Prior to the big HIV scandal not many people had heard the name Xander Corvus. To the rest of the world, James Deen was still the IT boy of porn, booking all the scenes. But apparently Xander Corvus was quickly gaining a name for himself to porn insiders and rumor is, he is slated for a big year come awards time this January.
But even if he is the favored son of porn right now there is still something that is bothering me about Xander Corvus and no, it’s not his inappropriate remarks he made about his HIV positive co-star. I think by now we all know that was probably just a case of open mouth insert foot and who here hasn’t had that kind of moment a time or two or three in their lives?
No my problem is more with what he did right after. But I really need to start at the beginning to explain all of that.
It can take as little as 2 weeks or as long as 6 months from the time you become infected with HIV for the antibodies to be detected in your blood. This is commonly called the window period. During the window period, you are contagious and can spread the virus to others, even if you are kicking out negative tests.
It was previously thought that HIV has an incubation period of up to 10 years but the CDC has since learned that is not true. Originally the timeline from the CDC was 8 weeks to 24 months but with advances in technology that time frame has since apparently been reduced to 6 months. So this means that it is possible for someone with HIV to have an incubation period of up to 6 months, according to the center for disease control (the CDC).
The type of test we use in the adult industry can detect the virus as early as 6 days after possible exposure, however physicians *real doctors not that bullshit apparently our industry has* recommend waiting 3 weeks after exposure to ensure the most accurate results. So while our test can give you a pretty good result within the first week, it’s still not 100% accurate. They also say that they recommend following up a negative test with an HIV antibody test 3 months after an exposure to confirm the negative result wasn’t related to testing too early. So even if you test negative with our fancy 6 day test, they still suggest an additional test 3 months after potential exposure with a different kind of test.
That’s something a lot of people aren’t talking about but should be. This means that for up to three months there is still that cause for concern that he in fact was exposed. Not 3 days, not 3 weeks but three months.
Another respected panel of doctors suggests that if you think you have been exposed to HIV you should test at six weeks, against 12, and then again at 24 weeks, to be sure you are in fact not infected. And this is a recommendation for the type of testing we use in the industry. So if they make these suggestions, for testing up to 24 weeks after the initial potential exposure that means again, there IS cause for concern.
So what this means is that for the most part our system of testing is pretty accurate but not 100% and the true medical experts say that you can very well have HIV and not get a positive result right away but you are still contagious and can spread the virus to others.
Now let’s look at the timeline.
On July 31st Cameron Bay had sex with Xander just after her July 27th negative test.
Which now makes the origin of Cameron Bay’s infection more important than ever to determine. Cameron tested negative for HIV July 27th. She worked with Xander Corvus for Kink.com on July 31st. During this time his dick got caught somehow on her mouth and was bleeding. This means he had an open wound that was actually bleeding and bodily fluids between those two were exchanged.
On August 21st Cameron Bay found out she tested positive for HIV at cutting edge from her test she took on Aug 19th. She also tested on Monday the 18th but was told that test was “contaminated” and she had to re-test.
They don’t know for sure she has HIV at this point, just an indication that something is wrong so what they have to do then is call the person back in and run another test. CET nor TTS does antibody testing for industry HIV tests, they do the PCR/DNA test which is a viral load test and does NOT test for antibodies. Everyone claims that is so much better than the antibody test, but here’s the kicker … the confirmatory test that is used to confirm a positive PCR test IS an antibody test called the Western Blot. Now remember what we learned earlier about the antibody tests and the window period.
We all found out she was HIV positive on August 21st. Even though the whole world knew she was HIV positive, amazingly at that point she still did not have her test results. She still did not know her viral load. What she would find out, from a phone call from the Evil Angel dude was that she was told she had an acute HIV which turns out means the brief stage immediately following your infection. So what that means is we may not know exactly how she got it but we know she just got it within the past few days to the past few weeks at best.
Acute HIV infection is the period of time immediately following infection. In the days or weeks immediately after infection, HIV replication is extremely rapid, and the virus copies itself over and over again, resulting in an extremely high amount of HIV in the blood (The amount of virus in your blood is called the viral load). The virus in the blood during this time is often the highest it will ever be since the body’s defenses have not had enough time to respond to the virus. As the amount of HIV increases in the body, a large number of white cells, called CD4 cells, are destroyed. Over time, HIV infection causes a dramatic decrease in the number of CD4 cells in the body and a weakening of the immune system.
