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.