STD's and HIV possibilities - What do you do?

[SebSloPro]

I have a studio... we produce one weekend per month. This month we filmed our last shoot for the year, last month we filmed as well.

This morning I received a phone call from a local dept. of health agency stating that one of my models caught Syphilis from one of my other models in a shoot and that I need to prompt all models to get tested.

Well.... in the model agreement it states, "model is aware that he/she can contract STD's including and not limited to Syphilis, gonorea, chlamidia, etc." and the model initials a line beneath that stating that he acknowledges that.

This is a bareback / safe-sex studio. I leave that up to the models. If they want to engage in bareback sex AWESOME! if not, thats cool to. I do supply condoms.
Personally, I would be a complete bareback studio if I could find the models to do so, it's much more profitable.

Anyways, would it be wrong if I asked models to show me a test of their HIV reports and STD reports and they must be less than 30 days old before a shoot? I know that HIPPA is a law, I know about it. Would this invade into that?

I just have a lot of concerns here. This is the 3rd time we've had this problem in the 4 years I've been producing.

[Lee]

This is the 3rd time we've had this problem in the 4 years I've been producing.

Yet there are studios that have been doing porn for 10+ years that have never had this problem.

Makes you wonder.

Regards,

Lee

[Madame0120]

I will say ahead of time, we do not produce content.

You state this:

This is a bareback / safe-sex studio.

Yet you say this:

Anyways, would it be wrong if I asked models to show me a test of their HIV reports and STD reports and they must be less than 30 days old before a shoot? I know that HIPPA is a law, I know about it. Would this invade into that?

I don't see how you can claim to be a bareback / safe-sex studio, if you don't require proof of HIV status. If HIPPA is the law, why aren't you following it?

I'm sure others with more knowledge on the subject will comment. Maybe I misunderstand your business practices, but it seems very neglectful to allow unprotected sex, without some proof of health.

[Titanmen]

When you pay models to have sex and commercially exploit the resulting film, you have the moral responsability and legal liability to protect the health and safety of the models!

You are lucky it was just syphillis and not HIV! Just wait until someone claims they got HIV on your set, you are in for a legal battle that will take every single penny you have.

You are responsabile for everything that happens on your set whether you like it or not. If a model is injured on your set, you are legally liable and responsabile. That includes STDs, HIV, accidents, etc., etc.

It is a safe assumption that any model willing to perform bareback without a vaild testing procedure in place is already HIV positive. If they aren't already, they will be soon enough. And if it happens on your set, you will be held liable.

Good luck, it sounds like you are going to need it!

[basschick]

SebSloPro, most str8 studios and a lot of gay studios require HIV tests, even if they're not shooting bareback. the catch here with month old testing is that the guys can get it the night before and still give it to others - and others won't show positive yet at one month, but it's a start. and of course, they can give other performers hep c, from which some of the boys can die as less than 50% of those with hep c respond to current medical treatment.

i don't know where you are, but in california, cal osha will eventually pay a visit if the health department reports you. where you are there may also be such an organization, and when they fined one company, they fined over $20,000 plus made them stop risking performers.

if you're working with twinks and you don't require test results as well as testing on site, you're going to keep having these problems - not only because eventually the state investigate you further. the kinds of models who actually know they have an STD often tries to bullshit their way around giving you test results - and those are the guys to avoid using at all costs.

[SebSloPro]

You guys are just ass holes! Get laid or something!

I suggest that you study up the HIPPA laws because you don't know much about HIPPA.

Also, this is Pennsylvania. Not California. We have different laws to abide by than you do.

[deanb]

You guys are just ass holes! Get laid or something!

Do you come here just to call everyone names and tell everyone how stupid they are?

[SebSloPro]

No, I dont.

It seems that someone's trying to attack someone because they may lack some knowledge or they're asking for help or maybe even an opinion.

I am the most nicest guy in the world.
But when someone talks like this and what not, thats when I'm going to say something and I lose respect.

[basschick]

it seems to me that the reason that you think that i - and the guy from titan, one of the biggest and most respected gay studios in existance - don't know what we're talking about is that you don't actually know the industry that well. test results are very commonly required to do porn shoots - guys who won't get them and won't let you test are very bad risks.

taking models' words for their STD status doesn't work. many don't know and some lie.

who cares about laws? you are working with human beings, some who are naive and poorly educated in matters relating to sex and health. do you sit down with each one before having him sign anything and explain the potential dangers of all the things he could get, then have them sign off each item after you've explained it?

i suspect that you are just being a prick because you don't like what we're saying. legal requirement or not, all the big porn companies have required tests for at least for HIV for years. there's an entire clinic the str8 industry uses.

and btw, chip's is one of the companies that test on site the same day.

