Dr. Chauntelle to Talk Performer Health at Stanford Law School

LOS ANGELES — Dr. Chauntelle Anne Tibbals, Ph.D. will present her forthcoming paper “Adult Film Performers and Occupational Safety and Health” at Stanford Law School in Stanford, Calif., on April 11.

Tibbals is one of three panelists presenting work at Stanford Law School’s Safety of Sex Workers event. She will present work summarizing data and insights gleaned from 24 women and men currently working as adult performers in the Southern California/L.A. area. She said her findings call attention to disconnects existing between California state law and adult production practices. The event will begin at 12:45 p.m. Presentations will be followed by discussant-led Q&A and questions from the audience.

Tibbals said she hopes to address adult industry workplace and safety issues commonly ignored by policy makers, regulators, and academics during the event.

“Current regulations do not take the inner-workings of the adult industry or the concerns of the workers they’re trying to protect into account,” Tibbals said.

“Disconnects existing between adult industry producers and performers, regulators, and the wider social world are deep-seated and significant. Reliance on the concept of bloodborne pathogens protection as it is currently defined points to a lack of understanding about the mechanics of professional sex performance,” she continued.

Tibbals is a sociologist, a Visiting Scholar at the University of Southern California (USC), and the driving force behind the 2012 XBIZ Award-nominated site, PVVOnline.com. “Dr. Chauntelle,” as she is commonly known, has spent almost 10 years researching the adult industry, working to complicate popular understanding of the adult business, its enterprise, and its socio-cultural significance.

“We need to work to understand the realities of adult production and performers’ concerns. Systematic analysis of the structure and operations of the adult industry in Southern and Northern California is imperative, as are comparisons between the two. This work must be done before further attempts at regulation are made.”

“Adult Film Performers and Occupational Safety and Health” is forthcoming from Stanford Law and Policy Review (23, 2012). Inquiries about this and Tibbals’ other projects can be directed to cat_606@usc.edu.