On August 23rd Xander Corvus announced that he tested negative on a test he took on August 22nd.
“In the first round of testing he has tested negative for HIV, though that doesn’t clear him to work. He is still within the window period, it is a good sign but he is not in the clear yet. Still waiting to hear the results of Camerons boyfriends test.”
Notice there the mention of a window period. We learned earlier from the CDC that the window period is 6 months. Not 6 days, not 6 weeks, but 6 months. When did the FSC become experts on HIV? When did the FREE SPEECH COALITION suddenly turn into experts in any medical capacity?
The Free Speech Coalition lifted the moratorium was listed on August 28th. That’s only 7 days after Cameron Bay found out she tested positive for HIV. We then learn that despite what the FSC would have us believe, not everyone was notified to be re-tested. From what I understand, if you didn’t work in the last 30 days – or by their standards, if you didn’t test in their PASS system in the last 30 days (prior to the outbreak) then you aren’t really an active performer so they didn’t bother with contacting those people.
So let’s say Cameron Bay had sex with 10 people in June, 10 people in July and another 10 in August. All of those people who she had sex with in August were notified (we hope), some but not all, – SOME – of the people she had sex with in July were notified and probably none of the people she had sex with in June were notified, because some of them don’t do scenes every month – they only work a few times a year so in accordance with FSC policy they were considered “active”.
Does that mean they weren’t at risk of infection because they don’t perform in scenes every month? Of course not. And as it turns out, there was one of those people, those girls who didn’t do scenes every month, who the FSC didn’t bother with, who was HIV positive. But more on that later in the timeline.
On September 3rd Rod Daily announced he was HIV positive.
Rod Daily told us that his test last week was negative – which was apparently the test expected back on August 27th. The first test was on August 22nd – and that test was either negative or not conclusive. Either way that means like Xander Corvus, Rod Daily tested negative around the same time that Xander did. Rod Daily decided not to continue to retest with the Cutting Edge testing and instead go to real doctors and it was with them he found out he was in fact HIV positive. But since he was “just a cross over” the industry didn’t seem to care and went back to work.
On September 6th we found out that that Sophia Delgado was HIV positive.
When we all found out Sophia Delgado was HIV positive, we didn’t know her name because she got the hell out of dodge and decided not to cooperate with the FSC or Cutting Edge Testing. A new moratorium was put in place, only this time most people didn’t really listen. Several companies, including well known companies like Evil Angel continued shooting anyway.
On September 10th we learned that Cutting Edge testing, the place that told us Xander Corvus and Rod Daily were negative used pooled blood to test and that isn’t as accurate as testing each blood individually however apparently it is far cheaper.
And exactly two weeks later, the FSC lifted the moratorium that many were ignoring stating that “Everyone performer #3 worked with has tested negative, and it has been over a month since she worked with anyone in the adult industry. If any of them had HIV it would have shown up now.”
The FSC states that if you have HIV it will show up in two to four weeks. Apparently the CDC is wrong. Apparently the HIV experts are wrong. They say there is a 6 month window period but hey the FSC knows everything, and we can totally trust they wouldn’t lie to us, right? I mean they are a political group with the mission to allow to fight freedom of speech issues. That totally makes them experts in healthcare too, right?
Only it was during this time, quite a few people that had contact with Sophia Delgado weren’t notified and the excuse we were hearing was because Sophia Delgado wouldn’t cooperate with the FSC any more and she left town. That was wrong of her. I get why she didn’t want to cooperate with the FSC or CET, but she could have stayed and given her sexual history to the health department. There are a lot of people that she had sex with (potentially) that have also since then had sex with other people. By not cooperating she very well could be directly responsible for HIV being passed on to other people. That is totally on her. Hate the FSC or not, that’s wrong of her to do.
So now let’s go back to Xander Corvus.
He worked with Cameron Bay on July 31st. He tested negative, according to him, at least twice between then and September 7th – which is 1 month and 1 week (or 5 weeks) since the time he was with Cameron Bay, who we now know is HIV positive and mostly likely was HIV positive when she worked with him in July. Maybe. Again there is no way for all of us to really know for sure. Even if she finds out how she got it, she doesn’t have to share that with us and hasn’t, if she even knows herself.
