Friday, November 23, 2007

Pro Wrestler 'Hardbody Harrison' Convicted of Holding 8 Women as Sex Slaves

Here's Part 2 of the "Wrestler-turned-Pimp" who was busted recently.

He's acting as his own attorney.

What's the old saying?



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Pro Wrestler 'Hardbody Harrison' Convicted of Holding 8 Women as Sex Slaves

ATLANTA — A federal jury on Wednesday convicted a former pro wrestler known as "Hardbody Harrison" of charges that he kept eight women as sex slaves in his two north Georgia homes.

Harrison Norris Jr. was convicted of charges including aggravated sexual abuse, forced labor, sex trafficking, conspiracy and witness tampering. He was acquitted of all charges involving a ninth woman, but still could get life in prison at sentencing, set for Feb. 28.

Norris, 41, wrestled for the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling organization in the 1990s.


Serving as his own lawyer, he contended that the women willingly lived at his Cartersville homes because they wanted to train as pro wrestlers. He says many of them arrived on drugs and left in the best shape of their lives.

During a two-week trial, prosecutors portrayed Norris as a predator who used his wrestling business to lure poor and vulnerable women into prostitution and forced labor.


"I think the jury's verdict vindicates the rights of the victims who were brave enough to come forward and confront this man who abused them," prosecutor Susan Coppedge said.


Witnesses testified that Norris, a former Army sergeant and veteran of the Persian Gulf War, imposed a strict military structure, with each of the women assigned to a squad overseen by an "enforcer."

One witness testified that Norris beat or threatened them to keep control and that he threatened to throw one through a hotel window when she would not engage in sex with two customers.


In addition to forcing the victims to work as prostitutes, Norris made them work in and around his houses, requiring them to haul trees, lay sod and paint, according to testimony.

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I guess it really is "hard out here 4 a pimp!" (2 quote "Hustle & Flow")


Harrison "Hardbody" Norris, Jr.

Then



Harrison "Hardbody" Norris, Jr.


Now: Mugshot



Dumbass...

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving, Pervs...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!



Sorry this post is late, but I just got back from outta town 2 kill some of that bird!


Have a good one!


Thanksgiving Sex


Where's the gravy?



That's a BIIIIG drumstick, sir!


YUM!!


Later...

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Former South Dakota Legislator Convicted of Raping 2 Former Foster Daughters

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Washington Politico Dressed as Woman in Hotel Sex Rendezvous with Male Gay Porn Model

Here we go again.

More shit on this dude.

Now he has a fuckin' dress on, 2.



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Cops: Washington Politico Dressed as Woman in Hotel Sex Rendezvous with Male Gay Porn Model


--Oregonlive.com

Spokane, Washington- Newly released police investigative reports allege a state representative dressed up as a woman and engaged in an oral sex act at a Spokane Valley adult bookstore. He later rendezvoused at a downtown hotel for another sexual encounter with a man now under investigation for extortion, according to today's edition of The Spokesman-Review.

The suspect in the investigation, identified in police and court documents as 26-year-old Cody Michael Castagna, of Medical Lake, told detectives he was offered $1,000 to have unprotected sex with State Rep. Richard Curtis [pictured], a Republican from La Center, which is near Vancouver.

Castagna, a part-time porn model, has been featured in explicit photo shoots posted on some members-only gay Web sites.

Curtis, who was in Spokane for a leglislative trip, earlier spoke with an editor of The Columbian and denied having had sex with a man and said he was not gay.

According to court documents, Curtis and Castagna met shortly before 1 a.m. last Friday at Hollywood Erotic Boutique in Spokane Valley where Castagna was watching porn videos, police investigative reports say.

An employee at the porn store told detectives Curtis has been in the business three times in the last month and is called "the cross-dresser" by employees. The same employee said she was told by Curtis he is gay and likes to dress in women's underwear.

During questioning by Spokane Police detectives, Castagna said he saw a man later identified as Curtis in Hollywood Boutique early last Friday "wearing long red women's stockings and black sequined lingerie." Castagna later told detectives he saw a 40-ish man with a cane performing oral sex on the legislator, according to the police reports.

