Many sites including AVN have reported this decision as a victory for the industry. Make no mistake about it, it is NOT.
Here’s the basics. AIDs Healthcare Foundation sued in an attempt to force the Los AngelesDepartment of Public Health to mandate condom use in every sex scene.
Judge David P. Yaffe told AHF that it is the health department, not the courts, which is responsible for overseeing health threats to county residents, and that the LADPH has “broad discretion” in how it performs that duty.
The Losa Angeles Times reports: “county health officials released data that showed 18 HIV cases and more than 3,700 cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis had been reported since 2004 by a San Fernando Valley-based clinic that mainly serves the porn industry.”
However, according to Brooke Hunter, who runs the day-to-day operations at AIM Healthcare Foundation, the cited statistics are terribly misleading because they include not only the adult performers which AIM tests, but also the non-performer “civilians” who also use AIM’s testing services.
“We have draw stations in every state in the United States, and we test adult industry and civilians alike,” Hunter told AVN. “We are unique in that we do test the adult film industry, but we are not unique in the fact that we do what most HIV and STD testing and screening facilities do: We test people who come in and ask. We don’t turn someone away, saying, ‘We only serve the adult industry.’Hunter also lauded the Free Speech Coalition for its recently-released Bloodborne Pathogens Plan, which was formulated by healthcare professionals as well as AIM founder Dr. Sharon Mitchell (sic).
OK let’s be honest with ourselves here.
For starters to claim that the number of people that AIM tests who are NOT industry employed is significant, is simply dreaming. If anything these people would tend to dilute the numbers of positives rather than to inflate them, you don’t need a degree in statistics to see that. But that is what happens when you have people with no real education making statements.
And speaking of people with no real education, when we call Sharon Mitchell a “Doctor” we are nailing our own coffin shut. By doing so we are giving our adversaries everything they need to defeat us. If you added up the years of formal, accredited, post secondary education of everyone involved with AIM, you wouldn’t have enough for an associates degree, and they are trying to go up against REAL Doctors?
But getting back to the judges decision, and it was the right decision, the key words are: “the LADPH has “broad discretion” in how it performs that duty.”
Plain and simple Judge Yaffe says that the Los Angeles County Department of Health HAS the ability to mandate condom use, should they choose to do so.
This has no bearing on the movement in the California Legislature to mandate condom use.
In response to this AIM and AVN just strengthened the case for Mandated Condom use.
6 Responses
Maybe you didn’t notice but that bit was a QUOTE from AVN….
The problem with “Doctor” is that it applies to anyone with that degree (requiring six years of classwork and a dissertation) but most think it means “Medical Doctor”. Sharon’s degree is not in medicine. I personally would not use that term in reference to AIM if I were there and her because of this fact — and she should not, either. To say that the years of post-secondary education would not add up to an associates (2 yr) degree is likely wrong, however. No matter what her degree is in, she had to put that six years of class time and write her dissertation — that is much longer than an associates degree. In fact, in order to get a doctorate, you must also have a bachelor’s degree (4 yr.) and a masters degree (an additional 2 years). Don’t get me wrong, Sharon’s use of “Doctor” for a medical facility is wrong and misleading, but saying she doesn’t even have an associates degree (likely she went right to a bachelor’s degree) like she didn’t put in the time for her doctorate is wrong also.
And youd be wrong, you see Sharon has no post graduate degree from any accredited University her degree is essentially store bought. there was no 6 years of class time, no dissertation, no published thesis, no defense of a published thesis…and therein lies my point she isn’t a Doctor and she isn’t a PhD. She has no Bachelors degree and no Masters. The only FORMAL education she has is a GED.
I thought all the diploma mills were shut down years ago. I wonder if that place she “bought” that degree from still exists, I would like to have a doctorate (I already have a Bachelors in Business Administration majoring in Accounting from a state university, fully accredited). I know that diploma mills existed in the 50’s and 60’s, but one existing in the late 90’s was news to me! I wonder if she received federal financial aid to pay for that “degree” (Pell Grant, SEOG grant, Stafford/Ford Loan, etc.).
According to her bio at IMBD she, “Earned her Ph.D. from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco, an unaccredited facility that is not recognized by any University or College.“
I wonder what the response would be if she applied to a “real” university. I think if what has been said here is true (and I don’t have any reason to doubt it) she would be laughed out of the registrar’s office!
Now that I think of it, a degree in human sexuality — she shouldn’t have needed a degree to talk about that, being a 20+ year porn star. Neither should Nina Hartley, Jenna Jameson and other long-term porn performers. I don’t see them clamoring to be called “Doctor” (although Nina is a legally qualified nurse). Maybe Sharon shouldn’t either.