The HIV scare that started exactly one week ago today became even scarier today, as the LA County Health Department began to speak of regulating the industry and obtaining health records from the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation (AIM).
The anticipated subpoena of performer’s records at AIM that was reported by AVN.com earlier today never materialized, though representatives from the Los Angeles County Health Department did indeed attempt to gain access to AIM’s records this morning.
“The LA County Health Department this morning has contacted us today and contrary to the LA Times, they are very happy with the job that we have done,” AIM’s executive director, Sharon Mitchell, PhD, told AVN.com. “They asked for anonymous statistics on our testing program to acknowledge how well it is working. We have agreed to give out anonymous statistics; we give them out all the time.
"We will not compromise any private information from our clients without either their permission or a subpoena from Los Angeles County," Mitchell added.
Since 1998, only nine performers have tested HIV-positive, including the controversial Marc Wallice case, which led to six HIV-positive performers. According to Mitchell, that equates to a very small percentage of performers — .003 percent of the adult talent pool during that time.
This morning’s edition of the Times quotes Dr. Peter Kerndt, who heads the STD program for the LA County Health Department, saying that no matter how good AIM was, the current HIV scare "shows what I consider is a complete failure — and a tragic failure — that these people have become infected needlessly."
Rather than a criticism of AIM, Kerndt’s statements appear to be referring to the Health Departments well-known belief that nothing short of a mandatory condom policy will ensure the safety of adult performers.
After the HIV outbreak spurred by Marc Wallice in 1998, six adult studios declared that they were going condom-only, though only two of those companies, Wicked Pictures and Vivid Video, remain condom-only.
Video Team owner Christian Mann, whose company was one of the first to go condom-only after the Wallice outbreak, only to return to shooting without condoms a year ago, said he was willing to shoot condom-only, but only if everyone else did as well. "I've tried this before and I was getting killed in the marketplace because I was the only one selling ethnic videos using condoms," he said.
Mann estimates that within three-months after Video Team dropped the condom-only policy, his sales were up significantly.
Rob Rotton, a performer who only works with his girlfriend Rachel Rotton and is the only perfromer that she works with, doesn't feel personally threatened by the HIV scare, but does worry about the safety of others in the industry. "I really hope that it goes condom mandatory though. It has too, its just safer,” Rotten said.
While the current HIV scare has led some companies to voluntarily adopt a condom-only policy, only two companies, Vivid Entertainment and Wicked Pictures were already doing so. Both companies are considered successful and have operated for over four years producing condom-only features.
Critics suggest that the reason Vivid and Wicked are able to produce condom-only projects and create healthy profit margins is that both companies have surrendered the domestic retail market.
Howard Levine, national sales manager for Vivid Entertainment titles, says that any suggestion that that Vivid doesn’t care about the domestic retail market is way off base. “That’s just not true. That’s ridiculous. We’re just doing the right thing. I’ve definitely taken a hit on sales [because of the condom-only policy], but we keep plodding on and going by putting out the best stuff that we possibly can.
“We do better than anybody in the domestic retail market. That’s because the product that we make is a mainstream product,” Levine said.
Wicked Pictures owner Steve Orenstein said that the notion that Wicked was condom-only because they didn’t care about domestic market sales was “silly.”
“We are concerned with all markets: domestic retail, cable, international, Internet, etc…,” Orenstein said. “But what we are most concerned with is producing the highest quality productions possible while signing the most talented stars and directors and maintaining our integrity in the way we conduct our business.
“Wicked did not start mandatory condom use 5 years ago because we have no regard for making money, but because we have the highest regard for the health and well being of talent.”
Male talent, for the most part, begrudgingly agreed that a condom-only policy would be a good idea.
Mr. Marcus, a popular male performer who organized a talent meeting that discussed a condom-only possibility amongst other issues, said that he would be willing to work condom-only, but that gonzo, one of the most popular genres of adult video, will struggle under such a policy.
“Gonzo is one of those things that was built off raw sex happening in a raw environment. If there are no condoms in it, it automatically makes it ungonzo. Gonzo is raw," Marcus said.
Pat Myne, a director for Fuxsion, Metro Interactive’s hardcore line of videos, supports a condom-only policy, while simultaneously bemoaning the policy because he feels it will be the "death of gonzo."
“I mean absolutely safety first, but it’s going to kill the genre that I love the most,” Myne said.
Jocelyn and Persia, two members of the first-generation of performers, took their first HIV tests yesterday, thirty days after both women worked with James. The results have not been announced yet.
Both Persia and Jocelyn have left the adult industry according to their agent.
