Whether you’re a sexually active, swinging urbanite, a corn-fed Midwestern rake, a student learning the ropes, or any other non-monogamous, non-fluid-bonded adult, you are encouraged to wrap that rascal. Here’s why Porn Valley opposes condom legislation for adult sets.

Los Angeles County voters who choose Yes on Ballot Measure B, AKA the Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act, will be mandating condoms for performers engaging in anal or vaginal sex onscreen, whether in big studio films, cam shows, or delightful gangbang outings.

Measure B will also require licensure and permitting for every producer, fees from which will fund regular inspections by County officials.

The Anti-B effort, Big Porn’s most organized campaign ever (The Free Speech Coalition frames its argument as an attack on government waste), faults the measure on a number of fronts:

1. It “solves” a public health problem that is not there.

Measure B was authored by a coalition headed by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has paid for testimony by HIV-infected performers who contracted the disease far from the L.A. porn industry’s built in safeguards. It misleads the electorate, suggesting falsely that HIV and other STDs are bred in this hyper-aware environment, and that the infected then carry those diseases into the general population.

Performers like Steven St. Croix have come forward to dispel the myth that L.A.’s porn industry is a festering Petri dish of disease.

“In 20 years and over 2,000 scenes,” he says, “I have only tested positive for chlamydia—once.”

2. It creates an actual and even bigger problem elsewhere.

Committees and sub-committees within L.A.’s County Health Department have tossed some figures around, including one that would assess a $62,000 fee per year on ten studios, in addition to a charge of $300 per production. This would be on top of the filming permits already required for adult productions not shot on L.A. soundstages, which is most of them.

Like any business that is a bedsheets Democrat but balance sheets Republican, Big Porn would up and move to a friendlier locale, leaving an unwashed mass of Libertarian guerilla pornographers to operate without the regulation that Porn Valley’s structure provides.

3. Oh yes: Civil Liberties.

Why are we not required to wear hairnets when cooking for our children at home? Well first, they chafe and are unsightly and unpleasant to wear. Second, our homes are not open to the public. Measure B imposes public rules on the private enterprise of porn sets, using the false argument that, well, employees at restaurants need to wear protective gear, so why shouldn’t porn stars?

Involvement in porn tends to bring out the nascent civil libertarian and free speech advocate in anyone, and sometimes it is obvious that pornographers hide behind those terms to gussy up their native lack of willingness to be told what to do.

But laws like Measure B do set a dangerous precedent of government encroachment on private enterprise and private life. Porn performers—more than other adults, I bet—know the risks that are out there and choose to lump the potential consequences.

Vivid and director Axel Braun produced a No on Measure B video starring Ron Jeremy and Tera Patrick.

But I like what Bobbi Starr said about her decision to get into porn.

“If I wanted to get gang-banged in an alley,” she says, “—and I do—then I want that camera on and everyone doing the job to be tested, so I feel safe exploring my sexuality.”

· No on B, No on Government Waste (noongovernmentwaste.com)
· Measure B arguments on Smart Voter (smartvoter.org)

If it were a boxing match (and it is) the media savvy and attention-hungry AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) would have won the round.

In a week that not only saw HIV-positive (former?) adult performer Derrick Burts deliver several blows to the administrative competence of Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation (AIM), the porn industry’s de facto STD testing clinic, the next day its Sherman Oaks facility was temporarily shut down by the Los Angeles County Department of Health over administrative issues.

But first Mr. Burts. The fresh-faced 24-year-old began his porn career in June, performed in both straight and gay scenes as either Cameron Reid or Derek Chambers, respectively, and learned from AIM that he had tested positive for HIV in September.

This put into motion a familiar series of events: AHF accused AIM of falling down on the job, demanded the County of Los Angeles shutter the facility, and called for the mandatory employment of protective devices like condoms and dental dams on porn sets.

Paraphrase: How many porn performers have to get HIV-or worse-before the adult industry buckles down and buttons up?

“We don’t want to shut down the adult industry,” said AHF president Michael Weinstein at Wednesday’s press conference. “We just want it to be safer.”

AIM responded that it had followed all procedures required by law and that the situation was being managed.

Paraphrase: Leave us alone. The adult industry can take care of itself. Why else would we call it “adult”?

Further, the clinic suggested that Burts, then identified only as “Patient Zeta,” had likely contracted the disease in his private life and not on a porn set.

