America’s multibillion-dollar porn industry was in crisis on Saturday night after two of its major stars tested positive for HIV.
The news has shocked the industry, which is largely based in southern California’s San Fernando Valley. Sets and studios were closed as the news spread and actors, actresses and producers rushed to health clinics for HIV tests. The exposure of the industry’s dark side is a major blow to a film sector trying to boost its image as professional and mainstream.
Most major companies have decided to halt filming for 60 days so that anyone who starred in films with the infected performers can have health check-ups. The industry produces about 4 000 films a year, with sales estimated to be worth up to $13bn a year. The industry’s temporary closure is likely to hit the local economy hard.
‘It’s very scary,’ said Mary Carey, a porn star who ran for governor of California last year. ‘This is a wake-up call for everybody.’
Despite its seedy image of sex and exploitation, many industry figures say the US porn industry is a well-run, highly regulated business. About 1,200 performers are tested monthly for a variety of sexual diseases, including HIV, gonorrhoea and syphilis. Most production firms refuse to give work to performers who cannot produce a clean blood test taken within the last month.
There have been scares before. In 1999 a male actor tested HIV positive. A year earlier another male actor infected five women.
This time one of the infected performers is Darren James, who is believed to have contracted the disease while filming in Brazil. Afterwards he was tested for HIV and shown to be negative, but it is believed the test was conducted too soon. A subsequent test, taken after James had resumed filming in the US, proved positive. James is said to be devastated by the news.
It is believed he infected teenage Canadian porn star Lara Roxx, who had only been in the industry for three months. A further 65 performers have been identified as having had sex with either of the two actors or with someone else who did. All are now being tested.
The names of many of the actors and actresses who had sexual contact with the pair were posted on the website of the Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation, a clinic set up by the industry. The clinic has been overwhelmed by calls from concerned performers. Clinic founder Sharon Mitchell said a news conference will be held next week to announce further details.
Mitchell — a former adult actress who went to college to earn a master’s degree in public health before opening her clinic — said it was hoped the outbreak had been dealt with. ‘This situation is considered a successful containment of two isolated HIV cases,’ she said.
It is thought James and Roxx had unprotected sex while filming; something that is becoming increasingly rare in mainstream pornographic films.
The news has thrown the industry into panic. Vivid Entertainment, the US’s largest porn company, has ceased production after initially saying its health safeguards would allow it to continue filming.
Jill Kelly, a former porn star who has become a major business figure in the adult industry, was typical of many producers who announced a temporary end to shooting. ‘It’s going to hurt some people (financially), but who cares? It’s about safety now and people’s lives,’ she said.
The crisis comes at a difficult time for the industry. Pornography, driven by the explosion of internet porn, has never been more popular. Several soap operas on US television have been based in or around the San Fernando studio scene. A current Hollywood film, The Girl Next Door, is about a retired porn star, yet the film has been billed as a teen comedy. At the same time there is a conservative backlash in the US against sexual images in the media.
The HIV scare is likely to add fuel to the fires of those who criticise the industry as immoral and unhealthy and is likely to prompt calls for tighter official regulation. – Guardian Unlimited Â