But how do we know that Cameron Bay was probably HIV positive in July? Because according to the FSC Sophia didn’t work with anyone in August and that means she didn’t test during that time. This means the exposure she got was prior to that – June or July and we all learned during all of this that Rod Daily, Cameron Bay and Sophia are all connected – all from Arizona, all friends, and they all have HIV. So who infected who we don’t know. But we can say for sure they are all connected. I mean what are the chances that three good friends, former roommates, all catching HIV from different sources within the same time frame?
So long story short, Xander Corvus was with Cameron Bay on July 31st. His dick bled during this time, that means he had an open wound. You can’t bleed unless you have an open wound. That’s just how it works. In addition, they exchanged bodily fluids. It is likely Cameron Bay was in the very early stages of her own HIV infection during this time and as we learned from the CDC, even if she isn’t testing positive, she is still contagious.
So Vivid goes and hires him to work on a movie, 5 weeks after his initial exposure. They had every right to do so because he was cleared for work by the FSC’s PASS system. Vivid could have made up their own mind and did something different, but in accordance with our industry standards, Xander Corvus was clear to work. So Vivid, although morally might have been off, legally they did nothing wrong.
I am curious to know what girl would be stupid enough to work with him, seriously? I mean it was everywhere that he was exposed to HIV. Even if he doesn’t have it, we can’t say for sure that is the case for at least 6 months and at that point it had only been a matter of weeks … WEEKS!!!!!!! The risk of catching HIV yourself by working with someone like Xander Corvus is astronomical. What kind of person would be so careless with their own life to put themselves in that situation?
Seriously I can’t say this loud enough,DO NOT WORK WITH XANDER CORVUS FOR ANY REASON WITH OR WITHOUT A CONDOM FOR AT LEAST THE NEXT 6 MONTHS. YOUR LIFE MATTERS MORE THAN THAT. IT IS NOT WORTH THE RISK.
How did the FSC release him for work in only 5 weeks? What is wrong with them? Why are they even making healthcare decisions for our industry in the first place?
How did Vivid of all companies approve of this kind of behavior? Why did they allow him to be cast in one of their movies and have sex with someone without a condom just weeks after his potential exposure? How fucked up is that? I seriously lost so much respect for Vivid after that one.
And again what girl in her right mind would actually have sex with Xander Corvus just weeks after all of that crazy shit went down? I’m just dying to know who this girl is. If not for my own curiosity, but so I can make sure I tell all of my performer friends to put that chick on their no list. Her behavior is just far to risky.
So back to my original point way way way in the beginning … my problem with Xander Corvus is that he didn’t take responsibility himself. Even if the FSC and Vivid acted irresponsible, that doesn’t mean he has to. He could have come out and said hey, the risk right now to expose others to HIV is just far to high so I’m going to put myself on a quarantine for the next 60 days. He could have taken the high road but he didn’t. Instead he spent his time sending out I’m going to get my friends and come kick your ass tweets to Rob Black and partying it up on Vegas. That’s not okay with me. That really really bothers me.
He could have done the right thing. He could have taken a stand, but he didn’t.
And because it is important for the safety and well being of the girls in our industry I’m going to say this one last time.
DO NOT HAVE SEX WITH XANDER CORVUS FOR THE NEXT FEW MONTHS. THERE IS STILL THE RISK OF EXPOSURE TO HIV. IF YOUR AGENT BOOKS YOU ON A JOB TO HAVE SEX WITH XANDER CORVUS THAN HE IS A JACK ASS AND DOESN’T REALLY CARE ABOUT YOUR WELL BEING. BE PROACTIVE AND CARE ABOUT YOURSELF AND DO NOT WORK WITH XANDER CORVUS OR ANYONE HE HAS WORKED WITH SINCE JULY 31ST.
Something that just occurred to me while reading about this all again… Xander says if you have unprotected sex outside the industry you should be hanged and quartered. However, it’s totally okay for him to return to the industry and engage in unprotected sex when we’re still not even 100% sure he didn’t contract HIV.
Could is be that the “almighty dollar” matters more than health?
“However, it’s totally okay for him to return to the industry and engage in unprotected sex when we’re still not even 100% sure he didn’t contract HIV.”
Funny how that works. And what makes it even worse to me is that so many producers, studios and directors are standing behind him and treating him like he’s some kind of God. It really confuses me. Where is that same support for the now 4 or 5 people who contracted HIV?
