Warnings on pornos?
The recent Ifs and Butts -” The Raw Truth About Barebacking forum has raised questions about the barebacking films stacked on adult retailers’ shelves and the impact, if any, these films have on unsafe sex practices.
The forum, organised by People Living With HIV/AIDS, was held at Sircuit Bar and involved a panel of adult industry representatives.
Although there is no conclusive link between barebacking films and the increase in STIs, one of the ideas to come from the forum was enforcing safe-sex messages on barebacking films.
Currently the adult film market remains relatively unregulated and while Victoria is part of a national film classification scheme it is illegal to sell X-rated or unclassified films in the state.
The CEO of the adult industry group, EROS Association, Fiona Patten said it is up to individual traders to take a stance on continuing to sell bareback porn despite the obvious health risks of barebacking.
According to Patten, virtually all X-rated films sold in Australia are sourced from the US and Europe.
She told Southern Star she was confident most traders in the industry would be happy to adhere to safe sex messages, although she felt that heavy intervention could be intrusive.
A gay adult shop owner who cannot be named said he would be happy to include stronger health warnings in his store for bareback porn but doubted such a measure could be taken.
-œIt’s going to be impossible for Australia to do anything because they [porn film studios] just won’t listen. When it comes from Europe and the US they won’t listen to us.
The shop owner said barebacking films were -œvery popular and estimated half those sold already came with some form of warning.
He said as long as customers are consenting adults they should have the right to choose what they can and cannot watch.
