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Are you concerned about the increase of barebacking in gay porn?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by QueerTransEnby, Jun 7, 2014.

  1. QueerTransEnby

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    So, for starters, I went to a bi/gay men's discussion group tonight at my local LGBT resource center. It was the first time in there for an actual event for me other than taking the tour.

    The topic tonight was the increase in barebacking in gay porn. Do you feel that this is influencing LGBT youth to not use condoms? Do these models have an obligation to display safe sex practices or no?
     
  2. Aussie792

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    Yes, I think that condoms should always be used in porn, and if they don't, they should have clear warnings.

    Too few young queer people see healthy queer relationships and sex, and too often have pitifully minimal sex education. Porn is often the first exposure adolescents have to sex and sexuality, and it's important they see healthy sexual practices from the beginning.
     
  3. JStevens96

    JStevens96 Guest

    Oh yes it is, LGBTQ youth, including myself, are very poorly sexually educated. We need to be informed of the risks to know that we must take measures to remain healthy. With poor sex education & this included, it's only going to influence a dangerous behavior. It's not even that it is necessarily intentional, it's that some simply just weren't informed that their actions can be dangerous.
     
  4. BryanM

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    Porn is never a place to learn about how to have safe, enjoyable sex. Young kids need to be taught how to be safe having sex when they're ready, and the school should provide free condoms and lube to any student who wishes to ask for one and receive it in a confidential way.
     
  5. AlamoCity

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    Yes, I've seen some "videos" and, while they do say, "we PCR HIV test our models and you should not bareback even if you're in a committed relationship blah blah blah," I think they are setting a horrible example.

    Yes, I know some people get off on bareback porn, but this is not the 1970s.
     
  6. QueerTransEnby

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    We watched clips from two interviews with two of the directors in the porn industry(not going to mention the names of the studios), but the one was saying that it's up to the "actors" whether they use protection or not. He justified barebacking saying that they were given a full panel STD test and three sets of HIV tests: 3 weeks before, 7 days before, then 48 hours before. This is well-intentioned, but it is not taking into account that the virus may not be detectable for 3-6 months after exposure. Then, so many end up testing positive.

    The other studio director just said testing and barebacking are up to the actors. It's so sad really.
     
  7. Wuggums47

    Wuggums47 Guest

    I'm not really sure they have to show safe sex, because most people have fantasies that are better than what they really have to do. I think that saying that showing condom usage in porn will encourage it in real life is sort of like saying we should cut violence out of TV to discourage it. I think that any rational person is going to know better than to expose themselves to STDs. Any increase in pleasure isn't worth catching HIV.
     
  8. Quandary

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    Sex education should be coming from educational sources. Having places to learn and ask questions without shame is much better (and safer) than trying to pick out useful tidbits watching a porno. In addition to the lack of condoms in both gay and straight porn, the scenarios and noises are unnatural and the bodies aren't a reasonable standard to hold everyone to. That's just porn.

    Yes, people get bad ideas from fiction and fantasy. That's been happening everywhere all the time and will continue regardless. Better to make answers widely and easily available than to bubble-wrap the world.
     
  9. Chip

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    It's appalling, frankly. The porn industry cares only about bottom line and not about the health and safety particularly of youth that are seeing their content.

    But the reality is, the industry is catering to market demand. Bareback porn outsells condom porn by something like 20 to 1, and so even companies that have long had very strong values about only producing safer sex content are now producing bareback. There are only a small number of companies holding out at this point.

    There's no question it's affecting condom use among young people. Since bareback became popular about 6 years ago, HIV and other STI infection rates among gay teens in particular have skyrocketed. No one's come up with any other explanation, and I read one study somewhere that indicated that teens constantly seeing bareback porn (particularly twink porn, which has been mostly bareback the longest) was definitely having an effect on values surrounding safer sex.
     
  10. imnotreallysure

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    I think it's a shame that there are so many naive and gullible young people who seem to think that porn depicts reality. I'll be the first to admit that I prefer watching 'bareback born' to 'condom porn', but it's not something I've ever done in real life, because I'm not willing to risk it.

    It's a fantasy, and it will probably remain a fantasy.
     
  11. drwinchester

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    For sure, huge issue. Lot of risk with bare back, especially if it's a casual encounter. Even if he doesn't ejaculate inside you, precum still carries a risk of infection and how exactly can you tell if he's as clean as he's saying he is? Who knows if his last partner had HIV and he didn't show results on his last test?