Later, the legislator gave his phone number to Castagna before leaving the adult bookstore at 9611 E. Sprague, the reports say.

Curtis then went to Northern Quest Casino in Airway Heights before getting a phone call from Castagna. The two agreed to meet at the Davenport Towers where the legislator, visiting Spokane on legislative business, had a room.

Once the two arrived in the legislator's hotel room, "Curtis gave the male $100,'' before the two engaged in sex acts, the police reports say.

Detectives seized pillowcases and bed sheets from the room and surveillance video from the hotel's lobby, the documents say.



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Those fuckin' Republicans again...

Bunch of damn pervs, 2 real.

Senator May Be Forced to Testify in DC Madam Sex Scandal

More drama, more bullshit...

More this on this dude, 2.

ALOT of these so-called "moral" politicians r now "cuming out" as true pervs.

Damn GOP!



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Senator May Be Forced to Testify in DC Madam Sex Scandal


--Times Picayune

WASHINGTON -- Rekindling a scandal Sen. David Vitter hoped had faded, the attorney for the "D.C. Madam" asked Friday for a subpoena to force the Louisiana Republican to testify about his involvement in what prosecutors say was a high-priced prostitution ring.

Montgomery Sibley said he had asked the clerk of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to issue a subpoena to Vitter to testify at a Nov. 28 hearing that could spill salacious details of the scandal that has captivated the nation's capital for more than a year.

Judge Gladys Kessler ordered the hearing to determine whether Deborah Jeane Palfrey, 50, can proceed with her breach-of-contract lawsuit against a woman she once employed as an escort. Palfrey said she signed contracts with all her escorts promising they wouldn't do anything illegal and that Paula Neble broke it by engaging in prostitution.

Palfrey was indicted in March on federal racketeering and money-laundering charges and prosecutors say that her suit against Neble is meant to intimidate the former escort, one of several who are expected to testify in the criminal trial against the woman who has come to be known as the "D.C. Madam."

"The issue at the hearing is whether the lawsuit is legitimate or not," Sibley said in an interview. "Part of the proof will be whether the escort was breaking that contract. Only two people will know that answer: the escort and the customer."

In July, Vitter acknowledged being a customer of Pamela Martin & Assoc., the escort service Palfrey operated for 12 years in the Washington area. His phone number appeared six times between 1999 and 2001 on phone records for the service.

Vitter has said little about his use of the escort service except that he committed a "very serious sin," and sought forgiveness from God and his family. At a press conference this summer, he also apologized to his constituents. The scandal dogged him for months, but his steadfast refusal to discuss it has helped to push it out of the spotlight.

Vitter again declined Friday to answer questions about his involvement or what he plans to do with the Palfrey subpoena.

"Sen. Vitter has been very honest and straightforward about this issue from his past," spokesman Joel DiGrado said. "He's not going to be distracted from working on critical issues to Louisianians like overriding the Water Resources Development Act veto and fighting to solve the immigration problem."

Vitter is not the only former Palfrey client being summoned to court. Sibley also has sought a subpoena for the testimony of Harlan Ullman, a former policy expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the author of the "shock and awe" strategy of military warfare.

The subpoena puts Vitter, especially, in an awkward and politically damaging position. The Senate Republican caucus welcomed Vitter back into the fold after his public confession in July, but it remains to be seen how much patience Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will show if Vitter's troubles remain in the news. McConnell acted swiftly to condemn Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, after it became public that he had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges after being arrested in a gay-sex sting in a Minneapolis airport bathroom. Craig has faced intense pressure from his own caucus to resign from the Senate but has refused and has sought to withdraw the guilty plea.

Legal experts say Vitter has little grounds to avoid testifying, noting that the U.S. Supreme Court said former President Bill Clinton had to provide testimony in Paula Jones' civil lawsuit.

"He may also make some argument based on his being a member of Congress, but I doubt it will work," said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond (Va.)

Sibley said he expects Vitter will try to quash the subpoena on the grounds that his testimony would not add much to the legal issues at the hearing. But, he said, Vitter's public admission that he was a client, along with the phone records, could undercut that strategy.

