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  • tl;dw: CA Prop 60 NOT adopted. Votes Yes: 4,680,619 Votes No: 5,530,561

  • Recently Sexplanations was given the

  • amazing privilege to talk with

  • Dr. Hernando Chavez, a therapist and human

  • sexuality professor, about pornography in

  • California. If that wasn't already amazing,

  • he connected us with adult film

  • performers who invited us into their

  • home, a model house where they split rent,

  • and live safely, and no one evicts them

  • for what they do. What I quickly learned

  • is that they all love their jobs and the

  • people they work with. How do you feel

  • about your job? Oh, I love it. I love my job.

  • I love the liberation. I love my job

  • I would do almost anything for my job. I

  • love my job I love porn. I also learned

  • there's a proposition on the November

  • eighth ballot that's really scary to them.

  • Props 60 is on the current November

  • election ballot here in California.

  • It's a bill right now that is attacking

  • the porn industry in a way where anyone who

  • has a financial interest or stake in a

  • production of a scene that does not have

  • a visible condom is held liable and can

  • be sued by any california resident. It

  • incentivizes harassment of our people,

  • and it allows people to access our

  • information -- when, like, my legal name

  • is not Susie Q. You know? shocking, I know! -- and

  • it's incentivized bounty hunting, and that

  • to me is scary. Especially because a lot

  • of these performers in the industry

  • already going through issues on social

  • media with shaming, with stalking, with

  • harassment. This is just opening a

  • door for more of that to occur, and

  • that's not what our laws should be doing.

  • They should be trying to protect us

  • rather than harm us. So if prop 60 passes,

  • it would accomplish the opposite of what

  • they need from us. First of all, condoms,

  • while great, are one of many preventive

  • and protective measures. They're an option,

  • and everyone deserves to experience them

  • this way.

  • How do you feel about condoms It's a

  • case-by-case type of thing. I don't have

  • a problem with them, but, you know, I like

  • feeling contact. I want that intimacy.

  • I feel like porn is their fantasy. That's

  • what they like. Ok.

  • That's what fans want, and fans feel like

  • "Oh it's not very personal when there's,

  • like, a condom. Condoms, they may work for

  • civilians a lot, but

  • the amount of time that we're on set --

  • They have to go beyond the regular condom use

  • at, you know, home, you know, where you

  • can go at your own pace, because we have

  • to be extreme and push the limits, and

  • that typically causes those condoms

  • break. So it's not safer -- not in this

  • aspect of it. Yeah I'm a huge fan of

  • condoms, but I think I'm an even bigger

  • fan of choice, autonomy, and

  • ability to look at a situation and have options. Oh, I'm a

  • big fan of condoms, too. If I'm doing

  • anything outside of the adult

  • industry, and they're not [stutter]. Yeah. It's all

  • condom. So condoms are good in certain

  • aspects, but not necessarily in our

  • industry. It's not really going to help

  • the situation. I don't see it.

  • The second problem with Prop 60 is that

  • it allows spectators to pursue legal charges

  • against the industry and its performers

  • if they suspect there isn't a condom

  • being used. If someone were to sue you,

  • they would have access to your actual Yes

  • name and address. My actual name. You know, not

  • only does it affect me,

  • I'm also a daughter. I'm also, you know, an aunt

  • I'm a sister. As a trans woman, you

  • know, it's very difficult to fathom that

  • people who (they) may not like me, may

  • have a chance, an opportunity to obtain my

  • personal information and put that in

  • public. They don't realize what's at

  • stake.

  • I think that they think that maybe we're

  • hyperbolizing this idea it's like, hey

  • our legal names and home addresses will

  • be put at risk under Prop 60. Maybe it's

  • not the best piece of legislation to do

  • what you're trying to do. The third issue

  • I see with prop 60 is that the

  • performers in the industry at large know

  • what they're doing. Their safer sex

  • practices produce incredibly successful

  • results compared to the general public

  • who's trying to regulate their safety.

  • We have been able to police ourselves,

  • and we've done very well over these, over

  • a decade that no one has actually

  • contracted HIV in 12 years. That

  • to me is a testament right there.

  • I think that shows right there that we

  • know what we're doing. We don't need the

  • government to come in

  • and try to regulate it. You need to teach

  • the rest of us -- all the civilians. You

  • should be in charge of the civilians rather

  • than the other way around.

  • People think that, "Oh, Porn? Sex? Oh they're being

  • ===HERE===

  • nasty," but I'm like when I go and (like) I ask (oh like)

  • a guy friend, "When was last time you got

  • tested?" "uuuuuuhm..."

  • What is "uhm?" (like) "When was the last time you tested?"

  • You know? I can provide (like) a

  • history of who I had sex with and all my

  • testing, but (like) the general public

  • can't do that.

  • There are seven different STIs the performers in the adult

  • industry who participate in partnered sex

  • are tested for every 12 to 14 days. {on screen}

  • Outside the industry, I rarely got tested

  • mmhmm

  • and never knew what I had, (like) if I

  • had anything... In the porn industry you

  • have been safer?

  • Yes, because I know my partner's status, and

  • they know mine.

  • With the frequency we get

  • tested in, and...and with how quickly the

  • results come back, it's so... To me it's

  • effective, because if, God forbid, I did

  • have something, my test results are next-day.

  • I don't have to... It's not a...Even with being

  • a civilian, you don't get that type of

  • system even at your own doctor.

  • What happens

  • if Prop 60 passes?

  • I mean, we've already

  • had many production companies leave Los

  • Angeles, and...it's just...it's just really

  • hard to keep things afloat with (with) the

  • (what to me feels like a) witch hunt

  • honestly.

  • Where I am now, I'm still

  • establishing myself. It would completely

  • ruin me in a way.

  • If this passes, what

  • would happen if your favorite pornstar

  • retired? You'd no longer have new content. What

  • would happen when performers who don't

  • want to (you know) do anything illegal and

  • shoot in California moved to other

  • states where they don't have the same

  • testing protocols, the same industry

  • standards when it comes to worker safety?

  • we can actually be putting people more risk

  • by driving this industry underground or

  • out-of-state.

  • Proposition 60 isn't the

  • solution. So what is?

  • You know, if it was

  • up to me, I would want to invite porn

  • performers, California Health & Safety

  • (which is Cal/OSHA), and also maybe sex

  • educators and sexual health advocates to

  • work together to find what would be the

  • best possible ways for us to protect

  • everybody.

  • I think the porn industry

  • needs to be at the center of

  • conversations around regulation.

  • Anytime an outside (especially a government)

  • organization comes in and tries to (like)

  • make all these rules when they don't

  • have any insight as to what the

  • realities of what our lives are like...

  • They're not going to do well.

  • As soon as I entered the adult industry and

  • figured out that everything that I had

  • been told about the people who work in

  • it was big fat lie, that actually the

  • people who work in this industry are some

  • of America's and the world's best and

  • brightest, most innovative, most caring,

  • most empathetic people I've ever met,

  • I basically (like) vowed to spend the rest

  • of my life, (like) until I'm in the ground,

  • fighting to make this world a better

  • place for all of us because we deserve that.

  • To learn more about Prop 60, check out

  • stop60.com and the other resources in

  • the description, and to everyone who

  • shared their experiences and to all of

  • you who stay curious,

  • thank you.

tl;dw: CA Prop 60 NOT adopted. Votes Yes: 4,680,619 Votes No: 5,530,561

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