The Bullshit & Fear Mongering Behind Prop 60

Posted October 25, 2016 11:47 AM by with 0 comments

“I believe that pornography as entertainment serves a widespread human need as a safe place to fantasize.” ~Stoya

Nothing is over until it’s over. Two weeks from tomorrow is the day. Support, or most specifically, lack of support for Prop 60, according to the new Capitol Weekly poll, is down 13% to 40%. The current snapshot it 40% for #Prop60, 40% against, and 20% now undecided.

Despite the fact that Michael Weinstein has spent nearly $5 million dollars of AHF money on promoting #Prop60 instead of prop 60 vote no californiatreating HIV patients V. $452,547 raised to defeat it, mainstream media is finally weighing in on the folly of this law like “Sex, lies and videotape: Californians will be voting on whether to require porn actors to use condoms — why?” from Salon.com.

The ballot measure is known as Proposition 60 and, like so many bogus issues orbiting our political discourse, it’s a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist. The alleged problem here is an apparent HIV crisis in the porn industry, evidently requiring mandatory condom usage, even though there’s simply not an HIV crisis at all. Not even close. We’ll circle back to this point.

prop 60 vote no californiaProp 60 assumes that the state of California and its residents know better than the adult film actors themselves. And so, if passed, the ballot initiative would require male porn actors to wear condoms. Furthermore, the proposition would allow residents to act as condom patrols, reporting actors who attempt to sneak unsheathed past this new layer of censorship. To that point, if a non-condom user was discovered in a porn video after the passage of the initiative, and the Cal/OSHA bureaucracy failed to take action, any consumer could file a civil suit and claim part of the revenues from the video.

This is ludicrous on so many levels and, even for left-leaning groups, the nanny-state overreach on this proposition is oppressive.

The Los Angeles Times wrote:

“The proposition would, in effect, make every Californian a potential condom cop by both mandating condom use and creating a private right of action so that any resident who spots a violation in a pornographic film shot in the state could sue and collect cash from the producers and purveyors if they prevail in court. This is an extreme approach — and demonstrably counterproductive. … We support rules that make performers in adult films as safe as possible. That’s why we reject Proposition 60 and urge voters to do so as well.”

Additionally, actors themselves could be at a higher risk for injuries due to the friction created by the condoms during marathon shooting sessions that last far longer than normal sex sessions.

Popular porn actor “Stoya” wrote the following for VICE:

prop 60 vote no california“These sex acts are generally longer in duration and more theatrical in content than the average sex act. Recreational sex and professional sex in front of cameras both involve a certain level of risk, and those of us who engage in professional sex in front of cameras take precautions to lessen the potential for harm at work. Every time that a hole in our precautions is exposed, we look for ways to further lessen the risk. As with cars, as long as human and mechanical error exist, sex will never be completely safe.”

Stoya also noted the reality that adult performers are required to undergo HIV testing every 14 days. Due to the mandatory tests coupled with education and allowances for voluntary condom-wearing in videos, the rate of HIV transmission during porn shoots has been exactly zero.

Others have noted this fact, including Slate:

Despite hundreds of thousands of HIV diagnoses between 2005 and 2014 in the general population, there have been zero demonstrable on-set HIV transmissions in that period. That means the tremendous amount of money and time spent promoting this bill… is wildly out of proportion to the non-issue it proposes to address.

prop 60 vote no californiaSounds like voter ID laws, doesn’t it? Demagogues like Donald Trump and Mike Pence are telling us there’s widespread voter fraud requiring IDs at polling places. But study after study has proved that voter fraud is statistically nonexistent. Again, a solution seeking a problem.

Oh, and at the risk of burying the lede, the chief proponent of the initiative, Michael Weinstein, has been accused of pushing Prop 60 onto the ballot with the sole purpose of driving the porn industry out of California entirely. So, it seems the proposition might have nothing to do with worker safety or public health whatsoever.
The Sacramento Bee:

Proposition 60 would install Michael Weinstein, the sole proponent and funder of the initiative, as a state porn czar and allow him to use taxpayer dollars to pay his attorneys.

Great. A “porn czar” who’d end up costing taxpayers millions of dollars in unnecessary lawsuits. Smart.

_14212630_1750005998587774_8084720285316008360_nIt’s also fair to assume that few rank-and-file citizens are willing to reveal to pollsters their support for the porn industry. It is, after all, porn. It’s ugly and weird and perverted, right? There’s also a common misconception that porn actors are dropping like flies from HIV, which, as we noted above, simply isn’t true, at least over the last 12 years.

Of course that’s exactly right. As long as performers are aware of what they’re doing, and as long as no one is hurt in the process, there’s no point in non-experts telling the experts how to make their movies, nor is it appropriate to meddle with the cinematic fantasies they’re manufacturing — even if you don’t believe porn is an art form or a genre of filmmaking. (It’s a little of both.) No one knows better than the actors who make these movies whether they’re at risk, and holding up the threat of lawsuits against each performer for not wearing condoms seems like an overly punitive measure for a problem that simply doesn’t exist.

Bottom line: Practice safe sex — and if you live in California, vote “no” on Prop 60.

Yes! There are things you can do.

 
First, if you live in California, you already know what to do. If you have friends and relatives in the state, you know what you should be doing: talk to them to make sure they understand the truth, not the hyperbole.

Second, continue to empower yourself
Follow #NoProp60 on Twitter
Learn more at StopProp60.com
Legislative Analysis of the Adult Film State Ballot Initiative in California
Initiative Breakdown by BallotPedia
Donate to and visit the Free Speech Coalition Website

Then cast your ballot:

 
 
And now, back to our regularly scheduled pornography.

 
 

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