Wow this is a deep story and will end badly again for some porn stars in the future! I will say it again, just wrap it up.
Kelli first and foremost I want to say you did a lot of good research.
There are a few things I would like to say. I use to work for a tester for HIV and other STI’s. Yes the window for CDC is up to 6 months. The only reason that window exist because of all the different test that are out there. So by legal reasons they have to say 6 months. Now with the test that industry indicates using that window of six months is much shorter.
The window is mostly used for anti body test An acute case like they tested Cameron usually means she picked up probably no more than 7 days. If it was an antibody test it may not have shown up at all yet.
As far as his comment.. Well her actions from outside of the business did cause the HIV scare. If I was him I would have been pissed too. I am not saying he should have said it, however anger gets the best of us.
If he doesn’t show acute case within 30days than he is free to shoot. Most anti -body test are even more sensitive now up to 3months max.
1. the only evidence that CET “pools their blood” is from Mike South who clearly has an axe to grind with CET as he thinks its owned by Manwin, a company he abhors.
2. Evil Angel did not shoot any scenes during the moratorium…again that’s another Mike South accusation with zero facts behind it.
3. companies hire people who have negative health tests from CET & TTS that are within the 14 or 28 day window of the shoot. its impossible to track down each performer’s sexual history on & off camera. Every test Xander has taken has been negative.
4. are we completely sure that Cameron Bay was talking about Xander having a cut on his cock during that scene? Has she said it was Xander specifically, because there were a ton of people in that scene for Kink.
“are we completely sure that Cameron Bay was talking about Xander having a cut on his cock during that scene?”
Yes. I am sure it was Xander. I have friends at Kink too.
And of course she has also spoke about it on at least 4 different occasions, specifically stating Xander by name on at least two of those occasions.
“Evil Angel did not shoot any scenes during the moratorium…again that’s another Mike South accusation with zero facts behind it.”
Yes they did. While there is a debate about the Friday shoot in terms of time, Kevin Moore claims he finished shooting just as he was notified but Saturday he also shot. And more than just Mike South talked about it. Some of the people there do have a big mouth and have since spoken about it.
“companies hire people who have negative health tests from CET & TTS that are within the 14 or 28 day window of the shoot.”
“its impossible to track down each performer’s sexual history on & off camera.”
It’s actually not impossible as it is what the health department does when a person finds out they are HIV positive. They make every effort humanly possible to track down every person that person says they have been with. We however (in the industry) do not make any effort if the person isn’t in the active database, meaning a person they had sex with who has also been an active performer in the last 30 days. God forbid we put forth any real effort.
“An acute case like they tested Cameron usually means she picked up probably no more than 7 days. If it was an antibody test it may not have shown up at all yet.”
I looked into this acute thing a lot because when I heard about it, it was the first time so I wanted to learn more about it. Multiple sources say that means she got it anywhere from 7 days to about 3 weeks. The only way to know for sure is to do a sexual history and that’s information we the public will never know for sure.
“The window is mostly used for anti body”
Yes but what I learned in my research is, that we then confirm the positive with the type of test we do with an antibody test.
And with the type of test we do, there is the labeled warning that for true accuracy the person being tested needs to wait 3 weeks. While it is pretty accurate, it’s still not full proof on those who have been recently exposed.
Add to the fact that we also lose a level of accuracy IF THE RUMORS ARE TRUE that CET is using pooled testing which then degrades the chances of accuracy by another 10% to 15%, depending on your source.
So apparently I made a lot of typos in my original post so I cleaned those up. Thank you for pointing those out to me. 😛
I would like Steele to comment on this, like it or not he knows this stuff. Performers may be better off going to a real doctors office or some place like Planned Parenthood, but not an AHF affiliated lab because I believe Weinstein would not be above violating HIPAA. As for Corvus, well back in the day, even before the Wallice outbreak, Jonathan Morgan was quarantined for six months after working with a girl who was found to be HIV+.
Sorry, Larry. At the new, improved (sanitized) LukeIsBack, dissenting views like Steele’s are not welcomed any longer. But a few 1000K will buy you a voice…
It has nothing to do with dissenting views. You can disagree with me all you want. But you can’t send me messages telling me I’m a cock sucking whore that needs to burn in hell.