    Definitely an issue, considering how with a lot of queer youth, porn IS how they learn about sex.
     
  12. Jethro702

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    +1... I agree
     
  13. imnotreallysure

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    It shouldn't be though - that's the point. Learning about sex via porn is unhealthy and encourages unrealistic standards and expectations.
     
  14. leer

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    I dont understand how studio`s film makers can get away with bare backing scenes they wold insist that all people involved were teased for STDs by their doctors then they go film something like bare backing .
     
  15. GeeLee

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    Problem is too many of our self appointed moral guardians and politicos are convinced that if youth, in general, aren't taught about sex then they just won't do it. I don't think bareback porn is helping matters, but ultimately if sex ed was done properly, gay or straight, I don't think it would be as big of a factor.

    I think safe sex should be mandatory in porn, for performer safety more than anything.
     
  16. Laelia

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    Not particularly.

    I also don't think it's necessarily the government's job to teach kids about safe sex. I say this from the perspective of someone who was brought up in an ultra-religious conservative household, whose parent didn't want me or my sisters participating in sex-ed in school.

    Even as early as middle school, I distinctly remember me going to the school library and checking out biology books. I felt that if I wasn't going to get education from my teachers or parents, it was something I needed to learn on my own. And I did.

    This was back in the mid to early 1980's, when the internet wasn't widely available. I really don't understand it how people can have unprotected sex nowadays. Information is everywhere now, and I think people should take ownership of their bodies as well as their education--in all respects.
     
  17. Fallingdown7

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    I think the main problem here is that we obviously need safe sex education classes. Porn is never an accurate way to learn about sex, but the reason gay men probably do is because they aren't educated elsewhere.

    I've actually seen way more condom use in gay porn than straight porn (where It's basically non-existant). It's a problem with the porn industry in general.
     
  18. stocking

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    I am I've seen some that use condoms but the ones without is in such high demand it's scary . I'll never forget when that gay porn actor had got aids from not using condoms and he sued his company and people were saying mean things like he deserved it and he's ruining porn
     
  19. Chip

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    There are little to no regulations on porn production and safety. An AIDS education advocacy group in California has been really loud and insistent and has managed to get laws passed requiring condoms in porn productions in LA, with the result that many porn companies simply moved their production facilities to other parts of California. Now, there's a bill that the governor is likely going to sign that is apparently going to require condoms in all porn production in California... and the result is a number of companies have already moved production operations to Nevada.

    Nearly all of the larger players in the straight side of the industry require testing on a regular basis, and they use a common testing organization that tracks all performers and their HIV status, along with lists of partners they've had on set, so they can track when an outbreak occurs, and move to quickly contain it. This organization is open to companies on the gay side of the industry, but most do not participate, and many of the smaller studios, particularly in the twink sector, do no testing whatsoever. There was a case in the UK a few years ago where an HIV+ twink porn performer infected a half dozen models in the production of one film. That caused a lot of controversy, especially since he likely infected them on camera. But nothing significant changed.

    The problem is... laws aren't terribly effective when there's a strong demand, and when you get federal lawmakers involved, you get the bigoted conservative assholes who all they want to do is ban porn entirely. And even if you did manage to get a federal ban in place, all that would happen is production would move to Canada or Europe.

    There isn't a good solution that I can see other than education. Personally, I find it utterly ridiculous that people get excited (or not excited) about a nearly invisible piece of latex covering a penis. The whole thing (to me at least) is stupid, and when I've seen bareback porn, all I can think about is the risk the performers are taking. I don't find it remotely exciting or interesting.
     
  20. Laelia

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    No one deserves to get AIDS; however, it should be no surprise to anyone WHEN a person who engages in incredibly high risk behavior gets AIDS.(as opposed to IF)

    A hearing clerk in my office has been in a relationship with a former "porn star" (i.e., low-level porn star) for a long time. (they're a lesbian couple). She (the partner) had unprotected vaginal and anal sex during her career because "it paid more." The hearing clerk was her "manager" and actually handled the business side of the deal. I can still remember her saying over lunch, "I hate it when (insert name) has anal sex because she gets in a bad mood afterwards." The hearing clerk has unprotected sex with this person. Her partner also cheated on her with a man, which resulted in a baby.

    Now, will I be sorry if the hearing clerk gets some type of disease from her partner? Absolutely. Will I be surprised? Absolutely not.