"He has a problem because he went on TV and apologized," Sibley said.

In addition, Vitter may have been a client of Neble, the escort at the center of the lawsuit that is the subject of the hearing.

Neble's phone number appeared 1,590 times in records Palfrey has made public, an indication that she was a regular escort in the service Palfrey operated between 1994 and 2006. In one instance, her number shows up near Vitter's, which Palfrey has said could mean she arranged a date for the two.

Legal experts say it is possible Vitter will attempt to avoid discussing the details of his dealings with Palfrey's escorts by asserting his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. But that, too, carries a political risk.

"The thing can hardly be viewed as a joyful experience," said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University. "If he pleads the Fifth, he'll put himself in the same category as mobsters and madams. If he testifies, he will create his own detailed record that can be used in his next campaign. Either way he is facing a serious problem."

Sibley said that if Vitter asserts his right against self-incrimination, he will ask the judge to grant the senator immunity from criminal prosecution. On the surface, Vitter would appear exempt from being charged. The statute of limitations on prostitution is three years and Vitter's last known interaction with the escort service was 2001.

The Vitter subpoena is not without its risks for Palfrey. Although unlikely because he might expose himself to legal liability, Vitter could testify that he paid to have sex with the escorts, an assertion that could undercut Palfrey's defense that she was running a legal escort service.



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I would LUV 2 c if this perv REALLY DOES TESTIFY:


Excuse me, ur honor, but she didn't suck my dick, she sucked MY BALLS. I wanted 2 make that "dick"-stiction 4 the record...

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Greg Sakas, Pt.6: Cops Visit Greg Sakas...Yet Again

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Ex-Wrestler Accused Of Forced Prostitution

Get this shit:

This wrestler was tryin' 2 pimp 4 real!

Read this bullshit!!



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Ex-Wrestler Hardbody Harrison Accused Of Forced Prostitution


--wsbtv.com

Atlanta- A former wrestling star charged with forcing women into prostitution is representing himself in federal court.

Harrison Norris Jr., otherwise known as "Hard Body Harrison" during his wrestling days with World Championship Wrestling, is charged with holding six women against their will and forcing them to become prostitutes.

Norris stood before the jury Monday, in an orange prison jumpsuit, and laid out his defense. He is acting as his own attorney, something that even his court-appointed standby counsel says is very risky.

"In terms of criminal prosecution this is the top of the food chain. Lawyers go through law school, years of experience to be able to try cases at this level so he is relatively inexperienced at it and it's obviously very risky," said Akil Secret, Norris' standby counsel.

Norris was arrested in 2005 after authorities raided his Bartow County home. What emerged was accusations of abduction, forced prostitution and threats of violence against six women the government says were held against their will.

But even with the resources of the federal government behind the prosecution, Norris decided to represent himself. His mother supports him.

"If he thinks he can do it himself then oh well. I think he's the best person for the job," said Lucille Norris.

But if he fails, Norris could face a life sentence.

"I would be concerned about any person trying to represent themselves in this kind of complex criminal procedure," said Secret.

Norris wrestled in the WCW from 1994 to 1999.


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LOL!!!


I guess pimping REALLY AIN'T EASY!!!

Another Politico Caught in Bathroom Sex Sting

Here's another perv politician tryin' 2 "get his groove on" in the fuckin' bathroom.

Tryin' 2 get some "prison pussy" in a shithouse.

Do that shit @ home, dumbass...



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Another Politico Caught in Bathroom Sex Sting


--Journal Online

DAYTONA BEACH -- A former Daytona Beach city commissioner and a local high school teacher arrested Thursday during a sex sting at a Volusia mall bathroom were released from the Volusia County Brach Jail today, authorities said.

Former commissioner and mayoral candidate Mike Shallow [pictured] and David Behringer, an athletic trainer and teacher at Seabreeze High School, posted $1,000 bail today after midnight, a jail spokesman said.

Behringer resigned today, according to officials with the Volusia County School District.

Shallow and Behringer were among nine men charged with lewd and lascivious conduct and exposure of a sexual organ, both misdemeanors, police said.

