mandated condoms in porn: not feminist?

Last week, Los Angeles became the first city in the nation to require performers use condoms on porn sets. In a compelling commentary, writer, porn performer and director Lorelei Lee explains how this ordinance, together with the recent attacks on the industry's own self-regulated measures to ensure and overview mandatory STI testing for all porn performers prior to working on any production, is not a safer or securer move for porn performers. Sex reporter AV Flox followed up on this issue yesterday, including by collecting the reactions of other female porn performers.

Firstly, condoms do not have a 100 percent success rate: one study has shown condoms to be only 80 percent effective against HIV. Secondly, when used by performers doing sex for hours a day, they may cause uncomfortable "friction burns" and irritated skin may make it easier for STIs to be transmitted. Thirdly, the ordinance does not have a provision for the use of protection during oral sex. Finally, since the condom mandate is tied to zoning laws and the process of acquiring permits for shootings outside of a certified sound stage, many producers will simply shoot in L.A. without a permit, or move production outside of the city. Ultimately, the ordinance could leave several porn performers at a loss of jobs simply because condoms in porn is not what viewers want to see, explains Lee, referring to previous efforts at having porn performers use condoms.

I'm slightly surprised at just how compelling I find Lee's argument, because I really appreciate how feminist porn incorporates the use of condoms in a playful and sexy way, setting a positive example while also portraying sex more realistically (e.g. when portraying casual sex between a random couple hooking up one night).

But, argues Lee, porn is not sex education; "porn is fiction, and the world it portrays is one of fantasy."

When it comes to mainstream porn, I would have to agree with Lee, but not when it comes to new re-visioned and transformed feminist porn by women. As I've argued, this kind of porn presents the kind of positive thinking about sexuality and instructive role modeling of healthy sexual behavior that I would want my daughter to be exposed to as a part of her sex education when she grows up.

I am glad to witness the steady growth in popularity of feminist porn, but until more eyes are opened up to it, I will actually support Lee's position that we are not making porn a safer and securer place to work by mandating condoms on sets, and certainly not while also having recently ensured the shutdown of the industry's own Adult Industry Medical Center (AIM), which for years ran the nationwide STI testing service and database that certified heterosexual performers as STI-free previous to their working on any production.

I would also ask that we instead of continuing to look down on porn as a "shameful business" whose workings are "shrouded to outsiders," as Lee puts it, begin to approach porn as a legitimate business, subject to the same professional standards as other legal businesses, demanding the enforcement of proper work arrangements and respect for workers' rights, including decent work conditions, hours, pay, health insurance, and pensions.

Read Lorelei Lee's commentary here: L.A.’s porn mistake (Salon)
LA Flox' report: Condom Use in Pornography Production Becomes Law in Los Angeles (LA Weekly)
Photo from Breaking News: L.A. County Mandates Condom Use in Porn (LA Weekly)