Titan Media Issues Anti-Bareback Policy

[Lee]

SAN FRANCISCO - In a policy statement released Tuesday, Titan Media, one of gay-XXX's highest-profile video companies, said it will not knowingly hire any model or performer who has previously appeared in films that depict or portray "barebacking" (unprotected anal sex).

"Any potential model," according to the statement, "who has performed in any film featuringunprotected anal sex will automatically be disqualified from performing in a Titan Media or ManPlay production." The policy applies as well to models who have previously appeared in Titan Media productions and have gone on to perform in "bareback" films.

The statement was signed by Titan Media owners Bruce Cam, Keith Webb, Harold Creg, and Brian Mills.

Titan will, however, support the continued sale and distribution of "pre-condom" adult films. "Sex without condoms in these 'pre-condom' features was not a health hazard and was the accepted behavior at that time," explained Titan spokesman Webb.

"Today's 'bareback' films depict and eroticize high-risk behavior as the centerpiece of their sensuality: Risking HIV is the fetish and foundation of these presentations. We find this to be reprehensible and an attempt to profit at the risk of the health and safety of performers and the community at large. We cannot and will not condone or support any performer or production company that produces films that promote, glorify, or depict high-risk sexual activity in the form of unprotected anal sex."

"Response to our statement has been overwhelmingly positive," Webb said. "Overwhelmingly."

Regards,

Lee

[AusCoding Allan]

With the rise in numbers of people contracting HIV I agree totally with this position. I do however acknowledge that in exclusive relationships where appropriate testing has been completed that this could be a legitimate practice.

I think that it is very important to convey a strong message to the wider public that a condom is the only alternative. It may save your life.

Allan

[Dawgy]

you think theyll enforce it?

ive seen a few 'big name' people in this biz get up in front of everyone at forums, on discussion panels, at parties... talking about how they refuse to shoot or use bareback content in their sites... but of course they do.

i guess its good PR tho eh?

[Lee]

Originally posted by Dawgy
you think theyll enforce it?

ive seen a few 'big name' people in this biz get up in front of everyone at forums, on discussion panels, at parties... talking about how they refuse to shoot or use bareback content in their sites... but of course they do.

i guess its good PR tho eh?

We enforce it

We will never knowingly put any Bareback on any of our tours or pomote the niche.

I guess thats the difference between saying you'll do something and actually doing it you are referring to

Regards,

Lee

[coctronic]

I totally agree with them on this issue.

I can understand the temptation to work with bareback content, but I do not think the time is right for it.

Most of us remember how difficult it was to change our behaviors when all of this began. It is natural for a young guy to want to have bareback sex. Most guys have been trained to have safe sex, but they are often conflicted by that natural urge to go bareback.

I think that seeing bareback sites might push them to follow their urges on occasion and get into trouble.

I would not want to lead any young men into that type of situation.

This decision not to work with bareback content is a sacrifice we must make to encourage a healthy and flourishing gay community and experience.

Hopefully, in time things will improve.

[Lee]

One thing that is worth mentioning here actually...

Although morally speaking deciding not to promote Bareback may be something as a webmaster / company we choose to do as individuals there is also a need to ensure that we are not over pushing the message to other webmasters.

For many, i know we have a few community members here, promoting bareback sites makes up a great deal of their income and whilst *I* may choose not to promote such sites it is worth considering that they have chosen to do so and we should respect thier decisions regardless of how we feel personally about such issues

Just figured i would throw that into the fray so to speak

Regards,

Lee

[Jason]

...trying not to step up on this soapbox.....

As talent myself, I was responsible for creating "condom-use" policy at Pornication years ago. At the time, we were offering male-male duo shows. The fucking was faked, so nobody ever thought to use condoms. This raised an interesting point to me in that one of 2 things was going to happen...either people saw we were not using condoms and wouldn't believe it was "real" or they believed it was real and saw us as promoting unsafe sex. Neither option was acceptable to me so the company took up the responsibility to provide performers with, and enforce the use of condoms in male duo shows.

....

While I understand your point about respecting other's rights to choose to promote bareback Lee, I am reluctant to agree that it is so much a "right" as a privellege. As a community, we have the privellege to choose whether or not to engage in, portray or PROMOTE safe vs. unsafe sex. As a webmaster community, I do think it's our RESPONSIBILITY to promote healthy sexual practices. Further, while I disagree with anyone in this industry promoting unsafe sex, I respect their choice to do so, however, they lose a great deal of credibility with me and many upstanding members of our industry.

....

There are so many new young men and women contracting HIV every day for no reason other than careless ignorance. Whereas the problems facing PLWHA used to lie primarily in the fear of others who made pariahs out of them, today the pendulum has swung to the other end of the spectrum. While I am certainly grateful for advances in science and medicine, the treatment of HIV today has led many young people, still ignorant to any long term consequence, to lose a healthy respect and fear of the virus. Too many kids today view HIV as nothing more than a manageable virus without serious, long-term consequence. At 18, 19, 20 etc...how can anyone possibly understand the concept of long-term consequence; they haven't even been alive long-term! Yes, HIV is fairly manageable and yes, people can live full long lives with the virus, but we must all remember that living with HIV changes lives drastically, forever. Not only for the person who's contracted the virus, but for everyone that person loves and wants to love in the future. We desperately need to find a way to keep the pendulum somewhere in the middle of the extremes of paralyzing fear and reckless abandon. We need to promote healthy respect for ourselves, our bodies, our children and our community. If we, as a gay community, don't respect ourselves enough to step up to the plate and respect ourselves in this way, how can we ever demand respect from the straight community. As responsible business men and women, I urge this community to have the respect and the courage it takes to be healthy, promote safe practices and work toward bringing up the youth in our community to have the same ethics.

