The porn industry seems to be going the way of extreme porn and they are loosing focus of what is hot and only trying to get a buck for the shit they produce. I have seen my share of bareback porn, as a matter of fact that is all there was when I started my porn-viewing career. So it really was not such a big deal to see a boy take a big cock up his ass with out a condom. So if you want to watch bareback porn there is still plenty of it available and the boys who did it are most likely dead now. We need to be responsible and not teach the message that fucking bareback is safe. All you have to do is look at a Treasure Island video and you will see what the effect of bareback porn has on a person. All of the companies who are producing twink bareback are just being irresponsible for a buck. The idea of watching a cute little 18-year old boy risk getting infected with HIV is not my idea of erotic. It is sad and it pisses me off that the people who are producing this shit are most likely old enough to know the effect that unprotected sex had on the porn industry and the gay community in the 80’s and the 90’s. We lost some very talented people because of Aids. And if this practice keeps up we will continue to do so.

I understand that porn is a business and it is about making money but just because it is does not mean you have to exploit the talent pool, who just happen to be the key to your success. It is that attitude that will be the downfall of this industry. Those who do not exploit will succeed and those who do will fall by the wayside surrounded by the bodies of the boys that they destroyed. It is already happening and it will continue to do so until there are some serious changes made in what type of content is produced and what kind of treatment is afforded to the talent that makes this industry function. The models in porn are human beings not just some throwaway commodity. Once the producers realize this the better for the industry.

This is elmysterio and I’m out