In the adult industry we test every 14 to 30 days. These are the tests we do …
- HIV-1 NAT
- HBsAg
- Anti-HCV
- Chlamydia
- Gonorrhea
- Trichomonas Vaginalis
- Syphilis (RPR)
- TREP-SURE EIA
This means we test for HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Trichomonas, and Syphilis.
Sounds great, right?
But what we don’t test for is herpes or HPV. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States – and yet we don’t test for it in the adult industry. Why? HPV can cause things like genital warts, cancer, and infertility.
Herpes is a common sexually transmitted disease (STD) and yet we don’t test for it in the adult industry. Why?
In 2007 former porn star Belladonna spoke out about contracting herpes on set. She suffered with vagina outbreaks for years, but eventually it spread to her ass and even her mouth.
When asked why performers will work, knowing they have a serious STD or risk catching one from someone else who has one, Belladonna said, “People don’t care—they’ll work when they know they have an STD. Many live paycheck to paycheck.”
People talk about creating a “safe environment for performers”, but how can we really do that when we aren’t testing for two of the most common STDs?
Talent Testing does not offer an alternative for adding on HPV or Herpes tests. CET does offer an alternative add on (for an additional fee) a test for Herpes, but not for HPV.
But concerns me most of all is that we aren’t teaching new performers about these things. I spoke to a girl who was in the adult industry for about 8 months. In that time she had three different agents. When I spoke to her she had already “retired”. What she didn’t learn in her 8 months was that we didn’t test for herpes.
She was lucky. She didn’t get herpes. But another performer wasn’t so lucky. I first met her in 2008 when I was working for Cezar Capone. The adorable little girl he had in his office had done exactly 3 scenes prior to that day. She wasn’t sure which of the 3 previous scenes she had caught herpes on, but at 19 years old, it’s something she’ll have to deal with for the rest of her life.
She thought she was safe because she was tested. She also didn’t have sex outside of the industry, so she was sure everything was okay. She was obviously wrong.
The real question is, what are we going to do about it?
There is an agent who lives in Florida. He recruits a lot of new, young talent (18-21 year olds). He is thought to have herpes (this rumor has been going around by more than a few people in the last 6 months). He has sex with his talent, calling it an “audition”. This is their first scene ever and they are having sex with a man who has herpes (If the rumors are true). Since he doesn’t have a valid STD test from either TTS or CET, who knows what else he may have.
Remember no matter what, never have sex with anyone, including your agent without a valid test!
