After five years of public hearings and heated debates, a proposed set of safety standards for all California porn production sets is edging closer to being finalized, but adult film performers say if passed, the new regulations would make sex scenes look like medical dramas.
The 21-page draft, proposed by the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, blends thick regulatory definitions with graphic language as it outlines how adult film performers and others on set can protect themselves from bloodborne pathogens and other bodily fluids. It underscores the use of condoms as a way to protect against HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. It also calls for producers to pay for medical visits and hepatitis B vaccines.
During a hearing and public comment period that ended Thursday in San Diego, adult film performers and their supporters said the regulations — which include wearing protective eye gear — go too far.
“These are regulations designed for medical settings, and are unworkable on an adult film set — or even a Hollywood film set,” Diane Duke, CEO of the Canoga Park-based Free Speech Coalition, said in a statement.
The proposed regulations are the result of a letter filed to the Cal/OSHA standards board in late 2009 by Michael Weinstein, executive director of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Condom use in adult film production in California has been required under Cal/OSHA as part of protecting against bloodborne pathogens, but Weinstein said the adult industry has largely skirted the law and has gotten away with it because of a lack of effective enforcement by the state agency. The new regulation would specifically refer to condoms as a way to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.
Weinstein had been critical of the agency for taking so long in drafting the proposal but said Friday he was pleased with the way the public hearing was conducted.
“Getting to this point is a necessary part of the process, and we’re pleased that this has been completed,” he said. “The process is designed to give everybody a say. I think it was conducted fairly.”
Duke said her organization and several other groups would prefer to see the proposed regulation amended with input from both performers and public health officials, “in ways that protect adult film performers without stigmatizing and shutting down an entire industry.”
The public hearing was just one part of the condom debate between AIDS Healthcare Foundation and the adult film industry. In 2012, AHF supported and saw passage of Measure B, a Los Angeles County law that makes condoms mandatory on all adult film shoots, saying that performers deserve to be protected while working. But the organization is also working to get a statewide measure on next year’s ballot to strengthen mandates under Cal/OSHA.
But many performers and executives continue to say that tougher regulations would simply drive the multibillion-dollar industry out of state or underground. The Free Speech Coalition has said the testing protocols for sexually transmitted diseases are effective. On most sites, performers are tested every 14 days and are not supposed to work until they receive a clean bill of health. The industry also has said that while condoms are available if requested, using them is impractical because they break and they ruin the aesthetics of sexual fantasy.
Weinstein has said since he sent the letter more than five years to Cal/OSHA to amend existing regulations, four performers have contracted HIV on California sets. The Free Speech Coalition has disputed that.
Some film production has moved to Nevada, but state officials there have said they are considering enforcing the same regulations required of sex workers in brothels on the adult film industry.
The advisory committee assigned to composing the new Cal/OSHA regulations said they don’t believe the industry will leave the Golden State.
“The regulated community has a unique legal status nationally, resulting in no states suitable to the relocation of the industry,” concluded members of the committee in their recommendation. “Certain portions of the regulated community have threatened to leave the state; however, this is unlikely because the regulated conduct is illegal in every state except New Hampshire.”
Almost 40 people testified to the standards board in San Diego, while the board received about two dozen written comments, said Peter Melton, spokesman for the Department of Industrial Relations. Cal/OSHA is a division within that department.
“There are comments that support the proposal, comments that oppose the proposal, and comments that request modifications to the proposal,” Melton said.
Comments will be reviewed and the Standards Board will determine if modifications to the proposal are needed, Melton said.
The board will take action on the proposal no later than March, he said.
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