Rights for porn stars, now!
Scourge in Miniature
Mathew Gomes
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DISCRIMINATION IS STILL an unfortunate component of our culture.
Racism, sexism and age discrimination are all alive and kicking, but a look towards the pornography industry will reveal contemporary discrimination at its worst.
You may remember the HIV scare that hit the United States a few years ago.
If you were involved in the production of any type of pornographic film, you definitely remember it.
The scare hit the porn industry hardest for reasons you can probably imagine, but ones I will proceed to elucidate regardless: actors in the pornography industry have a lot of unprotected sex.
A lot.
If you don’t believe me, just consult “Boogie Nights.” Even if you do believe me, you should still watch it because it’s the finest film of 1997 and arguably the pinnacle of Burt Reynolds’ acting career.
I’m not counting “Cop and 1/2” of course.
Prospects of things like Kaposi’s sarcoma and a foreshortened lifespan aren’t the only things porn stars have to worry about, though.
In the pornography business, HIV is both a death warrant and a career-killer. HIV positive actors become pariahs of the industry, refused work in order to contain the virus.
To remedy this situation, I propose a subdivision of the industry to accommodate the infected stars: HIV-positive actors and actresses shoot films with their infected counterparts.
Besides easing the impact of AIDS on the porn community, it must cater to some fetish — there has to be a market for something like this.
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