Nineteen Ninety-Eight may go down in the history of the adult industry as "The Year of the Condom," with many of the major producers of XXX videos proclaiming their intention to require condoms for all sex scenes, or at least very seriously considering the move. VCA, Vivid, Metro, 4-Play - the list of companies who are going all-condom continues to grow as the result of a huge, industry-wide meeting held here in April.\n "Vivid Video believes very strongly in the long-term welfare of our industry," said Vivid president Steve Hirsch. "We have made a decision to go 100% condoms in all of our movies. We believe that this is a positive step in protecting the health of the industry and the personnel that are so vital to its existence."\n Several companies made their positions very clear.\n "Effective immediately, all new productions commissioned by Video Team, or earmarked for eventual distribution by Video Team, must be condom-positive," wrote Video Team President Christian Mann in a memo sent to all Video Team and Afro-Centric producers.\n "Specifically, all males performing vaginal or anal intercourse scenes must wear a condom during intercourse," Mann's memo continued. "Further, there must be no ejaculation into the vagina or anus of the performers. Oral sex will not require a condom as long as there is no ejaculation in the mouth.\n "The HIV testing policy remains in force. All performers must still have proof of an HIV/PCR test result, aged no more than 30 days, reflecting a 'negative' HIV result.\n "This policy is a 'no tolerance' policy: NO EXCEPTIONS. I expect that talent and all parties concerned will respect our desire to depict safe sex and protect the welfare of our performers. We do believe in freedom of choice. This is my company's choice. It is the ethical choice."\n Some distributors, mail order companies and retailers have also stated their policies.\n "General Video of America strongly supports those companies who have decided to implement a mandatory condom policy," wrote GVA owner Mel Kamins. "We strongly urge all producers and manufacturers to adopt this policy that will have long-term positive effects on our industry. This is not a matter to be taken lightly, and we are currently exploring ways to reward those manufacturers who have made a decision that not only may save lives but our entire industry as well."\n Views similar to Kamins' were expressed by mail order giant Adam & Eve. "We will heavily favor productions and producers that reflect such a policy," wrote Adam & Eve owner Phil Harvey.\n Similarly, Eddie Wedelstedt of Goalie Entertainment, which owns nearly 100 video stores, has pledged support for condom-only productions.\n Some producers' remarks were short and sweet.\n "Our policy is mandatory condoms and PCR-DNA tests," said a spokesperson for VCA Pictures. "I don't know what more I can say."\n Others were a bit more emotional about it.\n "Fallen Angel feels that without the proper DNA test and the use of condoms, we are not being responsible as filmmakers and we will, and are at present, shooting everything with the proper DNA testing and condoms, and that is our stand," said Fallen Angel Entertainment partner Gigi Appleton. "My feeling is this: I am the person selling all of this product to the rest of the country, and I would find it very difficult to support a product that made it so I couldn't get up and look at myself in the mirror in the morning. Because our talent pool is our most important asset in this industry, and they are in great danger of dying, and I can't imagine anyone in our industry not going along with this."\n Appleton's words were nearly echoed by Metro West vice-president and general manager Greg Alves, who stated clearly, "Everything we shoot from now on will be condom."\n Similar views were expressed by Wicked Pictures' PR director Joy King ("As of today, we're going strictly condom-only") and Heatwave Entertainment's Gabor Eszterhazy ("I will go along with whatever Vivid and VCA do because it's the right thing to do; I've always felt that way"). \n The statements all grew out of an industry-wide meeting of XXX producers and directors held on April 13 at The Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City. The meeting was prompted by the discovery - the second in two months - of another HIV-positive ("HIV+") actress, Brooke Ashley, and made all the more pertinent by the later identification of yet another HIV victim, brunette Euro-newcomer Caroline.\n "Caroline came up positive on the 18th [of April]," Protecting Adult Welfare (P.A.W.) HIV-test coordinator Sharon Mitchell told AVN, "and I've gotten real good at putting together genealogies. I can do one now in six hours. However, I can't tell you how very sorry I am to say that I've gotten so good at this task."\n Mitchell had announced at the meeting that P.A.W. was proposing a new testing standard for the industry, including PCR-DNA tests every 30 days for active talent, accompanied by an Elisa (antibody) test for all newcomers as well as for veterans returning from extended vacations, dance gigs or working in Europe.\n As this is written, however, the sources of Devereaux's, Ashley's and Caroline's HIV infections remain unknown, though nearly everyone who has worked with any of the women at the time infection was likely to have occurred has now been DNA tested. This lack of a definitive explanation has led to rampant rumors about one star or another supposedly having the disease but either successfully faking a DNA test or even being allowed to work though HIV+, but no such rumors have been substantiated.\n Noting that women are one of the fastest-growing segments of the population to contract HIV - up 7.3% since 1989, according to the L.A. Times - Mitchell also advised that "needle users are in the highest risk categories."\n "I think [safe sex] is long overdue in the industry," she continued. "And I just fear that what happened in the gay industry may happen here, and how many lives we had to lose in that industry before they went completely condom/safe sex. It doesn't have to happen here, and I just can't express enough to performers that now would be a good time to a) change your job; b) use condoms all the time; or c) get into a monogamous relationship and use a PCR-DNA only."\n Interestingly, Mitchell's view is strikingly similar to that of All Good Video's "Eli" (as he prefers to be known), who rejects the idea that universal condom use will make the XXX video industry safer, but has been requiring DNA tests on his sets since the Devereaux incident.