S&M News Article "Condoms 2"

Editorial printed in THE S & M NEWS vol 4/#5 (May 1997)
Copyright Carter Stevens 1997 All rights reserved.

The opinions expressed in this editorial are solely the opinions of Carter Stevens,

as such they represent the opinions and attitudes of

THE S & M NEWS

and if you don't agree with them please feel free to contact him and intelligently present your counter views. If these opinions just piss you off and you don't have anything intelligent to say in response please

Fuck off and Die.

Thank you.

I Told You So.
by Carter Stevens

About a year ago I published an editorial (ok a rant) about what I felt to be the stupidity of the West Coast porno business in not using condoms in their videos. These dicks for brains were instead spending mass amounts of money to have actors and actresses tested for Aids which I said was rather lame, as it doesn’t really help anyone who worked with that actor the day after they turned positive the day after their last test. I suggested that the money might be better spent on heavy duty industrial strength condoms.

The result of that editorial was... silence from several of the larger porno industry magazines (such as AVN) who I sent copies to, and anger from several people in the business (like Bill Margold) who felt I was trashing their groups or themselves personally because they supported paper (testing certificates) over latex (rubbers).

Well, the flap at that time was about a young lady who showed a false positive so everything just died down and the stupid greedy producers on the coast continued to play Russian roulette with their talent and (if they are as lecherous as the rest of us) themselves. A year went by and they all thought people like me who said that the danger was not worth the risk were just fools crying out in the night.

Well, this month has proved them wrong. John Stagliano, aka the "Buttman", who only several months ago was listed as "the nation’s leading director of Hardcore videos" (in a rather good U.S. News & World Report article on the porno business) announced that he was indeed HIV positive. Add to that the rumors that Nina Cherry (a popular porn actress of the moment) is also HIV positive and you have panic in porno town.

Suddenly people all over the place are calling for Condom only / safe sex videos. So what took them so long? Why, simple greed. It’s very simple economics. 1. European porn makers can get people to fuck for peanuts with no condoms. 2. Videos with no condoms sell better. 3. European distributors don’t want to buy American product with condoms if they can find European product with no condoms so fat cat American distributors don’t want to lose half their income by making sure their talent is safe. If instead they had the balls to bite the bullet and insist that they would not buy ANY product American OR European that doesn’t have condom usage they would remove part of the European dis- tributors market and give them an incentive for making condom use obligatory in European porn as well. By thus throwing it back on the European distributors and by being willing to make a few less millions per year until everyone jumps on the band wagon they could in one step remove most of the Aids threat in the industry.

But it isn’t going to happen because these people give not one damn about the talent in the industry. All they care about is the bottom line and until half the industry is exposed and infected with Aids because of these reckless practices it isn’t going to change.

Most of the actors and actresses in the porn business are poor starving wannabees with little or no self worth and even less clout. When a distributor waves a $10,000 a picture contract in front of some poor girl with a chest size bigger than her IQ all she can see is all the toys she never could afford before. Hell, even the brainy ones can suffer temporary lobotomies if the contract is big enough. After all they are told that "It is safe... everyone is tested." and visions of Porsches don’t come latex wrapped do they?

I am very happy to say that I haven’t made a hard core video without condom use in over 5 years, not even the ones I shot in Hungary last year, where I could have gotten any of the ladies to work condom free for the same price. Of course the lead actor in that video was me so condom use wasn’t an option it was a necessity. In my opinion, until the Producers and Distributors have to fuck all these starlets without condoms in private, things aren’t going to change in front of the cameras as well. Since these fat cats can afford condoms for themselves they aren’t likely to spring for condoms on the set. Not until the day when they have to.

That’s really all I have to say on the matter except, guys, remember the dick you save could be your own, and girls, driving your Porsche back and forth to the aids clinic just ain’t as cool as you might like.

Carter Stevens

P.S. hasn’t anybody considered contacting OSHA about the unsafe working conditions on porn sets in Southern CA? I think there is some law or another against allowing working conditions that are dangerous to life.

This is just a sample article from THE S & M NEWS, if you enjoyed it please support our publication with a subscription .

SUBSCRIPTIONS - How to subscribe to THE S & M NEWS