"The reason that we did this sting is we all go to the mall; our kids go into the bathroom," Police Chief Mike Chitwood said. "That they could be susceptible to this kind of behavior is absolutely a disgrace."

Also arrested were registered sex offender Douglas Benson, 48, of Port Orange, who was previously caught masturbating in the restroom of a day care center; and Edgar Millard, 73, Daytona Beach, charged in 2006 with sexual misconduct at a beachside bathroom, police said.

Detectives received a tip from officials at the Sears department store that sexual misconduct was taking place in its second-floor men's restroom, Chitwood said.

Further investigation by police found that encounters at local places like Sears were advertised online on Web sites like Craigslist and one that provides links to other sexually explicit sites, Chitwood said.

"This is a clandestine, subculture event," Chitwood said at a Thursday night press conference. "There's a whole culture that runs under the radar doing their thing."

A team of six officers from the Police Department's criminal suppression team joined forces with undercover officers from Volusia County Beach Patrol to nab the offenders from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday. The Beach Patrol regularly deals with similar misconduct at public bathrooms near the beach, Chitwood said.

"Most everything that's occurring is nonverbal," said Sgt. Jeff Hoffman, supervisor of the criminal suppression team.

Offenders coughed or sneezed, tapped their feet, sometimes under the stall beside them, or made loud zipper noises to attract attention from others interested in engaging in sexual acts, Hoffman said.

"It's scumbags like this that erode the quality of life that we have here," Chitwood said. "What scares me is that these are people that we trust to be political leaders, these are people that we trust with our children."

Shallow, 57, served two terms as a city commissioner from 1999-2003 and ran for mayor unsuccessfully in 2003, 2005 and 2007, finishing a distant fourth in the last race Oct. 9.

The Realtor and real estate broker also served as chairman of the Main Street Redevelopment Board in 2004-2005, and was on the Downtown-Ballough Road Redevelopment Board while he was a commissioner.

Daytona Beach Mayor Glenn Ritchey said he was "disappointed and sad and sorry for him and his wife and family."

"There's nothing I can say. I've known him for a long time. I was shocked. It's such a sad thing," Ritchey said.

Neil Harrington, a personal friend of Shallow's, was shocked at the arrest.

"I just can't believe that; I have no indication that Mike would ever be involved in anything like that," Harrington said.

Others arrested in the sting include Sebastian Bach, 37, Panama City; Larry Brown, 42, DeBary; William Volage, 46, and Kenneth Halpin, 44, both of Ormond Beach; and Ransom Peterson, 73, Port Orange.

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What the fuck is wrong w/ these guys??

The Adult Film Industry:Needs State and Federal Legislation

What up, pervs.

Here's a REAL DOCTOR talking about health issues in the porn industry.

Peep it...



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Dr. Peter Kerndt: The Adult Film Industry:Needs State and Federal Legislation




Dr. Peter Kerndt, Director of the STD Program for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health writes the following on medicine.plosjournals.org:

The United States adult film industry produces 4,000–11,000 films and earns an estimated $9–$13 billion in gross revenues annually. An estimated 200 production companies employ 1,200–1,500 performers. Performers typically earn $400–$1,000 per shoot and are not compensated based on distribution or sales.

Los Angeles County is the largest center for adult film production worldwide. In 1988 the California Supreme Court, in People v. Freeman, found adult film production to be protected as free speech under the First Amendment, since such films were not considered obscene based on prevailing community standards.

Unlike other legal but highly regulated activities such as gambling and commercial sex work in Nevada, the adult film industry was legalized in California through case law, not by statute, and has for the most part escaped governmental oversight. Regulation of the industry has been limited to prevention of child pornography. Title 18, Section 2257 of the United States Code of Regulations explicitly prohibits performers under age 18 and provides for civil and criminal prosecutions for any violation. Adult film production companies are required to have a Custodian of Records to document and retain records of the age of all performers, to enforce the age entry restriction.

Adult film performers engage in prolonged and repeated sexual acts with multiple sexual partners over short periods of time, creating ideal conditions for transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). All the more concerning, high-risk practices are on the rise.

