A porn star couple, who both recently tested positive for HIV, have called for the use of condoms to be made compulsory on all adult film sets.
Cameron Bay and Rod Daily this week gave a press conference coordinated by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which advocates mandatory condom use in porn.
Wiping away tears, Bay, whose diagnosis last month prompted a two-week halt on production on many US porn sets, explained that while condoms are made available in the industry, use of them is not enforced.
Cameron Bay and her partner Rod Daily have both tested positive for HIV
The 29-year-old also revealed that during her last shoot, filmed for San Francisco’s Kink.com, her (unnamed) partner’s penis was bleeding from a cut, and he was not wearing a condom.
After a brief halt, the cameras resumed rolling, she said, claiming that because her co-star had recently tested negative for STDs she left the choice of wearing a condom up to him, adding: “Asking for a condom on set wasn’t really what you did, because you know, you could just be replaced.”
Daily, 32, who has been romantically involved with Bay for two years, criticised industry bosses for failing to promote safe sex, stating: “Ultimately, it’s a business, and their main concern is money and not their performers.
Bay wiped away tears as she addressed a press conference in Hollywood
According to literature on the AIDS Healthcare Foundation website, industry officials have said when they tried using condoms after an HIV outbreak nine years ago, the $7 billion-a-year business saw revenue decline as much as 30% as audiences made it clear they found them a turn off.
Bay, who has only been filming porn for a few months, added: “I learned there’s always someone younger and sexier and willing to do something you’re not.
“I think we need more choices because of that. Condoms should be a choice.”
In an earlier exclusive interview with the Huffington Post, Bay claimed none of her male co-stars had used condoms during her short career, and recalled how one female performer had told her: "Don't even bring it up, because they have someone waiting to replace you."
Neither Bay nor Daily, who announced his diagnosis on Twitter on 3 September, can be sure how they contracted the virus.
Last November, LA voters passed a measure mandating condom use in porn, despite a campaign against it by the adult film industry. But since then, insiders say there has been little enforcement of the new law.
The industry will revise its STD testing protocols however, and will require performers to be tested every 14 days rather than 28 as previously required, the Associated Press reports.
But AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein believes even regular testing is insufficient when it comes to protecting the health of porn workers.
"Whether or not [Bay] was infected on set, she performed with HIV between her tests," he told the LA Times.
"If you think Russian roulette is a great way to protect workers, then the present system is perfect," he added.
Of Bay's comments, Kink.com founder Peter Acworth told CBS News: “None of those that performed on straight (testing mandatory) sets contracted nor transmitted HIV on set.”
But his statement added: “Ms Bay’s shoot caused us concern.
“While HIV was not transmitted on set, there were incidents on that shoot, including some of the same ones Ms Bay identified, that have caused us to re-evaluate what we permit on shoots.”
Acworth insisted: "All of our models are informed that they request a condom at any time, that they can stop a shoot at any time, and that they control the scene... We take consent and safety seriously."