By GARY SEWARD
INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT
A well-lit room. Candles are on the surface of an IKEA style headboard. A woman, Jessica, in her twenties, black with the body of a gymnast is laying spread eagle on a plush mattress. A man, Mark, in his twenties, white and lean kneels over her. Both are sweaty, the foreplay making them insanely hot with passion.
JESSICA
I want you inside me so bad!
Mark wastes no time and positions himself between Jessica’s legs ready to insert his manhood inside her. Jessica notices as Mark hesitates for a moment.
JESSICA
Wait, are you grabbing a condom?
MARK
Yeah, we have to.
JESSICA
Wait…but we were both tested and I’m on the pill.
MARK
Doesn’t matter. It’s the law…
Mark is disappointed but reaches for a condom and places it on his semi-erect penis.
FADE OUT
Sex, or good sex, should never be mechanical. It should be fluid and natural and enjoyable. When two people are in the throes of passion it can be electric, because fucking is fun and consent is sexy. While some may deny sexuality with their self-righteous “moral” attitudes, the love of sex is one of the few commonalities all people share. It should come as no surprise to anyone that one of the biggest industries in the world, the porn industry, capitalizes on that love of sex.
So, what if the scene above was not just two consensual adults having sex, but two consensual adults having sex on film for money?
Ever since we started fucking we started to love the image of watching each other fuck. Guy on girl, guy on guy, girls with other girls, guy tied to post and whipped by girl, guy being dominated by another guy wearing a costume of a wolf. Just like the tastes and fetishes of each consenting adult, the genres of porn are almost infinite.
In a step that seems to be taking our culture in one gigantic step backward, news broke out this past month that a bill passed the Senate floor in California, entitled AB 1576, which sought out criminal penalties for not using condoms by on-set performers and forces producers to keep logs of all performers’ sexual activities. Performers are not only being forced to always use condoms and barriers but all their medical information could become public knowledge, without their consent.
The proponents of the bill believe that by policing other’s bodies it will help to slow down the rate of HIV and STIs. This is despite existing regulation that requires performers to be tested twice a month and the fact that there hasn’t been a case of porn set HIV transmission since 2004. The regulation of consensual sex acts should be deeply troubling even if you are opposed to supporting work in the sex industry.
Much like the new Canadian prostitution laws introduced by the Conservatives, the bill essentially disregards a person’s right to choose what they do with their body. Instead of helping the potentially vulnerable, in reality it will drive more productions and performers underground, where the real dangers lurk.
One actress, Lorelei Lee, spoke out against the ruling calling it “insulting” and “paternalistic” and that it “shows a total disregard for performers’ autonomy…if the bill becomes law, it will, in fact, harm the people it claims it will protect.”
Producers, investors and porn actors are fighting back though The Free Speech Coalition, which was formed in response to what they consider to be first amendment violations.
Some may argue that it’s just porn, it’s not real life. In truth, it is not that simple. Imagine yourself in your bedroom about to have sex with a loved one/partner/one night stand/ex without the right to choose whether to wear a condom or not.
We all have different reasons for having sex without condoms or barriers. Maybe we like the way it feels, maybe we have been tested, maybe we just consent to the idea that the risk is simply worth it. Now let it be known, I do not advocate a condom-less lifestyle but taking one’s right to choose is not something I cannot stand by.
Without consent there is no passion. Without sex there is no porn. Consent is sexy.
