Porn "Casting Couch" and Health Risks

In the U.S., porn centered around a community of performers within what's been called the circle. That is, performers who voluntarily agree to be tested for STDs/STIs such as HIV regularly.  At the time I worked, this was every 30 days and is now every 14 days.  They agree to refrain from risky sex acts  outside of work so they don't put their fellow performers at risk.  This doesn't guarantee safety because there is no such guarantee, but is a precaution.

When people who've been with folks from outside of the circle enter the porn industry such as escorts or other types of sex workers, some performers expressed concerns.  I cannot speak for everybody, but to me a bigger health and safety concern was the "casting couch" from within the industry.  

The circle was based largely on an honor system, in which performers voluntarily agreed to abstain from certain risky behaviors.  Even if performers were abiding by the agreement, they may still be with people from outside the circle.  They may be in a relationship with a significant other from outside the industry who isn't part of the circle.  Their partner may engage in risky behaviors and pass something onto the performer, which the performer unknowingly brings into the business.  

Doing scenes outside of the U.S. where they may not have the same testing standards if any can also be perceived as stepping out of the circle.  Even if performers get tested after returning, HIV might not show up if it hasn't been in their system long enough.  Not sure what the tests are like now, but when I worked, it could take10 to 60 days after contracting HIV for it to show up on a test.  Thus, a performer may test negative and continue doing scenes only to later find out they were actually HIV positive and by this point, they unknowingly infected more performers. 

Back to the casting couch topic... I've experienced casting couch demands from producers or agents multiple times. Some actually are producers or agents, and some may just be claiming to be.  We don't always know whether they actually have work for us or if they're just trying to get free sexual favors.

Most of the work I found in porn was on my own and I did not typically rely on agents, except for a couple of photo jobs I landed through a legitimate agency.  However, I've been introduced to other agents and some demand sexual favors off camera as do some producers.

I'm not going to say whether I complied with the demands nor judge performers who did.   However, I will say that not once did any casting couch producer or agent inform me ahead of time that I would be expected to give them sexual favors when we meet.  Also, not once did they show me STD/STI test results (which are standard for performers) or offer to use protection if I were to comply with their sexual demands.  If they did this to me, who knows how many people they did the same to.  This put us all at risk.

What if I were to comply and catch something from them, and get booked for scenes and pass whatever I caught onto the people I worked with.  Then, they pass it on to performers they work with.  Thus, the casting couch is not only unethical, but also creates unnecessary health risks.