These practices include sex acts that involve simultaneous double penetration (double-anal and vaginal–anal intercourse) and repeated facial ejaculations. At the same time, condom use is reportedly low in heterosexual adult films—approximately 17% for adult performers. In 2004, only two of the 200 adult film companies required the use of condoms for all penile–anal and penile–vaginal penetration [2]. Performers report that they are required to work without condoms to maintain employment.

These practices lead to high transmission rates of STDs and occasionally HIV among performers. After four performers contracted HIV in 1998, Sharon Mitchell, a former adult film performer, founded Adult Industry Medical (http://www.aim-med.org), a clinic to counsel and screen performers monthly for HIV using a PCR test.

It was expanded later to include other STD testing. The testing program began as an effort to reduce transmission of infections through early diagnosis, treatment, and “quarantine” should a performer test positive for HIV. Performers are required in most cases to pay for all screening tests, and to sign a consent form that permits disclosure of their test results to other performers and producers before filming. Both of these practices are explicitly prohibited under California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA) regulations.

HIV-positive female performers are permanently excluded from participating in adult films.

The current practice of periodic HIV and STD testing may detect some disease early, but often fails to prevent transmission. The most recent HIV outbreak occurred when three performers who had been compliant with monthly screening contracted HIV in April of 2004. At that time, a male performer who had tested HIV negative only three days earlier infected three of 14 female performers.

Other STDs are also highly prevalent in the industry. Among 825 performers screened in 2000–2001, 7.7% of females and 5.5% of males had chlamydia, and 2% overall had gonorrhea. These rates are much higher than in patients visiting family planning clinics, where chlamydia and gonorrhea rates were 4.0% and 0.7%, respectively. Some might argue that this program of STD testing keeps rates of HIV and other STDs lower than in other sex-related industries, and in fact, a recent study of prostitutes in San Francisco found 6.8% and 12.4% positivity rates for chlamydia and gonorrhea, higher than rates in the adult film industry.

Between January 2003 and March 2005, approximately 976 performers were reported with 1,153 positive STD test results. Of the 1,153 positive test results, 722 (62.6 %) were chlamydia, 355 (30.8%) were gonorrhea, and 126 (10.9%) were coinfections with chlamydia and gonorrhea. Less is known about the prevalence and risk of transmission of other STDs such as syphilis, herpes simplex virus, human papillomavirus, hepatitis B or C, trichomonal infection, or diseases transmitted through the fecal–oral route.

Efforts to reduce the risk of HIV and other STD transmission must include the use of condoms. Even with the PCR testing currently used within the industry, a recently infected performer can test negative during the window in which they are highly infectious and go on to transmit the virus to others. A meta-analysis suggests that condoms are 90%–95% effective in preventing HIV transmission.

Condoms are especially important given the high-risk sex acts increasingly being performed in the industry. When looking at HIV exposure risks by site, receptive anal sex has the highest risk at 80 instances of transmission per 10,000 exposures, higher than needle stick injuries (10–50 per 10,000) or receptive vaginal penetration (10 per 10,000. Pre-existing infection with other STDs also increases the risk of HIV transmission. One study showed that the relative risk of HIV acquisition in a vaginal receptive partner increases 2- to 4-fold when the receptive partner is infected with herpes simplex type 2.

Performers may also be exposed to HIV and other STDs outside the workplace. Performers may be engaged in commercial sex work through escort services or use intravenous drugs, risking HIV and hepatitis C infection. The use of condoms would prevent performers who had acquired HIV and STDs outside the workplace from transmitting these infections to other performers in the workplace. Additionally, condoms would help prevent unwanted pregnancy and the complications of STDs, which include ectopic pregnancy, pelvic inflammatory disease, and infertility. Little is currently known about the prevalence of these diseases in performers.

The portrayal of unsafe sex in adult films may also influence viewer behavior. In the same way that images of smoking in films romanticize tobacco use, viewers of these adult films may idealize unprotected sex [16]. The increasingly high-risk sexual behavior viewed by large audiences on television and the Internet could decrease condom use. Requiring condoms may influence viewers to see them as normative or even sexually appealing, and devalue unsafe sex. With the growing accessibility of adult film to mainstream America, portrayals of condom use onscreen could increase condom use among viewers, thereby promoting public health.