At least not on a straight porn set. Burts is adamant that he didn’t catch HIV in his private life-he says his girlfriend tested negative-but think he may have contracted the disease on a Florida gay porn set.

In the short adult industry quarantine and work stoppage that followed the September incident, AIM defended itself against AHF’s media onslaught, responding to charges from the LA Times and local NPR affiliates. AHF successfully commandeered media attention with steady press releases.

“I think this all feels like a giant pissing contest with a side of blame game,” says performer Kristina Rose. “I just hope whoever takes ‘control’ over our testing actually cares about the people getting tested and not just the money involved.”

Money.

If the adult industry has as much money as is claimed, why does it not have a team of high-priced lobbyists and media spinners to advance its case, rather than respond to volleys lobbed from outside? Why is Vivid’s Steve Hirsch mainstream media’s sole porn contact?

It has something to do with the naturally defensive posture of the adult industry, a business barely a generation away from being illegal and still an easy target for politicians and law enforcement; despite porn existing in every home and hotel room with cable television or Internet access, no public figure wants to be caught defending it.

So the porn industry, while it has a country full of people willing to consume its product, has few friends.

But having few friends breeds a certain lack of accountability.

At Burts’ AHF-sponsored press conference appearance, he spoke of AIM operatives warning him not to talk with the media, hanging up on him when he called for information about his diagnosis, and failing to provide him with promised documentation.

And, while it is my belief that Burts was coached according to AHF’s agenda, I have no reason to doubt that what he said about AIM was true; while I don’t think they dropped the ball medically or legally, it is fully within the realm of possibility that an institution used to running a fiefdom out of the public spotlight freezes when cornered.

I was not there to verify Burts being hung up on, but I believe it. Similarly I am inclined to believe the Follow the Money charge levied against AHF by the Free Speech Coalition, an adult industry trade group.

Why does AHF and Weinstein have it in for AIM? The Free Speech Coalition points to the AHF’s series of what it calls “nuisance” lawsuits and suggests that AHF itself wants to be the STD testing facility for the porn business, ready to deploy a team of grant writers to make it possible.

Porn performer Justin Long may have been overpassionate at the expense of his rent money when he commented to the LA Weekly, “Damn AHF .. I have already vowed as a performer that I WILL REFUSE TO WORK w/ any talent that shows up with a test from AHF or the County of Los Angeles, because neither of these entities should be profiting from their witch hunt of AIM !!!”

Down to a skeleton staff of true believers, trade publication AVN has come out swinging against AHF. In pieces by Mark Kernes and Tom Hymes, AVN seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when Burts didn’t necessarily seem to blame the straight porn industry for his HIV-positive status, even linking to Burts’ gay escort ad.

AVN has also scoffed at the lack of communication between the County and State that would shut down a clinic just for having slightly varying business names on its license applications.

This charge resonates with anyone who had to deal with anything from parking tickets to taxes to a marriage license in Los Angeles County, but AVN fails to address the fact that AIM’s license itself was incorrect, that it was identified legally as a physician and not a clinic, and that it had inadequate transfer procedures for medical emergencies.

While AIM is now dealing with that red tape, and while we can believe that nearby bureaucrats might be lighting fires under AIM prejudicially because of AHF’s relentless pressure, it is also within reason to suggest that, even under months of scrutiny, AIM still saw fit to not get its act together, that everything would blow over.

While AIM’s right to draw blood from its own facility has been temporarily restricted, it still has numerous affiliated “draw” locations that feed the asset that is of greatest value to adult producers and talent: its comprehensive database.

“It will be a huge hassle to check tests from several different testing centers,” said one producer this weekend. “Luckily we still have a few weeks of a window where the AIM tests are still good.”

Because AIM is the go-to testing facility, all performers in a production are in AIM’s system, and producers can not only check an actor’s “clean” status but can also, if need be, check on the stats of performers that actor has worked with. AIM’s ability to cross-reference at an industry-wide level are the direct result of its being the only game in town, largely with unqualified support from AVN.

Well, almost the only game in town.

While everyone is concerned with AIM’s woes, a paycheck is a paycheck and performers need to know their alternatives.

“I’ll go to Talent Testing Services if I have to,” says performer Misty Stone. “AIM makes everything more convenient and everyone knows me there, but if AIM is shut down I can’t just stop working.”

