What the Darren James tragedy reveals to us is not simply a tale of male egoism gone awry, nor does it offer us a sanctimonious position from which to wag our fingers in disapproval at the victims, but instead, it reveals the irredeemable exploitation and horrifically unethical labor practices of a multi-billion dollar industry. The very fact that at any time after the discovery of HIV as the virus that causes AIDS, the Porn industry would still knowingly and continually allow performers to engage in sexual acts without condoms and other protections is one of the most egregiously unethical and immoral paradoxes of these modern times. Moreover, the testing of performers before and after filmed sexual activity was in no way, shape, or form a means of protection for the performers, but instead was merely a contractual maneuver to absolve the collective of different companies that at that time made up what we call “The Porn industry” from any legal liability for the risks they encouraged their performers to take by engaging in filmed unprotected sex.
Two performers - Cameron Bay and Rod Daily - have come forward and announced that they tested positive, but the third individual who was infected has remained anonymous.
Louganis’s boyfriend tested positive for HIV in 1988, and he was diagnosed shortly after. During the 1988 games, his coach smuggled his HIV medication into the Olympic Village, as he wouldn’t have been allowed to compete if his status were public knowledge.
California Assemblyman Isadore Hall, who has been trying for months to get a bill passed in the state Assembly mandating the use of condoms in sex scenes, said Daily's reported infection shows the need for such a regulation.
Around 100,000 people are living with HIV in the UK, with roughly two thirds of people living with it being men and a third women, according to the National Aids Trust.
In September 2015, then-39-year-old Danny Pintauro publicly disclosed that he had been living with HIV for 12 years. Pintauro was a child star in the 1980s and ’90s, known for playing Jonathan Bower on Who’s the Boss?
She claimed that she wasn’t surprised to hear of the actor’s HIV diagnosis, claiming that his promiscuous behaviour meant that he had a lot of sexual partners that she knew from porn stars to transexuals.
Various types of STDs in the porn industry include – gonorrhea, Chlamydia, syphilis and HIV/AIDS. For the reason that pornographic filmmaking involves unsimulated sex, generally without condoms, hence porn actors are particularly vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
Darren James’ book, "My Story: Porn and HIV" might be his own personal means of redemption but it just might also be our own political means of salvation to protect workers from exploitative corporations and industries where profit is placed before people.
I’m gay, living with HIV, hate condoms and fully support bareback sex. So I’m glad they are raising the profile of prep for neg audiences. I’m total bttm detectable with HIV coz changing meds.
Andre Seewood is author of “(Dismantling) the Greatest Lie Ever Told to the Black Filmmaker.” Pick up a copy here.
The Free Speech Coalition said in an email to Reuters that Daily acted in gay and transsexual sex movies in which condoms were used.
If you’ve seen the film Bohemian Rhapsody, then you know that the movie played a little fast and loose with the facts around his diagnosis. That was one of the many controversies surrounding the film: It fudged the timeline to make Freddie Mercury seem to apologize for acquiring HIV and being reckless. In reality, that’s not what happened. The film raised a lot of ethical issues about how to portray people living with HIV after their death.
Haring was always very open about his HIV diagnosis and spent the last years of his life raising awareness and starting the Keith Haring Foundation, which to this day supports organizations that work in HIV/AIDS prevention and education.