In contrast to heterosexual adult films, homosexual-targeted productions more consistently require condoms. Due to the large number of HIV-positive performers, there is no requirement for HIV testing and condom use is the norm. Despite the ubiquitous use of condoms, homosexual adult movies are popular and profitable for production companies. In fact, there is some evidence that homosexual male audiences would not tolerate movies with unsafe sex, likely due to their proximity to many with HIV in the homosexual community. Some homosexual audiences regard watching sex without condoms as “watching death on the screen.

Legislators can look to Nevada for a model for the successful regulation of a legal sex-related industry. Since the institution of mandatory condoms in Nevada's brothels in 1988, not a single sex worker has contracted HIV. Workers must be repeatedly tested for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia to maintain a state health and work card.

There are numerous other international models for condom enforcement in sex work, from Mexico City to Amsterdam. While there is no clear model for mandatory condom use in adult film, Brazil boasts an 80% condom usage rate in their adult films, while still maintaining a large share of the international market as the world's second largest adult film industry [18]. This suggests that condom use in adult films does not have to erode profitability.

It is also possible to use filming techniques to reduce the visual effect of condoms, by using flesh tone–colored condoms or by digitally removing them post-production. Facial ejaculations could be simulated through the use of inert materials such as liquid antacids combined with filming techniques, which would eliminate any health risk to the performer.

Vivid Entertainment Group, one of the largest producers of adult film in the US, temporarily implemented a condom-only policy after the HIV outbreak in 2004 but has since reversed this company policy. Although some companies may voluntarily decide to be condom-only, it is unlikely that this industry will establish safer working conditions for employees without external regulation.

A state or national mandate would level the playing field for all companies and not give an unfair advantage to those who decide to produce films without condoms.

In California, every employer is required to ensure that employees have a safe working environment. In 1973, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act was enacted to assure “safe and healthful working conditions for all California working men and women by authorizing the enforcement of effective standards, assisting and encouraging employers to maintain safe and healthful working conditions, and by providing for research, information, education, training, and enforcement in the field of occupational safety and health.

Each employer must establish, implement, and maintain a written Injury and Illness Prevention Program according to Title 8 of the State Code of Regulations.

This includes components for training programs and disciplinary actions. Employers must protect employees from blood-borne pathogens and not discriminate against employees that complain about safety and health conditions. Companies are required to prevent workers from coming into contact with blood or other potentially infectious material, including semen and vaginal fluid, and to provide post-exposure prophylaxis. Universal precautions, which assume all material is potentially infectious, are part of the blood-borne pathogens standard.

In the health care setting, it is hard to imagine a clinic or hospital not providing and requiring its employees to wear gloves or other personal protective equipment. If a health care worker has a needle stick or other potentially infectious fluid exposure on the job, systems are in place to rapidly and effectively treat the employee to prevent transmission of HIV and other infectious diseases. Although a legal industry, adult film has allowed consistent exposure of its employees to HIV, hepatitis, human papillomavirus, herpes simplex virus, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and other diseases without liability or worker recourse.

Cal/OSHA has recently made recommendations specific to adult film to protect performers from acquiring sexually transmitted infections. This includes the use of personal protective equipment (condoms and dental dams) as barriers, simulation of sex acts post-production, and ejaculation outside the partner's body. In addition, post-exposure prophylaxis after possible exposure to pathogens such as hepatitis B and HIV would be required.

This would greatly reduce transmission of HIV and other STDs and would likely prevent transmission in cases where a screening test does not detect an infected performer. Cal/OSHA also requires a procedure for exposure incidents when an employee has contact with potentially infectious material. The employer must provide a medical evaluation and follow-up at no cost to the employee. The final component is a requirement that each employee receive training about blood-borne pathogens, including how they can protect themselves against infection and what to do if they are exposed.

