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• Why would you not uses condoms in adult films? 2/14/2006 2:45:25 AM
  
  I'm eager to stay out of this argument, which goes nowhere good in my experience, but this is misinformation that can't go unchallenged: "who knows its a good question i hear condoms dosent protect u from hiv so who knows" Wrong on that. No protection is one hundred percent effective, but condoms have been proven over and over again to reduce the risk of HIV transmission better than any other method. They are less effective against other STDs, but HIV is a fragile virus, not easily spread, and condoms, when correctly used, are almost invariably capable of blocking it. Some truly despicable junk science has been spread around by the abstinence only crowd to the contrary, but it is utterly groundless and politcally motivated. As...

• ATP = Ass To Pussy controversies 1/1/2006 6:13:59 PM
  
  No, there is no AIM in Europe, though we have helped set up a couple of clinics over there to do PCR-DNA testing, which is available in Budapest, Prague and Vienna. But there is no coordinating organization with a central data base and no established practice regarding regularity of testing or record-keeping. Many Europeans are still in even deeper denial about HIV than Americans, insisting that it's a problem in the US and Africa, but not for them. Clearly, that denial has a very high price. The same holds true for Japan, where HIV is regarded with great shame and rarely discussed openly. And in Russia, HIV is spreading at an alarming rate just as a homegrown porn industry is emerging. On top of all that, if you think that American pr...

• ATP = Ass To Pussy controversies 12/31/2005 2:46:05 PM
  
  Hello X-Ray. Hope you had a great Christmas As usual, you have many thought-provoking things to say, and I agree with most of them, but I do need to make clear, evidently, why I am making such a big deal of the law that forbids employment discrimination due to HIV status. From the comment below, you seem to imply that this really is just my opinion, or a local situation in Calfiornia: "You always assume mandatory condoms go hand in hand with no testing as if it was written in stone. Ernest, you have made some good and some not so good arguments to defend the currently established system, however by constantly wording the problems which may arise with a lawful approach with a simplicity like this you leave little room to discuss new i...

• ATP = Ass To Pussy controversies 12/29/2005 5:41:37 PM
  
  YogaDame, Thanks for the kind words. Your respect, and that of others who share your concerns, means a great deal to me. Being one of the two public faces of AIM (Sharon Mitchell is, of course, the other) isn't just a thankless job, it makes you a lightningrod for every kind of conflict surrounding issues of performer health and safety. I knew this would be the case going in and I'm still willing to accept it as a condition of doing something I consider important and that gives me much satisfaction in being of service to a community that has been generous to me in many ways. It's been more than worth the price. And Tony, whatever our disagreements may be, I hope we've come to share some mutual respect in this long colloquy. We'll probabl...

• ATP = Ass To Pussy controversies 12/29/2005 1:46:56 PM
  
  Tony, Your forensic skills don't seem quite as acute as your mathematical abilities: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ernestgreene wrote: However, the fact that in all this time since the Wallice case and the subsequent instantiation of the testing regimen there has been only one episode of industry-related HIV transmission is not an irrelevant statistical curiousity. It's a very important emperical fact that begs for serious examination. I notice that you made no attempt to speculate on this matter yourself, and that may be the better part of wisdom for you. You seem to want to ascribe this to pure luck as much as anything else, and that is a possibility. But chance doesn't usually favor reckle...

• ATP = Ass To Pussy controversies 12/29/2005 3:21:48 AM
  
  YogaDame, Looks to me like that page could use an update. We've ditched all N-9 products from AIM's clinic over a year ago and now advise against using it, as it can be an irritant that ulcerates mucous membranes and actually facilitates infection. Thanks for the good catch. I'll call in the morning and get this sorted out.

• ATP = Ass To Pussy controversies 12/29/2005 12:57:05 AM
  
  "If your response is simply "there's not enough data", or "we've only had one incident" well then so be it. My concerns, and the resulting approach were considered anomalous in 1999, they are considered anomalous here at the end 2005. The only difference is that I'm in a slightly better position to make my concerns known. Let's all hope that in the fullness of time, I am proved wrong." I can't help hearing an ironic echo in this statement of words I said, with more nerve than common sense, to the annual meeting of the Free Speech Coalition in 1993, after the industry had its first real HIV scare (which fortunately did not result in any transmissions). "If we do nothing more or less than what we've been do...

• ATP = Ass To Pussy controversies 12/28/2005 10:05:23 PM
  
  "If I understand everything you've said about the HIV detections AIM has made, the only one of these that was an outside infection in a currently active player was the male detection in the Spring of 2004. As matter of practical experience, the 30 day regime is oh for one in detecting an outside HIV in an active player before he could infect other people." As a matter of practical experience, testing failed to detect HIV in an active male player one time in eight years. What followed from that was completely predictable and entirely disasterous, as we've been telling people it would be all along. Nevertheless, the fact that it happened only one time in eight years and tens of thousands of tests returns us to the circular argumen...