You can say I don’t think that was a good movie man. But what I don’t want to hear is how the chick in the movie was a fat ass cunt that made you vomit just by looking at her. There is a line and he just seems to cross it all the time.
There is a group of guys over at xbiz that started sending me and apparently some other people messages threatening them and telling us we needed to learn our place and keep our mouths shut.
That is just taking it to far and I won’t let this site turn out like that, where people are afraid to speak their mind out of fear.
I don’t really care if you don’t agree with me. Disagree with me all you want. I really don’t care. Christian X in t his very thread didn’t agree with me and notice his comment stands. As long as it’s all in good fun then of course there is no problem there.
Steele is Lukeisback in its purest form, more often than not he was baited. C3X is a bright guy, but a narcissist, not a thought I had but one that someone who has worked with him when he was directing stated. Steele could be said to be the same. Corvus should be quarantined for at least six months. As for Vivid, someone should look up the days “Maneater”, Janine’s first b/g was shot, it was after the Darren James/Miss Arroyo/Lana Roxx/Jessica Dee breakout, but before the moratorium ended, or so I read.
Kelli, I am curious to know what evidence you have that Rod Daily and Cameron Bay know Sofia Delgado & that they were all roommates?
You have spelt Sofia’s name wrong btw. She spells it with an f not a ph.
I know Mike South says they’re all friends. That’s not evidence, that’s here say. Rod Daily said on twitter he doesn’t know Sofia.
I do know Sofia & Cameron were both with the same agency.
I know both girls shot separate content scenes for the same two paysites. But no scenes, that I know of, have been released with them together. No scenes have been released of Rod and Cameron together either, although they have apparently been in a relationship for some two years.
I also know all three of them are from Arizona and live there.
But none of this is evidence that Sofia knows Rod & Cameron or that they all had sex together in their private lives – which seems to be what you are implying.
Also, you speculate in your article that Cameron had sex with around 10 people in August. But the scene she did for Kink on July 31st was her last porn scene. By her account, she injured her breast during that shoot and was sick afterwards. That’s why she didn’t do any more scenes until she got her test on 19th August and found out she could be HIV+. She has also stated that she hardly saw Rod during this time – which suggests they may have only had sex once or twice. Are you trying to imply that she is lying & did some escort work during this period?
Another big concern, which you haven’t even mentioned, is that she apparently had sexual contact with untested extras during the Kink shoot. If you look at the AHF conference on YouTube it is quite clear that she feels she was infected with HIV during that shoot. If not by the performer who cut his penis then by someone else who “inappropriately touched her” – i.e. an untested extra.
Steele is an AIDS denialist. I know exactly what he would say in response to this and it would be the same stupid shit he always posts when there’s a story about HIV. His comments about this will not be missed by anyone with a brain. The only enjoyable part was watching him get humiliated for his idiocy.
Sorry Geri I didn’t mean that she had actually slept with 10 people in August. I mean like for example … as in, this is kind of how the system works, IF she had slept with 10 in June, 10 in July, 10 in August.
“So let’s say Cameron Bay had sex with 10 people in June, 10 people in July and another 10 in August.”
I’m sorry I wasn’t more clear. I’ll try and answer and address your other questions and comments later. For now I’m in a hurry. Have to finish up working on a small project for someone.
Great post Kelli!
As someone who used to work on the gay side of the industry, I can say condoms are MANDATORY on the set of all major gay porn companies. While it is true a large majority of gay performers have HIV, not all of them do and CONDOMS prevent the spread of HIV pretty succesfully. I don’t know of many gay companies that test, which means A) work for studios that use condoms or B) work for a bareback studio if you’re already positive and if you’re not then you will be by the time you leave set. The men are very open about their status. The straight industry should be required to use condoms as well. There are other positive actors in the industry, Cameron Bay, Rod Daly and Sophia Delgado are just the ones we know about. There are positive performers who have managed to keep their status hush hush and only known to very few people, those people being other positive performers smaller web based companies so they can connect the HIV positive performers together in order to keep some stars working…it may sound crazy but it happens more than you think.
rebellion – are you serious that – “a large majority of gay performers have HIV” ???
I know that some do, but “a large majority”?
I personally don’t agree that any performer who is HIV+ should be allowed to work with HIV- performers with or without condoms: regardless of gender, sexuality or the genre of porn in question.
