HIV-positive porn performer speaks out
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hxxp://www.latimes.com/health/la-me-porn-hiv-20101208,0,5306958.story
While alot of gay and straight men enjoy bareback porn, I agree with Derrick…
"Making $10,000 or $15,000 for porn isn't worth your life," he said. "Performers need to be educated."
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That big DVD rental place starting with "N" has a disk set believe it or not "Everything you wanted to know about Gay Porn Stars but were afraid to ask." I think there are three total, I dont' remember which one, 2nd or 3rd had a big segment that was mostly an on the telephone interview with Harlow Cuadra (the guy that is in prison for the murder of Brent Corrigan's manager/producer.) That was one sided, in favor of Harlow, but I digress.
Anyway, the interviewees were incredibly candid, and I don't know how to say this without sounding bad, (and I don't mean to be condescending) but most of them seemed pretty smart. The thing that was very sad is that the performers don't get paid nearly what you think they might and they never get royalties. Some companies are getting lots of $$$ selling DVD's that are 25 years old but the performer only got his one payment. Jason Ridge was among those on there, I think he was the smartest, started his own company etc. now seemingly defunct; he probably told the least personal stories so he had the least scenes. I think he is hot as hell. Another thing that was funny, here is show about Gay Porn Stars and the dick shots were censored! I can see for the red N store that the hard core would be censored, but not just a soft or semi-hard cock.
They also spoke about oddly, how the bareback performers get paid less, not more. And even if the law didn't require it, (which I don't know why it doesn't) if I had a porn company, I would require the performers to be tested myself. It doesn't cost that much. Watching this video gives me conflicted feelings. I really like porn of course, but I feel bad that the producers take such advantage of the performers. They make plenty of money and should pay royalites. Period.
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Performers should not need any extra educational benefits above the standard HIV /AIDS education that has been in place since 1984.
Sounds to me like $$$$ were more important to him than his own life. You made a decision now live with the results.
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Speaking as an HIV+ individual myself, I can assure you that every two cases of HIV infection are never quite the same experience. This stems from the nature of circumstances and up-bringing. It's not so much the use of condoms and money to look at. It's education. Even the most educated person on the subject of HIV (taking myself for example) will have a whole different outlook on the subject when they become infected.
Education ideally is the key. In my case, some $1533.53 CDN every 30-days of taxpayer's money is spent on just one case just in a 30-day supply of drugs for an HIV+ individual just to stay alive. That works out to roughly $18,700.00 per year on the government's dime (or god forbid your own). Taking into account the other medications that are required to counterbalance the side-effects of the medications that keep you alive, the total costs reach an approxemation of $2500.00 CDN every 30-days in order to live a normal life. Again, that works out to roughly $30,500.00 CDN every 30-days to live normally.
You must truly ask yourself if an extra measley little $10,000 to $15,000 for one year is worth the cost of your life? What's more is the complete mental breakdown that discovering your HIV+ status willl send you through, even in the case of myself. The Government of Ontario passed a law that required highschool students to conduct a minimum requirement of 40 hours in the course of their 5 years in highschool (originally 6) doing community service. My charity of choice was ACCKWA (The Aids Committee of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo, and Area - Online at hxxp://www.acckwa.com). I was 14 years of age at the time I started to interact with the friendly staff, other volunteers, and one particular public health nurse who I've grown throught the years to trust as a reliable source of accurate information. With as much education as I had on the subject from having continued to volunteer my services there on a mostly part-time basis, I was finally informed by the public health nurse I've grown to trust at the age of 23 years old (9 years later) that I am HIV+.
The world suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks. My job came tumbling down to a screeching halt for medical reasons for which I am still in treatment, With a medication cost of $2500/month for medications alone to keep me alive and healthy, a monthly car insurance bill to get around for $145/mo (now reduced to $100/mo), and a contracted portable internet plan of $45/month, yet a mere take-home income of $2,000/month what was I to do? I had to resort to a government funded disability program that pays for my drugs and provides me with $1053/mo in money. This only barely manages to get the bills paid. What's left at the end of all the bills and debt that is now slowly decreasing? NOTHING! The bottom line is finding out your status is earth shattering, no matter who you are or what your experiences are. It is only through education of what the text books don't teach you about HIV that really makes the difference. Always remember to rate your risk assessment, get your test results for sure, before engaging in possibly unsafe activity such as bareback anal (or bareback vaginal in the heterosexual community).
This only begins to describe the beginning of stage of finding out you're HIV+ in my case. Many other possible sitations that are far worse off than my experience both have and can still happen. You really must ask yourself "Is it really worth it?" and "Can I really afford to commit to this kind of life for the rest of my life?" I can tell you as a person who has had the unpleasant journey down the life of being HIV+ that it's simply not worth the risk. hxxp://tech911.ath.cx/morning.jpg <– Is having to do that every day in order to live, or take the alternative of death worth one stupid :an2: ?
