When I first heard this I didn’t believe it, I said even The FSC is not THAT stupid, Not that wreckless and careless with performers lives. I guess I was wrong.
It has come to my attention via an FSC leak, that one of the plans of The Free Speech Coalition is to mandate a regular dose of antibiotic drugs as a way to cut down the number of gonorrhea and chlamydia cases. Yes you read that right, mandated, whether you need them or not.
I shouldn’t have to point out how insanely stupid that is, overuse of antibiotics is why we have drug resistant strains of Gonorrhea MRSA and other infections. To put performers at risk in this manner illustrates how little regard The FSC has for the lives of performers, I had hopes that Pepe le Pew or whatever his name is that replaced Diane Duke wouldn’t be as abhorrent and as lacking in basic humanity as Diane Duke but apparently that will not be the case. They are, as they have in the past putting money ahead of the health and welfare of performers.
I can not n a million years imagine that Cal-OSHA would go along with this hare-brained idea, but the fact that they intend to present it to Cal OSHA absolutely speaks volumes.
Performers….PLEASE do not submit to this idea, it will cause you so many problems down the road, just say no way.
I do NOT for the life of me understand why it is so hard to mandate that condoms be required to be available on every set and it is up to the ADULT performers to decide if they want to use them or not, but nobody seems to want it that way except, as I understand it, The new union.
18 Responses
Phylisia, as much as I have been a critic of the Union here on Mike’s page, please, please, please tell us that the union will never back such a dangerous, and illegal scheme. The reason for wanting this is the rates of gonnorhea and chlamydia are so high they want to mask the real information.
No REAL union could ever allow something like this to be ‘mandated’ on its members. To even have the chance of being taken seriously you MUST reject this, NOW, and in no uncertain terms. From the person who kept the industry records, and handled tens upon tens of thousands of industry tests I can attest to the skyrocket rate of disease. But medicating people who dont need it so often only opens a pandoras box the likes of which the industry has never seen.
Mike and Jilted, I agree completely with both of you. Again, for me, this seems to comes down to issues with both the declining testing scenario which I’m not sure has been discussed here and the lack of information and discussion of gonorrhea and chlamydia as well as Syphilis. If you are not aware the current trend is the attitude that blowjobs do not really require testing. Rumors are that many agents are telling girls it’s ok to shoot blowjobs without at test and talent testing is telling producers it’s ok to shoot blowjobs without a test. The rumor is talent testing says that gonorrhea, Syphilis, and chlamydia tests don’t detect if someone is infected orally and therefore is ineffective so what’s the point as hiv has near 0% chance of being transmitted orally. Of course this is completely untrue on gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia testing. In addition, you have fetish models being paid fetish rates with no testing with “Fetish shoots” that include oral sex and/or scissoring without testing. Many of these girls are working untested though they are being mixed in with female and male performers who currently have good tests. Another area I see a high likelihood of transmission and spread of these infections is through “industry only producers” who don’t get tested as often as regular talent because they only have sex with tested talent. Of course with the lack of information about who is infected they could easily pick up an infection from tested talent who doesn’t realize they are infected until their next test, and of course doesn’t tell the people they shot with for the last 2-4 weeks that they came down with an infection; so the producer/talent is now a carrier for potentially months until their next test. FYI, Syphilis and Gonorrhea can both be transmitted, though much more rarely, from “Deep Kissing”.
In order to slow or stop the rampant spread of these diseases, everyone needs to be aware that oral sex can transmit these diseases, all talent and producers need to get regular testing, information about who has found to have been infected after shooting needs to be shared, and performers need to realize they can contract these infections orally from people outside the industry and need to be encouraged to act responsibly (or maybe discouraged from acting irresponsibly).
