Pornography: Lies, Myths and Abuse. Pt2.

Aractus 02, January, 2012

Effects of the industry can be felt by performers after they leave the industry. One example is Robert Kerman – he was highly sought after by pornographers during the 70s and 80s when he was active in the industry because of his ability to act, which would land him in significant and lead roles. However his highly successful pornographic past made it difficult for him to land similar roles in mainstream movies – and although he did have some success working with Italian filmmakers, he was unable to carry the success on to mainstream American film and television. Kerman has since stated that he regrets being a porn actor because it stunted/crippled his acting career for mainstream roles.

In 2004 there was a significant HIV outbreak in the US porn industry. At the time I felt largely indifferent to this, recently after hearing “Lara Roxx” speak about her infection, my mind was changed significantly. Darren James caught HIV in Brazil and then brought it back with him to the USA and spread it to other female performers before his HIV status could be accurately diagnosed. It has been determined that he caught HIV from actress Bianca Biaggi for the movie Split That Booty 2. Roxx caught AIDS from James when they filmed a scene for the same movie (Split That Booty 2) in America. The movie itself contains the scenes where James “contracts HIV from Biaggi”, and where Roxx contracts it from James – even though the actors caught HIV in these scenes, they were used in the film anyway.

Now I use quotations because you can’t take the word of a porn star. James never told his family about his career until they found out about it following his HIV contraction. He lied to his own family. Biaggi insists that she caught HIV from James; and in actual fact in Brazil they usually always use condoms – it was the American pornographers that had Biaggi and James perform unprotected double-anal together. James is known to have infected three women – Roxx, Miss Arroyo, and Jessica Dee. 4 people if he infected Biaggi too. And besides James, Biaggi apparently did not infect anyone – probably because she was usually using condoms for the Brazilian pornographers. So the claim that the Americans made that Biaggi gave James HIV and not the other way around cannot be proven, and I think it is pathetic of them to conspire to set up the Brazilians to be the scapegoats.

At the time the USA adult industry’s preferred STI testing clinic was AIM, and every single straight and/or lesbian pornographic actor working in San Fernando Valley, California got tested there at least once a month (gay pornography usually does not involve HIV testing, and rather relies only on condom usage). AIM operated without a license and was shut down last year – worse still, they only tested for 3 sexually transmitted diseases. The one reason why they were able to “contain” HIV outbreaks was because their patients had to sign a release form allowing AIM to publically disclose their test results – in other words, once a pornographic tests positive for HIV, AIM can start contacting the companies or other adult performers they’ve worked with and disclose their HIV status so that they can be refused work.

What concerns me greatly is the exposure of children to pornography – and the very limited information they are given regarding it. I would like to see it taught in sex-ed – it is just as important, if not more important, to explain to them that pornographic actors routinely catch STD’s at a much higher rate than the general population, including HIV, and that many are exploited into doing things that most people would not agree to do. And in the finale part of this three-part entry, I’ll explain even more why it is required.

Some women do prosper – I don’t hide that fact. But if you listen to what they say about pornography you realize that they’ve been moulded somehow. Marina Hantzis entered the porn industry in 2007, aged 18 under the pseudonym “Sasha Grey”. She has spoken publically defending pornography, her decision, she told her family early on, she was willing to perform “almost anything”, and she intended to get in for a few years, make “big money” and leave; and she did just that. She intends to go into mainstream acting – and while is having limited success at this at the moment, there is every possibility that she will end up like Kerman – unable to find work because of her past. After all, film director’s legitimately don’t exactly want their audience to recognize the lead female in their movie as a porn star they’ve seen perming all kinds of extreme sexual acts! She herself was exposed to pornography at 15 or so and stated this publicly in the context that she was a “fan of pron” before becoming a pornographic actress.

Hantzis got lucky – a lot luckier than Roxx; but she still might get cervical cancer or genital warts from her pornographic past because – STD’s are very high among pornographic actors. She may have been cured of the testable ones that she caught in the three years that she was active in the industry; but there are plenty of ex-porn stars out there with incurable STD’s – some even with HIV.

Roxx experienced – first hand – the industry’s selfish, conspiring, and consumed nature. In her own words she describes her dread at being told she had to perform “double anal” (by Marc Anthony) and the physical pain involved when she performed the scene. What is most notable is that Roxx claims she categorically informed her manager before travelling to San Fernando Valley from Canada that she would only film traditional sex scenes (boy-girl only, no anal, with condoms). She would soon have learned the hard way that the industry mostly rejects condom usage. She would later learn that after you’ve been there a couple of weeks you’re expected to do more (including anal, etc) than just traditional sex. The fact that her manager hadn’t informed her of this before she came shows the extent of malevolent conspiring against young, vulnerable and naïve women. Further more, managers routinely book their girls to do the things they say they don’t want to anyway; leaving the producers (in this case Marc Anthony) to put pressure on the girls (in this case Lara Roxx) at the time of shooting. Again they’re conspiring together against the participants.

At 17 Roxx had began stripping for three years, moving on to modelling and then in early 2004 she travelled to the USA to film in pornography. Performing double-anal would have caused severe tearing of the anal lining and pain, combined with the fact that James proceeded to ejaculate in her anus pretty much sealed her fate. She had worked in the industry for 2 months, and filmed 14 scenes prior to being infected; she left with HIV and essentially penniless. Like the vast majority of women who enter the porn industry, she came from a broken home.