NO LOVE WITHOUT A GLOVE! <– Now that sounds like a wise motto to live by. Spread the word, wear the ribbon, whatever it takes. Education is the only true prevention of harm we have left at this day and age.
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I did not mean to come across as flippant before. I spent 20 years in the Education and Treatment Funding fight.
Executive board for 11 local,District and State Agencies.
No Glove = No Love has not changed since 1984/85 and will not soon change.
I only meant that if the $15-20,000 was worth no condom then it is time to pay the Piper.
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hugs leatherbear
That's a good boi.
I just can't stress the education part enough to people because of the experience that well… you out of any of the staff know the most details behind why I'm so animate about education being the key and making informed decisions. By this time, I would imagine that another staff member who'se name I will not mention for privacy purposes is likely starting to fully understand.
My case just happened to be worsened by the fact that me getting infected has been deemed by the court to be a case of criminal HIV transmission, of corse making me public eye #1 for the media and tabloids. Thank heavens that I have a good lawyer (who IS Jewish) who'se not afraid to speak out and be heard put that to a stop
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We had a thread like this before, about porn actors getting HIV from doing porn, only to find out that they actually got it from being rent boys on the side. The last one we saw the guy claimed he was given it from doing a film, yet he was the only one that had HIV. In the first 20 or so articles he did crying that he was abused and infected by the porn industry turned out not to be true. He later admitted he got it from doing bareback as a rent boy.
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How would a porn star know he got HIV from being a rent boy when almost no one in porn is tested?
Granted, the series I mentioned in the post above, most of them admitted to being rent boys, due to the whole "no royalties" thing and porn doesn't pay enough to live. But I really wonder HOW one would know for sure who passed on the HIV??? If a person has sex with 10 people (seemingly low in the Gay community) and I have sex with him, I've had sex with 11 people; in turn if I've had sex with 10 people, the first person mentioned has had sex with 20 people. or whatever the exponential math is. Again, how would you know who is responsible?
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I'm not sure where you got the idea that no porn stars are tested. They all are.
Ok, maybe some shit hole country not required testing, but the US and Europe do require it.
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How would a porn star know he got HIV from being a rent boy when almost no one in porn is tested?
Granted, the series I mentioned in the post above, most of them admitted to being rent boys, due to the whole "no royalties" thing and porn doesn't pay enough to live. But I really wonder HOW one would know for sure who passed on the HIV??? If a person has sex with 10 people (seemingly low in the Gay community) and I have sex with him, I've had sex with 11 people; in turn if I've had sex with 10 people, the first person mentioned has had sex with 20 people. or whatever the exponential math is. Again, how would you know who is responsible?
According to Dr. Chris Steingart M.D. (Registered HIV Specialist) there are two different types of tests that are run to determine the exact strain of the virus. The first is known as a Western Blot. This test breaks the virus down into one of two categories. There is what is referred to as "Type 1"[nb]Type 1 HIV is generally more docile by comparison, however it does have varying degrees of severity, depending on the person's body chemistry and immune system.[/nb], which is more commonly found within North America, more particularly (but not necessarily exclusive to) gay men. There is also what is referred to as "Type 2"[nb]Type 2 tends to be a little more aggressive than Type 1, which makes for a particularly nasty threat if a person with Type 1 should become co-infected with Type 2 or vice versa.[/nb], which is more commonly found within African and Caribbean Communities[nb]The #1 problem that still lies with African and Caribbean communities is the availability of the drugs. In countries like Kenya, the question is more "Who doesn't have HIV?". In those countries, they are currently living in the days of the 80's in North America. In fact, AIDS related deaths account for 87.8% of death that occur in that region.[/nb]. The second test is referred to as a "Ginotype" test. This test breaks down the DNA strands of the HIV virus itself after it has bombarded the CD4 cell to determine its genetic makeup. This allows for the lab technician to be able to determine certain properties of the virus such as its origin, drug resistances, aggressiveness of the strain, incubation period for the virus to fuse with the CD4 cell, and a basic fingerprint of the virus itself. A Ginotype test in most cases can accurately predict whether or not the virus came from a particular origin by comparing its DNA. The only problem with this is that the virus does sometimes make "mistakes" when it begins to duplicate its DNA to overpower that of the CD4 cell. This results in a "mutation"[nb]Mutations can also occur if you are HIV positive and you have gone an extended period (generally several days) without your medication, giving the virus a chance to adapt itself to the medication. This problem brings on a whole new world of possible issues when you get into the subject of co-infection[/nb] if you will of the virus, or a slight alteration. In this case, the Ginotype test could verify that it is most likely the source of the virus based on its overall DNA structure, similar to testing a person's DNA to see if they are the parent of a child. The only problem that comes into play when mutation occurs is it leaves a small amount of margin for error, which means it's sometimes not always possible to scientifically prove 100% where the virus was transmitted from.