I am curious to hear what you think of the herpes II(2) testing/non-testing situation. I previously asked Phylisia about the union’s position on this on one of the union posts previously but got no reply. Recently I found a cam couple who both have herpes II and though they wanted to enter the mainstream porn industry they thought they couldn’t because of this. Even finding out that the industry doesn’t test and doesn’t discuss this didn’t sway them as they did not want to be responsible for transmitting it to someone else causing them to go through the hassle and stigma they go through in their regular lives. I met another performer who didn’t realize that the talent testing gold panel wasn’t testing for herpes 2 until they had an outbreak and were diagnosed with it. They continue to shoot though it’s not known whether they are on year round medication for it(which reduces chances for transmissions down to nearly zero when a condom is also used *when there isn’t an active outbreak occurring.)
Here is the quote posed to Phylisia from my previous comments here:
“I’d like to see expansion of testing to cover at least herpes 2 as a primary goal as that could be attainable and get massive support. We’ve got people who know they have it hiding it, we’ve got people who find out they have it leaving the industry necessarily, we’ve got people who think that other people may have it refusing to do shoots with people rumored to have it, and those same people don’t even know if they have it. You have producers doing the best to not expose the talent they use to herpes 2 even though they don’t know if their regular talent has. It’s just all around crazy. There is now a test for Herpes 2 that doesn’t ever give false positives, and while it may not be the quickest in detection, it is accurate, and would allow producers and performers to make more informed decisions. Though if you talk to talent testing they say all tests for herpes 2 give false positives and wouldn’t detect it if someone had herpes 2 in their mouth and is therefore useless(all of which is untrue). Cutting Edge Testing offers herpes 2 testing as a reasonably priced add-on that some producers and performers are taking advantage of. Many performers are mistakenly thinking Talent Testing’s “Gold Standard Panel” is protecting them from all std/sti’s including herpes 2. Simply providing STD testing options and time periods for effectiveness on your website would go a long way in helping new talent, experienced performers, and producers in making better decisions that would lead to better safety.”
I have to agree that weekly (or bi-weekly) antibiotic injections when a performer does not have a VD is asinine. My next question is who pays for the office visit and injection (probably $200 or so). This will literally run performers out of the industry, an extra $800-$1000 per month will make it that much harder for performers to make a living at performing in adult films.
I will reiterate that I support condom optional sets, any director or producer not allowing condom use needs his or her head examined.
MRSA is no joke. It cost me a leg. DO NOT take antibiotics as a preventative measure. That is just stupid. People that are NOT doctors should NOT be making medical decisions. Instead the FSC should have talked to ACTUAL medical professionals before saying something like that.
MRSA is no joke. It cost me a leg. DO NOT take antibiotics as a preventative measure. That is just stupid. People that are NOT doctors should NOT be making medical decisions. Instead the FSC should have talked to ACTUAL medical professionals before saying something like that.
The union will never back such a thing as medicating workers. Not In a million years.!
Well said Phyllisha. I will always give credit where credit is due, and on this one you have taken the correct path.
Now what is the union going to do to get producers pay for testing, as they are legally required to do? There is a SIMPLE way to do it you’re interested. Mike has my email.
This is porn, so anything is possible, but I cannot imagine the physician who wants to keep his or her license participating in such a scheme. Last year, I had an infection that my doctor treated with an 11-day course of antibiotics. She was concerned it might return but wouldn’t give me another prescription without doing blood and urine tests because she didn’t want to overuse antibiotics. Any doc who would arbitrarily administer antibiotics whether it was medically necessary or not would probably be putting their license at risk. And ….. if STDs are so rampant that this is needed, you have a problem.
Doctors routinely prescribe oxys and sleeping pills to celebrities when they don’t really need them. Just look at Michael Jackson, Prince, or any other celeb that ODed.
@Karma
Wasn’t joking, truth is often stranger than fiction.
FSC responded to the 2012 syphilis outbreak with an indefinite moratorium until performers got a ‘vaccine’ which was prophylactic antibiotics. Many will recall the syphilis letters and industry adoption of a second syphilis test to determine if the antibodies were from treated syphilis or current episode.
Imagine that! is roflmao at FSC suggested language and OSHA response especially to stuff like not wanting to provide vaccines for curable infections and ‘harm reduction’ language.
