LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) will host a press conference Thursday, January 20th at 10:00am in front of Vivid porn mogul Steve Hirsch’s corporate headquarters—the Vivid Building—(3599 Cahuenga Blvd. W, Los Angeles 90068) to announce its filing of additional ‘Notice of Safety or Health Hazards’ complaints with Cal/OSHA (California’s Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health), the state’s health and safety regulatory and watchdog organization, over the blacklist on the use of condoms in adult films produced by Vivid Entertainment and related companies. AHF filed similar worker safety complaints with Cal/OSHA in August 2009 against 16 California-based adult film companies, including Hirsch’s Vivid Entertainment as well Larry Flynt’s Hustler Video. To date, Cal/OSHA has opened investigations into three of the companies and is still evaluating and considering additional investigations.
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What: |
Press Conference: |
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| AHF to File Additional Cal/OSHA complaints against Steve Hirsch’s Vivid Entertainment with 20 adult DVDS | |||
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When: |
Thursday, Jan 20th 10:00am | ||
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Where: |
In front of the Vivid Building | ||
| Vivid Entertainment | |||
| 3599 Cahuenga Blvd. W, Los Angeles, 90068 | |||
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Who: |
Michael Weinstein, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, President |
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Brian Chase, Assistant General Counsel, AHF |
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Whitney Engeran-Cordova, Senior Director, Public Health Division, AIDS Healthcare Foundation |
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B-Roll & WARNING: |
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| The DVDs of the 20 adult films to be submitted by AHF as part of its Cal/OSHA’s complaint will be displayed. | |||
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Contact: |
Ged Kenslea, AHF Director of Communications 323.308-1833 work; 323.791.5526 mobile |
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Lori Yeghiayan, AHF Associate Dir. of Communications 323.308-1834 work; 323.377.4312 mobile |
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AHF will support its current worker safety complaints with the submission of over 20 Vivid Entertainment adult DVDs filmed under various Vivid brands—Vivid Entertainment, Bluebird Films—in which the performers do not wear condoms. AHF’s Cal/OSHA complaints assert that the films demonstrate unsafe—potentially life-threatening—behavior in a California workplace, as the sexual acts filmed without participating performers using condoms depict the unprotected exchange of bodily fluids.
“As a global HIV and STD medical provider operating treatment clinics and prevention facilities here in California, we see it as our duty to pursue action on the issue of safety in the workplace—in these instances, unprotected sex acts taking place in albeit non-traditional workplaces—porn sets located throughout the San Fernando Valley that are churning out billions of dollars of adult fare every day,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “Steve Hirsch has been quite vocal and outspoken in his opposition to condom use in his films. This is why we are filing additional workplace health and safety complaints with Cal/OSHA: to press for the enforcement of state and local workplace regulatory guidelines which would require the use of condoms in his—and all—adult films produced in California.”
Background Materials for AHF’s New Complaint to Cal/OSHA regarding Vivid Entertainment:
In support of its latest complaint to Cal/OSHA asserting that film sets where condoms are not used provide unsafe California work environments, AIDS Healthcare Foundation officials undertook a review and analysis of over 20 adult films produced and/or distributed by Vivid Entertainment. AHF will submit the DVDs to Cal/OSHA in support of its workplace safety complaint regarding these California film sets. Among AHF’s findings:
- 20 adult entertainment (porn) DVDs purchased;
- All DVDs included unprotected vaginal sex (one also included a scene with condom use)
- 9 DVDs had unprotected anal scenes (one DVD had both anal unprotected AND anal sex with a condom)
In an interesting and somewhat contradictory footnote to many public statements made by Vivid founder Steve Hirsh regarding condom use, four of the Vivid DVDs also include commercials for Vivid brand condoms featuring Vivid performers including Monique Alexander, Sunny Leone and Jenna Jameson.
History of AHF’s Advocacy for Condom Use in Porn Films in California
As part of an ongoing campaign to require the use of condoms in adult films shot in California, AHF has been mounting a high profile advocacy campaign directly targeting the industry, including key players like Vivid Entertainment and Hustler; it has publicly pressed Los Angeles County political and health officials to comply with the law as far as legal reporting of HIV and STD cases—including those found among performers in the industry—and to require the use of condoms on sets in LA County; and it has also sued the County to achieve this aim.
Between 2004 and 2010, 23 individuals thought to be connected with the adult industry have tested HIV positive with the most recent infection being identified in October 2010; to date, LA County health officials determined that eight of these people were likely infected as a result of their work in the industry.
STDs in the Industry in Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County’s Department of Public Health is aware of an ongoing and pervasive sexually transmitted disease crisis in LA’s pornography industry, a fact that is well documented. DPH has cited numerous figures confirming an STD epidemic among performers in adult films, including the fact that performers in hardcore pornography are ten times more likely to be infected with a sexually transmitted disease than members of the population at large.
According to figures cited by DPH, there were 2,013 documented cases of Chlamydia among LA porn performers between 2003 and 2007. In the same period, 965 cases of gonorrhea were documented. Many performers suffer multiple infections. In the period April 2004 to March 2008 there have been 2,847 STD infections diagnosed among 1,884 performers in the hardcore industry in LA County. DPH attributes the epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases in the porn industry to a lack of protective equipment for partners, including condoms. The agency recommends condoms be used during production, but has never taken steps to ensure their use, or to protect the performers who are essentially required to endanger their health in order to remain employed.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and services to more than 149,000 individuals in 23 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific region and Eastern Europe. www.aidshealth.org