TTS is a Miami-based testing facility (next to California, porn is most often shot in Florida with numerous websites headquartered there) with a satellite in Northridge.

Kristina Rose isn’t sure AIM will be the last traditionally “adult” testing center shut down.

“At this point nothing shocks me,” she says. “I had just retested (at AIM) before they closed, so I’m good for now.”

Male performer Brian Street Team has a similar story. “While I think it’s going to blow over, I got tested last Wednesday, the day before AIM was closed,” he says, “so for now Talent Testing is the big alternative.”

AHF has also been successful in lobbying LA City Councilor Bill Rosendahl to introduce a motion to require City Attorney Carmen Trutanich to outline plans for the Council to make film permitting for adult shoots dependent on condom use.

Can the adult industry outmaneuver something like:

The producers of adult films are required by California Code of Regulations Title 8, Section 5903 et seq. to employ barrier protection, including without limitation condoms, to shield performers from contact with potentially infectious material during the production of adult films

…simply by relying on Free Speech and an adult’s right to choose for himself?

“Adults are so pathetic sometimes,” says Rose.

If the battle between AHF and AIM doesn’t blow over, if AHF is successful in not only permanently shutting down AIM (and even getting LA City Councilors talking about restricting film permits to porn shoots)

On the set of a porn parody this weekend, production staff discussed what might happen if AHF succeeds in mandating condom use in the adult industry.

“We could always go to Vegas or Florida,” the director said.

“Isn’t it illegal there, too?” the stills photographer said.

“Yes, but it’s accepted there,” the director said.

· AVN (avn.com)
· Porn Star Justin Long Vows Boycott Of AIDS Healthcare Foundation Over Its Attempt To Force Condoms On Porn
(laweekly.com)
· AHF (aidshealth.org)
· AIM (aim-med.org)
· Talent Testing Service (talenttestingservice.com)

Geeks that we are, there’s nothing that makes us swoon quite like the sight of a geeky girl with a video game system. Well, except a naked geeky girl with a video game system. Nintendo, however, doesn’t seem to agree.

We’ve received word that Video Game Porn has received a notice from Cyveillance (a company apparently hired by Nintendo), alleging that they’ve been committing trademark violation. How’d they do that, you ask? Why, by using the name Nintendo to describe an image of a scantily clad woman…holding a Nintendo DSi.

Now we understand that Nintendo wants to keep its products safe for kids, and that there’s always a sticky situation when you mix someone else’s brand into your commercial product. But it does seem that the adult industry is specifically being targeted here, while other sexy fare and material that’s not safe for kids is allowed to continuing using Nintendo’s name and related trademarks with abandon. Double standard much?

The notice, in full, below:

IDENTIFIED PROBLEM: Web site uses a Nintendo trademark (Nintendo) in the code of the page.

Dear Moniker Privacy Services,

We are an Internet monitoring agency representing Nintendo of America Inc. (“Nintendo”). We are writing to ask you to stop using the Nintendo properties in the hidden text/visible text/meta tags and/or title and/or
links of the above-referenced sexually explicit Web site. Nintendo’s customers include many children and their parents. Unauthorized use of Nintendo trademark(s)/work(s) is harmful to those customers and will
tarnish Nintendo’s reputation. We look forward to your immediate confirmation that you have taken the
necessary steps to resolve this matter. To that end, you may email us at StopInfringement@cyveillance.com.
Please note that these are automatic email boxes so typically no response is sent as long as the problem is corrected.

Sincerely,
Cyveillance

· Really, Nintendo? Are you sure about that? (missathenahollow.com)
· The naughty gallery in question (geekgirlsonline.net)

Crush Object Lorelei Lee on fetish porn, obscenity, and the Buttman trial. (salon.com)

John Stagliano has been acquitted. Rejoice!

If John “Buttman” Stagliano goes to jail, America loses.

Despite an earlier statement claiming that Vivid had the legal right to distribute “Mindy McCready, Baseball Mistress,” the company has announced that they are putting the film’s distribution on hold while they review their legal clearances.

From the press release we just received:

A steamy sex tape featuring singer songwriter Mindy McCready has been placed on temporary hold while adult studio Vivid Entertainment takes legal steps to prove it has the right to distribute it.