[deanb]

No, I dont.

It seems that someone's trying to attack someone because they may lack some knowledge or they're asking for help or maybe even an opinion.

I am the most nicest guy in the world.
But when someone talks like this and what not, thats when I'm going to say something and I lose respect.

I think people are trying to help you, and you seem to take what people give you, and just throw it in their face. No dis-respect towards you at all, just an observation. You have been hostile on this board towards people many times.

Also, can you help answer everyones questions in this thread:
http://forums.gaywidewebmasters.com/...ad.php?t=18859

[deanb]

And sorry to post again, but I just caught this in your post... Are you seriously allowing models to do bareback porn without getting tested at all?

[abostonboy]

OH MAN!

I can say ANYTHING I want in my contract and it doesn't amount to a piss hole in the snow if it is not in lines with the laws in the jursidiction in which you do business. LOL. That's business 101.

Quick example of a contract that would not cut it in Boston,

"We use REAL bullets in our gun on the set. While we will never aim at you directly, shit happens. You may die. Deal with the risk."

Disclaimers ONLY work if they are within the law. Otherwise EVERY work place in America would have a disclaimer that we are not responsible for accidents that happen. Then there would be no need for a company to carry workers comp...

PS - There is NO safe way to film BB. tests wont prove a damn thing unless they are both positive.

My question to you are you the same guy as Sebastion Bleish. If so you have more things to worry about.

[abostonboy]

And sorry to post again, but I just caught this in your post... Are you seriously allowing models to do bareback porn without getting tested at all?

Negative tests prove NOTHIING when doing bb....

[deanb]

Negative tests prove NOTHIING when doing bb....

I wasn't making a reference to that in particular, though it may have came across that way. What I was trying to say is it is alarming that no testing whatsoever seems to be happing. Correct me if I am wrong Sebastian.

[gaybucks_chip]

Everyone else has pretty much already said it, but I'll say it again.

Shooting bareback without testing is, in the most charitable light, irresponsible. Taking a model's word that they are STI negative and/or have been recently tested is simply stupid.

You're on the hook regardless, because you are setting the requirements that the models have sex as part of their work for you. You can't disclaim responsibility simply because you've had models sign waivers of liability, otherwise every employer who has exposed their employees (or contractors) to hazardous conditions would simply have them sign a waiver. It doesn't hold up.

Furthermore, since you shoot a lot of younger guys, most in the industry would say you have an additional responsibility to educate and/or provide a safe working environment because many of them may not realize the risks they are taking .

And you bring up HIPAA, but I don't know how or why you think HIPAA somehow prohibits you from ensuring that your models have been screened and are STI free. It most certainly does not; "need to know" is included as part of HIPAA, and when federal OSHA requirements impose the requirement that a work environment be safe and free of workplace hazards, including infectious disease, then of course you as an employer have the "need to know" imposed by HIPAA regs. Of course, since you've already previously told us that, as a matter of course, you allow your important business records to be strewn around your living room and kitchen after a shoot, then I can assume that you would do the same with medical records which fall under HIPAA, and that would, in fact, be a HIPAA violation.

We tell every model that we will test them when they arrive (currently we test for HIV, syphillis, and hep-C; we will be adding gonorrhea and chlymidia soon), and we also require them, on the agreements they sign before they fly out here, to tell us the date of their last HIV test, which they always claim is within the last 3 or 4 months. But I can tell by how nervous some of them are as they are getting tested, and by listening to what they say to the other models when they think I'm out of earshot, that some of them have *never* been tested, or it's been a year or more since their last test.

If they're willing to lie on an agreement they're signing under penalty of perjury, you can bet they are, as Patti said, lying to your face.

It seems obvious you put your own profit above the importance of a model's health and safety, and while that's your choice, it's a pretty screwed up priority. You can try and rationalize it all you want, but when you are dictating the actions that put your models -- the lifeblood of your business -- at risk, you are putting their lives, and the life of your business at risk.

I would encourage you to think twice and perhaps adopt at least some basic standards to protect the models that are crucial to the success of your business and every other adult business. It's the studio policies like yours that are going to get the entire industry regulated even further than it already is and make it near impossible to continue doing business.