Septemer 2012 put up 250K for a performer subsidy fund to cover the cost of prophylactic antibiotics and adding syphilis testing to the panel. FSC asked for more money in January 2013 and Fabian said NO cuz Mike South pissed me off.
What was never publicized is the performer subsidy fund intent to attract more performers to participate in the FSC-PASS database and utilize CET. History repeats itself this week with FSC adherents bashing TTS and FSC pushing prophylactic antibiotic use as preferred alternatives to condoms as STI prophylactics.
Yes, and when caught they lose their license and, in the case of Michael Jackson’s doc, risk jail. And, those are one offs and anonymous. In this case, it would be a doctor working for an organization with a public face that is openly saying that this is what it wants to do. If you’re a doctor, you can’t prescribe medicine that isn’t indicated just because. But …. this is porn, so who knows.
@BT
The licensed MD on the FSC medical advisory board cover their ass with the inclusion of non-licensed people on the board. This method isn’t unique to porn it was copied from other industries with massive lobby influence. The boards medical recommendations, suggestions or outright mandates for industry participants amount to mostly smoke & mirrors if/when lawsuits or regulatory agencies seek accountability.
MD’s who sit on these boards and allow their name to lend credibility to mandates then say they aren’t working for the organization when performers/workers seek out their services….nor are they working in their patients best interests. Using the chemical industry as an example docs used privacy laws to shield patient records…the patients not the companies paid for those services and the docs had no obligation to submit or track data related to specific conditions. They also had no obligation or incentive to inform their patients they suspected their work as a causative factor. When confronted with their participation on medical advisory boards they didn’t make the suggestions, recommendations, mandates….always adding a wish that minutes of those meetings were available to show their opposition. The company had to buy every property in the town and compensate every resident but the docs asses were covered.
They musst be MDs that got their degree in Costa Rica, Grenada, or some other shithole with a so called Medical School.
Are the handing out Viagra too? 100 Mgs are the bomb!
I will say this…you are right BUT and this is a big but…if we started testing for Herpes 2 80% of performers are out of a job, over night. because of the testing/std policies in porn almost everyone has Herpes, the people who don’t are the ones that require condoms and the ones who got out early. It really is that simple.
Karma, I am sorry that you lost a leg. I hope you are able to use an artificial leg so you can at least walk a moderate distance without using a wheelchair. I have to agree that MRSA is no joke. Regular staph infections are bad enough, I can’t even begin to imagine what a MRSA infection can do to people.
To stop the rampant spread of these infections it is essential to always require testing if sexual contact is involved. Many “fetish producers” are using mixed talent (tested and untested) for “fetish” scenes that involve sexual contact (at much lower pay rates I might add). A few agents and producers are saying that testing isn’t needed for oral sex and claim Talent Testing backs them up on this. Phyllisha, you agreed the union would never support such a dangerous measure(which is encouraging) but where is your alternative solution to this problem?
Thanks for the reply Mike, (By the way I really appreciate your site and these opportunities you provide for discussion),
I understand your sentiment which goes to show that there is a problem in this area being that we are assumed/rumored have a 60%+ infected rate higher than the general US population. This would mean at least 3 of 4 performers that come in without it leave with it. One issue is that until a few years ago it was nearly impossible due to the sketchy testing methods available for herpes 2. Now there is better test which Cutting Edge already offers as a cheap add-on. Some producers and performers are taking advantage of it. Many more would like too including myself; as a producer I would prefer to pair up performers based on their status. The fact that talent testing doesn’t offer this test makes it more difficult. Nobody needs to end up out of work for herpes 2 but I do think testing and making an effort to limit the spread is the responsible thing do. I also think it is essential if we want people to continue to believe we self-regulate.
That being said, at the very least I think all new performers need to be informed we are not testing for herpes 2 and that they are more likely than not going to get it in this industry, something that I would prefer come from a union as part of new performer entrance counseling.