My only observation is that pornographers typically rape and pillage and will do whatever they think they can get away with – this is certainly the case in the USA where adult performers are routinely required to participate in painful, humiliating and demeaning scenes.

Stay tuned for the gripping, and highly controversial, finale – Pornography: No child is sacred.

6 comments on “Pornography: Lies, Myths and Abuse. Pt2.”

  • Ray Sostre says:

    You do have some points, except Bianca Biaggi has performed in scenes with transsexuals, also unprotected sex scenes prior to the Darren James incident. What I research very well is that Darren James was villainized for doing nothing more than his job. He was tested far too soon after coming back from Brazil to shoot a sex scene with an up-and-comer Bianca Biaggi. HIV takes up to two weeks to appear in your system; he didn’t start showing symptoms until two or three weeks after his sex shoot with Bianca Biaggi. In addition, Brazil has a much higher HIV rate than the U.S., so to blame it on Bianca Biaggi is absurd would be absurd, since no one has came forward to witness Darren James going with a transsexual; everyone assumes, but has no facts to back it up. I truly think Biaggi didn’t know and she was using Darren as a scapegoat, because she couldn’t determine who she really contracted HIV from, but it wasn’t Darren; mind you, the porn industry only knows her on camera, and in 2004, they weren’t sure how frequent they do testing in Brazil.

    Darren James did show remorse over who he infected, but he didn’t infect Bianca Biaggi. If anyone can prove it then step forward, otherwise get they better facts straight.

    As for Laura Roxx, she didn’t deserve this either; neither Meriessa Arroyo and Jessica Dee, but Laura Roxx, who everyone portrays her to be so innocent wasn’t so innocent. She had been in trouble with the law, suffered depression, set her ex-boyfriend’s bed on fire, and been in and out of trouble with the law. However, she was just a young woman who was way over her head, and thought about getting in the porn industry blindly, because he only goal was to make a lot of money and begin her own business. She was money motivated as opposed to being passionately motivated; even her manager advised her to take it slow, but she wouldn’t listen.

    Darren James joined the porn industry, because it was the necessity of survival — a man in his early 30’s who needed the money. He wanted to get out, but circumstances had left him in a bind, which he did for a short time, but the only thing he is guilty of was doing his job. When he came back from Brazil, and the AIM confirms it, he was tested way too soon before going back to work (the day after the shoot). Surely, this was the negligence of the porn industry, but Darren James shouldn’t be victimized for being told to go back to work. At that time, he heard the results stating he was negative. That could’ve happened to any of us. Laura Roxx, as naïve and stubborn as she was, she didn’t deserve it; neither did Bianca Biaggi and the other porn stars. However, Bianca Biaggi has done unprotected sex scenes in Brazil, and one thing I know for sure… the video doesn’t lie.

  • Aractus says:

    Thank you very much for your comment Ray. I assure you I do NOT intend to victim-blame the pornographic actors as you see in my post I blamed the pornographers in several places and NOT the actors. I didn’t say that any of them deserved it either.

    As for your comment on Roxx’s non-innocence I’ll just say three things. 1. Depression is a recognised medical illness, and you can’t victim-blame people for suffering from an illness. 2. It is well known that she came from a broken home as many people in the sex industry do. An abusive, neglectful, or traumatic childhood is well known to produce the kind of behaviour you described.

    3. Roxx entered the industry perhaps in naivety. However it is the responsibility of industry – and specifically of employers – to provide a safe working environment for employees and to minimise any reasonably foreseeable risks. For example, those risks include exposure to harsh chemicals and deadly viruses. So it doesn’t make a difference what her past was, she still had a right to expect the pornographers to provide a safe working environment and protect her from foreseeable harms.

  • mr pickle says:

    Doesn’t make sense to say bianca infected Darren. Marc Anthony was in her ass longer in the same scene And didnt get anything. If bianca had it first, the odds would be that both darren and marc got it.

    • iain says:

      Doesn’t work that way the same as the odds of a female infecting male with hiv is very small and because of how many was infected it started from a male.

      People keep using this transsexual excuse for blaming that doesn’t mean anything why didn’t all those other brazilians get infected then she had done a lot of scenes with men/women/trans.

      Lara is not a victum you can try and sugar coat it anyway you like she was an adult who chose to do porn without condoms she could of refused and done ike the rest of us get a proper job.

      what was missed out is pornstars are greater risk because they do not only do porn most escort on the side if they did not do this there wouldnt be really that much of a risk.

      If you want to talk about pornstars moving to mainstream then really the name you could say would be Traci Lords her whole story is iffy but she got some good roles and anyone who thinks they can be pornstar then mainstream star is living in fantasy world US does not like porn it accepts it because of the $$$ but once that goes it will be closed which is what they are trying to do now.

      Mainstream stars are suppose to set examples doing porn really is not an example you want your kids seeing.

      I agree about education kids need to know that porn is fake because a lot of them now think it is how people are suppose to have relations.

  • Tyler says:

    Where are the cartoons?

  • Jurelle Etier says:

    What about michelle cristian everyone is forgeting about her

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