Vivid founder/co-chairman Steven Hirsch said he remains confident the studio has all appropriate legal clearances to distribute the video, “Mindy McCready, Baseball Mistress,” in which she talks candidly about the sexual performances of Yankees and Red Sox pitching great Roger Clemens and other celebrities she’s been involved with over the years. The video had been scheduled to go on sale April 19th.

“We’ve decided to take a little extra time to study all of our documentation and other clearances before we proceed,” Mr. Hirsch said. “I want a chance to review the correspondence from Mindy’s attorney, Adam Dread, and to prepare a proper response to the letter he has sent to us.”

Is this a graceful way of backing down from their claims? Was the whole thing a PR stunt to begin with? Are they hoping to get Mindy to change her mind with some sort of sweet Vivid contract? Only time will tell…but as soon as it does, we’ll let you know.

UPDATE: Vivid has promised us photos and a copy of the video, so it seems safe to say they really do plan to release the video. Excellent.

Months after having his offices raided, AbbyWinters founder Garion Hall now confronts 54 charges of making objectionable films, plus accusations of exploitation from two of his former employees.

The Herald Sun reports, among other things, multiple cases of cold-heartedness recorded by two former models, “Blaire” and “Melita.” It seems like the only confirmed charges are the 54 counts of making illegal films for gain, and possessing an illegal quantity of those films.

· Read the full story: Alleged child pornography and objectionable films seized from sex site boss Garion Hall (heraldsun.com.au)
· Barely relevant, slightly symbolic cover photo via The Pottery Girls On Abby Winters (iloveabbywinters.com)

We sure hope the Jamieson’s Beer people have sold some beer, because Disney now wants their heart cut out and put in a box.

The Foundry, the advertising agency that skankified the classic character, said they “challenged the consumer’s notion of what this beer was,” and we couldn’t agree with them more. Allegedly, the dwarves (dwarfs?) represent seven types of drunks, but they could just as easily represent the seven types of post-coital emotions. It must be some damn good beer.

If Disney were smart, they’d put all this bad blood aside and cast Megan Fox in the Ho White full-length feature (she kinda looks like Megan Fox, doesn’t she?). All this press is just going to sell more raspberry ale and cartoon porn, and Disney isn’t doing anything to capitalize on that. Keep your pimp hand strong, Disney.

· AdFreak.com (adweek.com)
· AdelaideNow (news.com.au)

The seemingly endless Extreme Associates legal battle is, at last, at an end. After pleading guilty in March, Rob Black and Lizzy Borden were sentenced yesterday to one year and one day in prison. (xbiz.com)

A few months ago, we alerted you to our burgeoning crush on one Amia Moretti. Now we’ve learned she’s changed her name to Amia Miley—but never fear: she’s every bit as awesome as ever.

Some of you may be wondering why Amia would change her name—especially so early in her career. Well, like so many things, it’s all about the internet: Amia realized that someone else owned AmiaMoretti.com, and rather than let another person profit from her fame, she decided to change course sooner rather than later, and go with Amia Miley. And yes, she made sure to buy AmiaMiley.com, and all related URLs. Cause she’s smart like that.

· Amia Miley (myspace.com)
· Amia Miley Explains Name Change (adultdvdtalk.com)
· Thumbnail: Amia MIley (wannawatch.com)

Yesterday, we wrote that the Abby Winters offices had been raided, and founder Garion Hall arrested. Well, we were half right: Garion Hall has released a statement confirming the raid, but stating that no charges were pressed.

We will, of course, keep you informed as further updates surface.

· Abby Winters owner Garion Hall issues statement (somebodythinkofthechildren.com, more @ avn.com)

On Monday, the Abby Winters offices were raided by the cops, and company founder Garion Hall arrested for making (apparently illegal) porn. See? The Australian government really does hate naked people. (news.com.au)

File under “Lamest Lawsuit Ever”: National American University is suing Naughty America, claiming that the site Naughty America University (not Naughty American University, as USA Today incorrectly reports) infringes on trademarks and is potentially confusing. Because we totally thought the orgies were happening at National American. (usatoday.com, thumbnail)

Richard Wolf logged on to AdultFriendFinder while at work, and—in the tradition of AFF users—uploaded naked pictures of himself to the site. As a result, he’s been he’s been convicted of hacking—a felony charge.

Yeah, that seems fair.