I also don’t think gay HIV+ performers should work together without condoms. At least not unless they are a real life fluid-bonded couple who are barebacking in their private lives anyway.
I also think that it is ridiculous that up to now men who work in gay porn have only been required to test for stds on a regular basis to pass for work if they also work with female and/or ts performers. Or they work for one of the more responsible gay studios that test everyone – like for example Next Door Entertainment or Men Com (which are really bisexual studios).
I also don’t believe condoms should be mandatory in straight porn. At least not for vaginal sex. B/G anal sex maybe. Anyone who thinks vaginal sex is as high risk as anal is deluded if you ask me.
I personally would never engage in anal sex with anyone without a condom.
High risk or no risk there is still a risk and if we claim to be ‘worried about the performers safety’ then we’ll take all the precautions we need to to make sure they’re safe, right? In actuality the porn industry has always been and will continue to be a mess unless more strict rules. If the industrt really cares about safety then they wouldn’t let performers perform without protection, and they wouldn’t let them perform drunk/high and their agents wouldn’t pimp them out on the side and they wouldn’t let gay crossovers work in the straight industry…truth is they don’t care its about keeping the sex hot and the income steady. And yes I am serious about a high number of gay performers being positive, but not due to porn but cause what they do in their personal life. These men have sex outside of porn and escort too, which is why condoms are big in the gay industry, and those gay studios not using condoms are using mostly all HIV positive men.unlike the straight industry they don’t try to deny or keep it secret…I guarantee u can call any of these agents who claim their girls don’t escort but for enough money they’ll be at your door with any girl of your choice on their roster…which leads back to money making performers turn a blind eye to common sense.
I really don’t agree with a lot of what you are saying rebellion.
First of all I know for a fact that not all the girls in the industry do escort work. And even with the girls who do, by your reasoning they should be as safe as HIV- guys working in gay porn are as long as they always use a condom. If they’re escorting and not using condoms then they’re mad and should just be banned from working in porn.
Secondly: I simply don’t believe you that there are people working in mainstream straight porn who are HIV+ and successfully concealing it for any longer than a few weeks. The testing system is not perfect but it is not that imperfect. Everybody knows that no one is supposed to be working in straight porn (or shemale porn or bisexual porn) if they have HIV. If you actually know of any performers who are doing this then you should call them out like Lisa Ann did with Alex Gonz when she realized he had Hep C. If you actually can’t name names then you are just spreading so much malicious gossip.
Thirdly: bisexual porn and shemale porn have very significant markets and have as much right to exist as gay and straight porn do. Every performer in those genres be they male, female, transgender, whatever is a “crossover”. In all honesty I actually really despise people who go on about “crossovers” as if they shouldn’t be allowed to exist.
Fourthly: it’s just not true that gay porn studios (in general) are all open about their performers being HIV+ like you imply. For example when Mason Wyler revealed he had HIV in 2010 it was quite a big deal, and subsequently he was effectively semi-retired from performing, even though he wanted to continue, because most of the studios wouldn’t hire him any more due to it being known he was HIV+. He couldn’t even shoot scenes for his own paysite because it’s operated by Next Door Entertainment and they don’t let you do anything for them but solo if you have HIV.
Fifthly: quite a lot of men in gay porn aren’t gay, or even bisexual enough to have sex with men outside of work. Rod Daily apparently being a case in point. He’s stated that he’s always dated women since he’s been doing gay porn. A lot of people seem to think he infected his girlfriend Cameron – and Sofia Delgado as well. I am far from convinced about any of that. And he’s certainly not owning up if he thinks he did.
And last, but not least: “High risk or no risk there is still a risk” doesn’t actually make sense you know?
That said, the only no risk sex is no sex at all. You cannot eliminate all the risks from porn. But can you name a single confirmed case in the US porn industry this century of a porn performer getting infected with HIV from vaginal sex?
We shouldn’t ever forget that if it wasn’t for bareback sex none of us would be here. Even if you personally were a mistake that got conceived when a condom broke. That applies to me btw.
I agree with the Rod Daily thing. Well on one part. While I won’t speculate on his personal preferences in RL. Professionally he has an 8 year history of only ever using condoms. I don’t think he was the source of the outbreak, despite so many thinking that was the case. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve heard say, oh well he’s in gay porn, of course he got it and gave it to Cameron, everyone in gay porn is HIV+.