...got up on it anyway...stepping down now

[Dzinerbear]

Again, we're dealing with an issue of personal responsibility here. People need to be more accountable for their own behaviour.

Now, I suppose that if the Friends writers were to write a scene with the gang sitting around Central Perk shooting heroin into their arms, a certain percengtage of the population might begin to think that shooting heroin wasn't all that dangerous.

However, I still think that the vast majority of people are going to practice safer sex or not based on their own convictions, not based on what they see on a website or in a movie. Afterall, I've seen lots of guys peeing on other guy's faces, and I'm not inclined to try it.

I also find it interesting that straight porn doesn't have the same "rules." Interesting considering that on the Parkers last night they were featuring a story on AIDS, and in their post show "lecture" mentioned that one-third of the women infected with AIDS in the U.S. right now don't even know their infected.

I do feature bareback galleries on my site. I've taken a different approach. In my nav bar on every page, a surfer will see a choice "Gay Bareback - A Discussion." It leads the surfer to a page where I talk about condomless sex and my site's position on it. There are also several links on that page to major AIDS service orgs around the world.

The link to this page isn't hidden in the fine print somewhere, it's right out in the open. And I feel this is a responsibility on my part if I'm going to feature such material on my site.

If you want to see it, here's the link:
http://www.universal-bear.com/gay-bareback-sex.htm

Cheers
Dzinerbear

[Jason]

I commend you for your responsible actions and the time and effort you have put into making your choice. Certainly, that choice is yours to make and I respect that. And truthfully, I enjoy viewing bareback porn myself...but just as truthfully, how many webmasters do you think are as responsible as yourself? Not many. Most just put the images out there and leave it at that.

No...I don't think what we do is going to drastically affect the choice that one makes in his personal life to have safer vs. unsafe sex. We are providing fantasies...and have the presence of mind to distinguish the difference between that and reality. However, those choices are more conciously made by men and women who are informed and somewhat experienced. There is a tragic truth to what I've said in that today's youth have lost respect for the severity of HIV. And it's that population that concerns me most.

I don't know about you, but I was never taught anything about being gay, or having gay sex when I was growing up. I don't think most parents raise their kids to be gay. And while my parents made sure to take time and effort to teach me the mechanics, emotions, consequences and myriad of issues involved in heterosexual relationships, they sure as hell never touched on how to responsibly engage in homosexual behavior. All my early experiences and lessons on gay sex came from porn. Those are the lessons that we are providing these kids today and I just think we should remember that as we create our sites and our programs and our boards et. al.

Please, don't mistake anything I've said as a condemnation of personal liberties or choices. As a responsible adult in fact, I commend you once again for putting forth the added effort of supplying the appropriate information. But also know that my concerns and choices are just as valid.

[Dzinerbear]

"I commend you for your responsible actions and the time and effort you have put into making your choice. Certainly, that choice is yours to make and I respect that. And truthfully, I enjoy viewing bareback porn myself...but just as truthfully, how many webmasters do you think are as responsible as yourself? Not many. Most just put the images out there and leave it at that."

Jason,

I totally agree. Most webmasters don't bother. In fact, when so many webmasters out there are stealing images and traffic from one another, how could we expect those same people to act responsibly in other areas?

And since we're having this very good moral and ethical discussion, one might also ask people to consider the use of the word "boy and "teen." In the grand scheme of things, is there really any difference in not promoting unsafe sex sites, but then, turning around and pumping traffic to a "boy" site, where the models look precariously under age? Aren't people still getting hurt?

The dilemma I had was that bareback galleries sell very well on my site, so I certainly didn't want to lose that revenue, but I also felt morally obliged to make some kind of a statement about HIV and safer sex.

At any rate, Jason, I wasn't the least bit offended with anything you had to say. I think it's important that we have this discussion. And I'm hoping others will join in the discussion and add their thoughts on the whole "boy" thing.

Cheers
Dzinerbear

[Lee]

Originally posted by Dzinerbear
I also find it interesting that straight porn doesn't have the same "rules." Interesting considering that on the Parkers last night they were featuring a story on AIDS, and in their post show "lecture" mentioned that one-third of the women infected with AIDS in the U.S. right now don't even know their infected.

Indeed and, if memory serves me right a couple of shows back there was a HUGE fuss created because certain sponsors held a sex show party where members from the attendee list could fuck models, dont have any more info than that but needless to say it was the talk of the industry for a good month or so

Regards,

Lee

[Jason]

Lee...that is seriously screwed up. As far as the str8 porn condom issue goes, I think they should be just as accountable...but I have a hard enough time tackling my issues in my own community for now without striking out at theirs.

BTW...if anybody's interested in further info on prevention, you can visit MAPP

Also...for those of you who are interested in getting involved...here'a a good place to start AIDS Walk

If you're in the Detroit area, or could be in the Detroit area, consider this your official invite to join AIDS Walk Detroit
I'll be there with bells on! (with me you never know, that might be all I have on!)