· Court Upholds Hacking Conviction of Man for Uploading Porn Pics from Work Computer (wired.com)

A few months back, Janine Lindemulder got herself into a tiny bit lot of trouble with the IRS. Apparently the federal government wasn’t pleased with Janine’s lax attitude towards taxes, and shipped her to jail.

But the story doesn’t end there. Never one to just lie back and take it, Janine made sure to get a new website up and running before she was behind bars. The site—cleverly titled FreeJanine.com—has the backstory on Janine’s tax troubles, as well as a clock counting down the days until Janine gets out of jail. Paying members get access to tons of fresh content of Janine, all shot before her jail days (so much for our hopes of cell block erotica), plus access to Janine’s thoughts from jail (apparently she’s allowed to blog), and the knowledge that your membership fee is helping pay down Janine’s debt to the state.

As far as causes go, it’s no Free Mumia—but then again, we don’t remember Mumia Abu-Jamal ever showing us his tits.

· Janine Lindemulder (freejanine.com)

Could Massachusetts really make it illegal to feature anyone over 60 in a pornographic film? Has the state never heard of performers like Dave Cummings and Shigeo Tokuda?

Seriously, though, we’re extremely disturbed by the implication that people over the age of sixty don’t have the ability to decide for themselves whether or not they want to be featured in an erotic film. What next—are we going to force everyone over the age of sixty to retire and move to Boca?

· Proposed Ban on Making and Distributing Pornography Involving >60-Year-Olds and the Disabled (Including Spouses or Lovers Consensually Photographing Each Other) (volokh.com, thanks FalconryoftheEroticVariety!!)
· State puts porn pervs in sights (bostonherald.com)
· An Act Relative to Posing or Exhibiting or Disseminating Material of an Elder or a Person with a Disability in a State of Nudity or Sexual Conduct. (mass.gov)
· Thumbnail by Katrin Trautner

In a move that, well, we’re mildly confused by, the Oregon House has passed a bill making it illegal to douse someone with semen, categorizing the act as a second degree sex abuse crime.

We’re assuming that this law only effects non-consensual semen-dousing, and not, say, consensual bukkake scenes. For as our dear friend Clayton Cubitt has said, “If we outlaw bukkake, only outlaws will bukkake.”

· House passes bill too gross to talk about (oregonlive.com, via The Reverse Cowgirl)
· Thumbnail star: Cum covered Aurora Jolie (premiumpass.com, via Ask Jolene)

We’ve just learned that Morgan Dayne—aka Cezar Capone‘s first ever contract girl—has left the Cezar Capone stable and signed with Digital Playground… and, as a result, has changed her name to Rio Valentine.

Why the name change? Well, as often happens in the world of contract stars, the name Morgan Dayne is owned by Cezar Capone, which means that the company keeps the rights to the name, even after the actress its affiliated with has moved on to other projects.

But hey, a rose by any other name still smells as sweet, right? Digital Playground has yet to officially announce the addition of Rio to their happy porn family, but she’s set up a new MySpace page, where she happily tells us that “shooting with Digital Playground has been a dream of mine since I first heard of them, and to date one of the best experiences in my life” and that “I’ve worked for other companies before and none could even [begin] to amount to what Digital Playground is.” High praise—though, in our opinion, completely deserved.

· Rio Valentine’s MySpace (myspace.com)
· Morgan Dayne Signs With Digital Playground and Has New Name (lukeford.com)
· Thumbnail via Kind Girls (kindgirls.com)

Over the past few months, Digital Playground has organized screenings of “Pirates 2″ at college campuses across the country, with remarkably little controversy. Well, until last week.

Students at the University of Maryland were all set to attend a screening of the most important porno ever made—until some state legislators caught wind of where, exactly, these pirates were sticking their swords. In response, Sen. Andrew P. Harris (R-Baltimore County) introduced a bill to withhold state funding from any public university that allowed the screening of a triple-X film, which caused university officials to cancel the screening, which in turn led to a flurry of press (including Adella, DP’s director of marketing, appearing on CNN to defend the adult industry).

And it doesn’t end there: protesting of the university’s decision, a group of students are planning to screen the film anyway, preceding the XXX action with a discussion of free speech, and how it relates to the pride of Porn Valley.

Man, we miss college.

· Porn Flick Screening at U-Md. Still On, as Is Funding Threat (washingtonpost.com)
· Image of Jesse Jane courtesy of Digital Playground (digitalplayground.com)