\n "I think, bottom line, we're still going to deal with people who, by the nature of sex performers, are a bit sexually promiscuous," Eli noted. "They're going to go out on a Friday night, get four drinks in them and go to a club, see somebody that they want to shag, and worry about wearing a condom? And that's a whole other issue that needs to be addressed, that if the talent wants to work in this business, then I think they have a moral responsibility to the businesses and the other talent whose lives and businesses are on the line, to at least practice the same practices in their personal lives that they would have to on a set. Which means that if you're going to fuck somebody without a condom, don't you want to know that at least you saw a test?"\n Even agent Jim South, never known as a proponent of condom use, said, "I am absolutely for freedom of choice as far as the talent. If they want to work with a condom, so be it. However, I would absolutely advise everybody, even if it upsets some of my clients, especially if a girl is doing an anal scene, I would push her as much as I could to use a condom."\n Odyssey Group's Bob East, however, has found himself in a somewhat awkward position.\n "Odyssey wanted to go with condoms four years ago," East explained, "but because of our connection to Private, people told us we were hypocrites, so we backed away. Obviously, we should have stuck with our own conscience and done it, from what we're seeing now. We had started doing this before the scare got to this level, through the efforts of Shane, who started doing it three months ago and wanted to promote it. We had already talked to Vince Vouyer about doing it, and since the night of the meeting, we have asked all of our directors [including David Christopher, Tom Stone and Rodney Moore] to start doing it, and not one of them has said no. We'll be all-condom very shortly."\n East said, however, "[Condom use is] still under discussion at Private. They're considering it at this point."\n Also in the "consideration" stage at this writing is Pleasure Productions.\n "We are still discussing right now within ourselves what kind of policy we're going to take; a condom-only policy, or [whether] just a larger percentage of our movies and our girls will use condoms," reported Andy Green, operations manager at Pleasure. "We will make every effort to cooperate with the girls and if they prefer condom use, we will definitely use condoms. We are trying to put out some feelers, trying to come to a consensus between all of our directors, all of our producers, the girls that we use - we're just getting everyone's opinion on how they see the situation playing out. There's also a concern with the European market. The Europeans don't feel as strongly about condom use as we do in the U.S., but they have a different spin on condom use, so we have to think about what our European customers will think as well. It's a big formulation process, and we're trying to do the best we can to make this situation go through easier, so to speak."\n European sales remain a concern, if often unspoken, in the minds of many producers, and some even fear a loss in domestic sales based on a belief that use of condoms detracts from the heat of a scene.\n When asked whether the presence of a condom causes a scene to be less exciting, and the tape it's in harder to sell, Evil Angel owner John Stagliano answered, "Absolutely, 100%, I feel that way, yes."\n But, Stagliano, an HIV sufferer himself, continued, "It never has been and never would be my position to regulate how people engage in sex in the videos I sell; only that they make hot videos that are salable, up to a certain standard. How they do that is their business."\n However, Eli, while unsure what All Good Video's eventual condom policy will be, took a similar position. "I wouldn't object if someone, for their own personal choice, decided to use a condom. I just don't know that I would shoot it," he cautioned.\n "I think the business people have a responsibility to do everything within our power to keep everybody safe and healthy," he continued. "It's in our interests to do that. It's also a moral issue for me; I think it's what we should do. But I also don't believe it's fair to dump it all on the producers and directors. I really believe that the talent is the people that really have to learn to practice the same thing we do on camera off-camera, because in my heart, I believe that if people were doing that, this would have never happened."\n Stagliano takes an even stronger view.\n "I would lean toward [PCR-DNA] tests every two weeks," he advised. "For people that are working all the time in the business, I think, probably, if you did testing every two weeks, then I would say that the business would be incredibly safe. It's not until four to six weeks into the infection that you're really contagious. I know a little bit more about this virus than most people in the business because I have it, and I've been in extensive conversations with my doctor about this, and it's not clear that a guy has the virus in his sperm at two weeks into it, or at least to the level where he can actually infect somebody. So if someone got it right after they got tested and they were getting tested every two weeks, you've reduced the risk even further."\n For those who do want to take precautions, a major supplier of condoms and lubricant has, for a limited time, offered to donate "reasonable quantities" of both items to help combat the spread of STD infections. [Bona fide producers may contact Mark Kernes at the AVN offices for details óEd.] One actor/producer who's already taken advantage of the offer is Ed Powers, who's stocked "grosses of condoms."\n "In recent times, I have been using condoms in my personal life, and I see no reason why I cannot apply that in my videos," Powers told AVN. "So to be safer at this present time, in addition to [requiring] PCR-DNA HIV testing of everybody that I have contact with on film, will be the use of condoms. I went through eight of them on a shoot just today."\n Perhaps Greg Alves summed it up best.\n "When I made the decision," he explained, "I made it based on my conscience, and I really wouldn't feel right if somebody contracted something on one of our sets. I believe it's a time when certain leaders in the business need to stand up for what's right, and I think this is the right thing to do."
All models were at least 18 years old at the time of their performance. 18 U.S.C. 2257 Record-Keeping Requirements Compliance Statement.
