The vote came after the Aids Healthcare Foundation lobbied California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health’s Standards Board (Cal/OSHA) for stricter workplace safety rules in porn. Cal/OSHA’s Standards Board voted 3-2 to accept the new regulations, but needed four “yes” votes to pass them.
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Industry representatives had argued it would have been a turn off for its audience and put existing safety rules at risk.
The board was told the requirement would force the industry underground. It might not prevent transmission of all types of sexually transmitted diseases, but would be far more effective than the industry’s 14-day STD testing requirement.
A measure that would require porn stars in California to wear condoms has been rejected by workplace safety officials.
Occupational Safety & Health Standards Board Chairman David Thomas gestures during a hearing Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016, in Oakland, Calif. Condoms could be coming to porn studios across California if the state agency in charge…
‘I know you guys work really hard and have our best interests at stake, but we need you to work with us to find a solution, ‘ said porn actress SiouxsieQ, who also reports on the industry for various publications.
The adult entertainment industry reportedly argued that a large segment of their audience would lose interest in films that showed actors with condoms.
Eric Paul Leue, activist and Executive Directors of the Free Speech Coalition celebrated the victory as one which showed that prejudice against porn performers and, more broadly, sex workers, was beginning to be dispelled.
Some workers also voiced fears that the new regulation would have enabled inspectors to insist that actors played sex scenes wearing protective goggles and dental dams – making films even less enticing.
“That’s pure fantasy on their part”, responds Michael Weinstein, head of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, who has pushed Cal/OSHA for years to adopt workplace safety regulations aimed specifically at the porn industry. Its spokesman Ged Kenslea reportedly said his organization would be interested in working with the pornography industry to achieve some sort of regulation, the need for which the industry agreed to during the hearing.
Although the new provisions rejected made no mention of goggles or dental dams, they would have required sex workers, like those in the medical industry, ensure that their eyes are protected from being infected by blood-borne pathogens.
Porn industry representatives argued that condoms were a turn-off for viewers and could destroy the industry.
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Condoms are already required to be worn for porn films made in Los Angeles County under rules approved by voters in 2012. In the meanwhile, the group has placed similar measure on the statewide ballot for November.
