Porn Valley- One of America’s leading porn stars has blamed lax working practices in Brazil for the HIV scare that has brought the multi-billion-dollar industry to a halt.
Two performers, Darren James and one of his recent co-stars, 19-year-old Lara Roxx, were found to be carrying the virus during routine health checks last week. Mr James, one of the industry’s leading performers, is believed to have been infected in Brazil, where films can be made more cheaply than in California.
Mary Carey, 27, a porn actress who ran against Arnold Schwarzenegger in the California governor contest last year, said: “No other country has such strict guidelines as America and now this incident will hopefully make porn stars think twice about shooting in other countries.
“Producers want to shoot in places like Brazil because everything is so much cheaper, including the girls. But look at the price we are paying for it now,” she said last night.
The scare has forced the industry, concentrated in the San Fernando Valley, over the hills from Hollywood, into a 60-day period of professional celibacy while the estimated 1,200 performers undergo stringent medical checks.
Jenna Jameson, who earns up to $1 million a year as America’s top-billed porn star and “most-downloaded” internet performer, said last night: “I’m suspending all my movies and I’m not working for the 60-day quarantine, and until we can be sure that the outbreak is contained.
“We strongly urge the rest of the industry to follow. This is our industry and our livelihood,” she said, speaking from the offices of her ClubJenna production company.
“The fact is that the adult industry as a whole has been remarkably free of STDs [sexually transmitted diseases] and HIV, considering that sex is what we do for a living. We must do even more to prevent it from taking root among performers.”
Mr James’s infection was discovered during routine checks by Sharon Mitchell, a former porn actress who launched the Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation in 1988 after an earlier HIV infection scare. At auditions, producers increasingly demand an up-to-date certificate from her clinic, which carries out 1,200 tests a month, from performers.
Ms Mitchell has since tracked down 14 women who had performance sex with James after his trip to Brazil, and “hundreds” more people who subsequently had sex with those partners. She found four men who had performed with Roxx after she was suspected to have contracted HIV.
Despite the panic caused by Mr James’s infection, Ms Mitchell feared that some companies would flout the 60-day self-imposed ban.
“I hope we can get the whole two months, but we’re dealing with pornography,” she said. “We’re in an industry making a living by peddling flesh. I have to operate from a harm-reduction model and not from an abstinence model.”
The leading producers, including Vivid Entertainment, Hustler Video, Jill Kelly Productions, VCA and Sin City, have suspended filming and are braced for tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue. The “adult industry” has boomed because of the greater access afforded by pay-per-view entertainment and the internet. It is variously estimated to be worth between $3 billion and $11 billion a year.
Mr James, who had been in the industry for six years, had a reputation for taking part in films that featured experimental sex with multiple, simultaneous partners.
More “established” companies, including Vivid, allow condoms to be used at times on screen, but “safe sex” is considered bad for business as it is less popular with viewers. According to Ms Mitchell, actors are often offered higher wages in exchange for not using condoms.
Jill Kelly’s production company is a “condoms optional”, but the performer herself planned to halt filming. “Anyone who continues to shoot at this point is a complete idiot,” she said. “We’re just sitting around afraid. The most important thing is safety. Safety comes before money.”