LOS ANGELES — It looks like adult star Aurora Snow will be voting “yes” on Measure B in support of mandatory condom use in adult films produced in Los Angeles County.
In a surprising Daily Beast blog, Snow said her unpopular industry stance may be in fact what many performers are quietly thinking.
Snow admitted that she's had unprotected sex in most of her 600 scenes, but maintained that using condoms along with STD testing would benefit talent.
“It doesn’t have to be one or the other; it makes sense to have both,” Snow wrote.
Snow goes on to explain her eyebrow raising position, noting that being safe isn’t sexy in the porn industry and made an analogy comparing condoms to wearing a motorcycle helmet.
“Wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle makes me feel like a dork, but I do it because I know what’s at risk if I don’t. No one feels or looks sexy wearing a safety hat or knee pads. That’s what the condom is for the porn industry, it’s our safety hat.”
Pointing to Wicked Pictures as the only producer that has had a consistent condoms only policy, Snow said it’s the only company that’s doing “what other companies fear: selling safe sex.”
Although she relies only on testing for her movie performances, Snow said she “predominantly” uses condoms in her personal sex and asks her partners to be tested.
“Every month when I get tested, I wonder if I’ll have to come home to my guy and say, ‘Please don’t be mad at me, but we have to go see a doctor because you might have been exposed.’ Because even though I primarily use condoms in my personal life, like most people I know, I don’t use them with oral sex,” Snow wrote.
Snow explained that because most STDS are considered by talent as the quickly cured “industry flu,” most performers have a certain level of comfort, but stressed that there are other risk factors including herpes, HPV and syphilis that are not being screened, although syphilis screening is now on the industry and health services’ testing radar after the recent Mr. Marcus incident.
The star also lamented on how performers are on their own and that some — even veterans — sometimes misplace tests and everyone on set can be coerced into taking part in a scene regardless of health risks. “That was the first time I understood porn directors aren’t looking out for me, so I have to.”
Some performers will even “fake, doctor, or bluff their tests,” to do a scene, according to Snow, who said sometimes money trumps safety.
“Bringing something like condoms into porn may contribute to ruining the fantasy, because in fantasy land no one has to think about safety. But if I were your girlfriend, your sister, your mother, or your daughter, what would you want the law to be?,” Snow asked.