Mandatory reporting in California is required for chlamydia, gonorrhea, HIV, syphilis, chancroid, non-chlamydial non-gonorrheal urethritis, and pelvic inflammatory disease. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has monitored the industry to assure that performers receive adequate treatment and follow-up for STDs and has endorsed external regulation of the industry that would require condom use, STD screening, and education to prevent STD transmission.

Recognizing that local regulations would have limited impact and seeking to establish existing standards for work health and safety in the industry, officials from the Los Angeles Department of Public Health requested an investigation of the April 2004 HIV outbreak. In September of 2004, Cal/OSHA fined the two production companies in the outbreak $30,560 each for failure to comply with blood-borne pathogen standards.

Having established that regulation does apply to the industry, enforcement of the workplace standards is now the issue. OSHA is limited by the number of enforcement officials and therefore will only act in response to a complaint. Workers may be unaware of their rights or reluctant to file a complaint for fear of loss of employment or employer retaliation.

Response from California legislators has been limited. In June of 2004, Assemblyman Paul Koretz, Chair of the Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment, organized an informational hearing in the San Fernando Valley to consider the feasibility and potential impact of mandating HIV/STD screening and condom use.

The hearing, entitled, “Worker Health and Safety in the Adult Film Industry,” drew together officials from Cal/OSHA, the Los Angeles Department of Public Health, the California Department of Health Services, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the industry trade organization, Free Speech Coalition. In response to the hearing, Assemblyman Koretz sent a letter to 185 adult film production companies urging them to adopt condoms or face legislative action.

Two years later, this letter has had little to no effect and the adult film industry continues to produce the great majority of films without condoms. In October of this year, a multi-stakeholder meeting was convened at the University of California to readdress the issue of worker safety. A group of 65 participants including performers, industry executives, state and local health officials, and legal representatives spent the day debating the controversies and difficulties of mandated STD screening and condom regulation.

Concerns were raised about the industry going underground or moving out of state should there be a state but no national requirement. Many present felt it would be difficult to regulate small production companies that distribute their films primarily via the Internet. There was an emphasis on the need for a multi-faceted solution that involves the extension of existing worker protection to this industry with better enforcement, the organization and potential unionization of performers, increased public awareness, and thoughtful legislation.

Potential Polic Changes:

* National legislation that includes regulation of internet-based adult films
* Mandatory condom use with condom seal of approval
* Film rating system based on set safety criteria
* Licensure of performers
* STD testing paid for by the industry
* Vaccinations against human papillomavirus and hepatitis B and post-exposure prophylaxis paid for by the industry
* Education and training of all workers and employees
* Legal age of performers raised from 18 to 21 years old
* Drug testing of performers

The Future

Lacking the will or ability to regulate itself, the adult film industry needs state and federal legislation to enforce health and safety standards for adult film performers. Local officials lack the authority to impose fines and Cal/OSHA's monitoring and enforcement capability is limited.

Short of legislation mandating performer protection, restricting distribution of adult movies to condom-only films may be the one way to have an impact on the industry.

If there were organized and truly effective advocacy for performers, then large hotel chains, video retailers, and cable networks could be pressured to purchase adult films under a condom-only “seal of approval.”

Alternatively and more effectively, legislation could require that the Custodian of Records (already required under Federal law) maintain documentation of screening tests and condom usage in a film's production. Distribution could be restricted to those films produced pursuant to the standard prior to any sale to cable companies or hotel chains, over the Internet, or in other markets.

While some argue that adult film will go underground if condoms become mandatory, it is hard to imagine that a legal multi-billion dollar industry would disappear.

Distributors and production companies have become so entrenched in Southern California that it seems unlikely that they would move to another location or go clandestine.

Adult film is now so accepted and widespread that it cannot easily escape regulation, especially now that is so readily accessible on the Internet, cable networks, and in most major hotels. Unfortunately, the growing popularity of adult film has not translated into safer working conditions for performers. It is unethical for industry executives, legislators, and consumers to continue to enjoy the profits, tax revenues, and gratification of adult film without ensuring the safety of performers.

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Because of what it is (porn), there will NEVER b any type of "worker safety" because the "powers that b" want this business 2 "go away."

But it NEVER WILL!

SO GET OVER IT!!