• ATP = Ass To Pussy controversies 12/28/2005 6:12:16 PM
  
  KPERV Try Googling Twilight Zone Case. And no, I don't think this argues in favor of consumer indifference to the health and safety of porn performers. Professional stunt players enjoy a much higher standard of protection than porn performers. They are highly trained professionals and accidents occur despite rigorous efforts to prevent them. Does this describe the situation in porn? Hardly.

• ATP = Ass To Pussy controversies 12/28/2005 6:07:32 PM
  
  Sorry, double-posted by mistake. Edited by - ernestgreene on 12/28/2005 6:08:40 PM

• ATP = Ass To Pussy controversies 12/28/2005 5:58:24 PM
  
  Obviously, the consequences would be similar. Viral loads spike right after infection, so an HIV+ performer would pose the greatest danger to others during that time. Again, there is no disagreement here. Whether an infection goes undetected because of the window period or because it happened between tests, the relative danger it would pose would depend on the performers rate of sero-conversion, which would vary depending on the state of his or her immune system. Either way, no test would make it safe to work with an infected partner at any time. In my view, neither would a condom. I would consider barrier protections with HIV+ players closer to Russian roulette than what we have now. If there's something new in this, I'm not getting it.

• ATP = Ass To Pussy controversies 12/28/2005 5:41:33 PM
  
  "Brief in relation to what? If you could please explain, in simple mathmatical language, the probabalistic interaction of a seven day "window-period" on the ability of test (which window-period excepted, is regarded at 95% reliable) on the number of days an HIV postive individual might remain unidentified and active as a performer, when such a test is adminstered on a 30 day cycle. In light of such a calculus, I might have an opinion about the brevity of such a window-period." Brief in relation to any other test we have available. I understand there is research in progress that may yield a more reactive test that shows HIV proteins even sooner, but until that happens, seven days is as brief as we're getting. As to you...

• ATP = Ass To Pussy controversies 12/28/2005 2:29:26 PM
  
  Tony, Let me start out by saying I appreciate the less combative tone of your most recent post. As I've said all along, we agree about more things than not. We both have strongly held opinions. However, I do think we're basically on the same side and want the same outcomes. Differences over methodology can spark some heated arguments, but I'm perfectly happy to let this one cool down. You then go on to raise a point or two I do think need answering: "in matters of life and death, one should be cautiously guided by whatever data one has. In other words , one might adjust infection rates down as each year without new infections passes, but writing off data because it's a one-time event in support of the conclusion one hopes for is nei...

• risks of A2M2P and A2A 12/28/2005 1:01:52 PM
  
  That would be me.

• ATP = Ass To Pussy controversies 12/27/2005 10:33:29 PM
  
  I don't think the dangers are directly comparable among any of these activities, but like I said, the mental processes regarding repeated exposure to risk to some extent are. You could say the same of robbing banks, dealing dope or doing a high-wire act. In any risky trade, familiarity breeds complacency, and complacency is always dangerous.

• ATP = Ass To Pussy controversies 12/27/2005 10:17:09 PM
  
  I think the metaphor is a bit hyperbolic, but essentially describes the mental processes accurately.

• risks of A2M2P and A2A 12/27/2005 10:15:16 PM
  
  No, I'm not an MD. I'm the Chairman of AIM's board of directors and one of the priniciple architects of its testing and monitoring program, which was devised in cooperation with the two physicians who also serve on the board, In my capacity as chairman, I attend continuing classes and seminars concerning STD transmission and treatment and stay up on current medical literature in the field. Like all AIM personnel, I've participated in the educational programs required to qualify as a sexual health educator and counselor. I also serve as laison to the various government agencies and media outlets with which AIM comes in contact. As such, I get asked a lot of questions and it's my job to make sure I know how to answer them correctly.

• ATP = Ass To Pussy controversies 12/27/2005 10:02:57 PM
  
  For once, a short answer: denial. Performers wish they could be made 100% safe by a piece of paper, but unless they use it to cover their genitals, this is not possible. We tell everybody this when they come in for their first tests, and we repeat it every chance we get, but in the day to day life of a performer, there is a natural tendency to deny the darker prospects that might occur. This is especially true when the worst happens infrequently. After uncounted numbers of sex scenes without dire consequences, it's only natural to assume that those consequences will never happen, at least not to oneself. I see no conscious conspiracy to decieve, if that's what your question implies. The same denial afflicts producers and directors as wel...

• risks of A2M2P and A2A 12/27/2005 8:04:43 PM
  
  Thanks, Katja, for doing my job for me. I'll just add +1 on both counts.

• ATP = Ass To Pussy controversies 12/27/2005 7:59:28 PM
  
  "Otherwise you're just cherry-picking the data, and we all know how that goes. The next thing you know you'll be spearheading a tank column into Tehran." I can see that my efforts to keep this discussion civil aren't working too well. I suspect you'd be tempermentally better suited to leading tank columns than I would. More to the point, this: ernestgreene wrote: This makes any attempt to establish a constant rate of infection statistically meaningless. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "If you believe this to be the case, then might it be more intellectually rigorous for you/AIM to refrain from making any sort of numerical/stasticical arguments regarding the efficacy of your wor...