Grudzen Et Al. Respond
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: We would like to thank Silvera et. al. for their thoughtful response to our research article. We agree that there appears to be a recent rise in the production of “bareback” pornography, and we are similarly concerned by the reemergence of intentional unsafe sexual practices by men who have sex with men (MSM) both in adult films and in the community. We would also like to emphasize the important difference between an individual who chooses to engage in unsafe sexual practices and unsafe workplace practices imposed on an employee by an employer.
Our aim was to compare the safety practices for workers in a legal industry after the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (CalOSHA) issued a model Exposure Control Plan and Industry Illness and Prevention Plan for the adult film industry after an HIV outbreak in 2004.1 We were chiefly concerned with workers’ rights and safety, and our study was not designed to determine the preferences of viewers, or effects on their behavior, though we believe these are important and understudied topics. We concluded that both industries are out of compliance with CalOSHA requirements but that the homosexual adult film industry is in comparatively better compliance.
Though it has not been rigorously studied, key informant interviews suggest that “bareback” pornography has increased in the last few years, making our findings of 80% condom use in homosexual films more likely out of date than because of our choice of sampling frame. Nonetheless, this is further proof that neither industry is complying with CalOSHA regulations. We also agree that adult film is increasingly being sold as video on demand rather than as a DVD. However, we know from in-depth interviews with adult film performers that, at least at the time of our study, adult content was typically recycled from DVD to the Internet.2
The most important message from our manuscript and Silvera et al.’s letter is that serious risk of occupational exposure to HIV and sexually transmitted infections is ongoing in both the heterosexual and homosexual adult film industry and that both segments of the industry are out of compliance with worker safety requirements. This is not only negligent, but illegal.
Language: Hebrew
Subfield: Occupational Therapy
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1986182765