And always said matter-of-factually. It bothers me. Just because the guy did gay porn doesn’t automatically make him the source of infection. “Girls can’t give HIV to men”. Another lie I hear throw around a lot.
While it is true it is harder for a female to transmit to a male, it’s not impossible and it’s also one of the biggest myths of HIV. That’s why we need an education system as part of the whole. Testing alone isn’t enough. We really need a three part system, testing, education and the option to wear condoms while on set.
Even if that testing only comes in the form of a handful of brochures handed to each performer as they leave the testing facility. At least it is something. There is more than HIV education that we need to share too. Hep C, HPV and so on are also top priorities.
First off I will say that its amazing we’re talking about such a heavy subject and everyone is being respectful. Secondly as a gay man I will say HIV is a man’s disease that unfortunately woman get from irresponsible men or men that have sex with men. I don’t know a woman who’s ever gotten it from sexual contact with another woman. And third of all look up Treasure Island media, one of the top gay porn studios where condoms aren’t allowed. They glorify very risky sex and have titles called “1000 load weekend” and other sick (yet insanely popular) themes.they even have scenes where they load gallons of cum into an obviously high man’s ass with a turkey baster
One thing I thought the article glossed over – you are far, far, far less likely to spread HIV in the first third of the (six month) HIV testing window, than in the last third of the window. That’s is not to say it isn’t possible. But, it does explain why the porn industry and the performers involved are willing to take an HIV test given a fews days previous at face value. That is to say, if you contracted HIV last week, your test from yesterday says neg, you would probably not give it to me today. The risk is acceptable for those in the porn industry (studios and performers).
Anal sex is more risky than vaginal, but vaginal sex is much riskier for the woman. An HIV+ man is 12X more likely to give HIV to a woman through vaginal sex. As oppose to an HIV+ woman giving HIV to a man through vaginal sex. There is no mucous membrane on the penis, after all. The penis would almost always have had a cut, sores or legions from another STD.
What I take away from this article is that to eliminate risk a performer would only be able to shoot two scenes a year with different partners and not have sex off-camera. That’s the only way to close down the testing window. Simply doubling the testing frequency would not cut risk in half. How many of you get tested, wait six months, and get tested again, before starting a new sexual relationship in your personal life? If not, your window is open, too. Let’s not be two-faced about this issue.
“That is to say, if you contracted HIV last week, your test from yesterday says neg, you would probably not give it to me today. The risk is acceptable for those in the porn industry (studios and performers).”
See from what I read, that isn’t true. At first you are in the acute stage such as the case with Cameron and even though her test was negative for some reason, at the very beginning her viral load was insanely high like million or more and that is when she is most contagious but because she just got it her cells haven’t been killed yet so that is why she tested negative at first.
Upon further checking (CDC website) you are correct. I had done some reading on the origin and initial spread of HIV that (i’m guessing) did not take into consideration viral load. I had thought the initial incubation period took a few weeks. I can’t remember where I read that, but it was outdated or inaccurate info. My bad.
I would like to thank you for this article. Other news outlets basically sensationalized the “outbreak” and quickly forgot all about it. Same thing back in 2004.
This really is exactly why performer education is so important. I didn’t know any of this either. Some jackass kept telling me how stupid I was because of blah blah and how I needed to Google it and he was right, there was so much I didn’t know but pretty much everything he had said was wrong too.
Information changes. There are advances in technologies and hell, even the virus itself changes. If we could put together a system that would teach performers about STDs or at the very least make the information available to them, we can’t obvious force them to learn it, but still do our best to make the knowledge there, at their fingertips, then we would be doing the right thing.
I just don’t get why we don’t. Hell the government will even pay for it through the various government grant programs.
As for the incubation period. I think it’s really different for everyone. From what I can tell in some people it can be hours, they get it and BAM they get it. But then some people like Rod Daily as a perfect example, he seemed to have a at least a good week or maybe even two in incubation. So I’m not sure why some people’s bodies react differently than others.
And you know the really sad part? Until all of this, I was sure that the whole “it could sit dormant in your body for up to ten years” information I had heard in the 1990s was still in my head as accurate and true and I’m not the only one who thought that. I had several performers tell me very sure of themselves that you could get HIV today and it could sit there in their body for years before being detected – the incubation period in their minds was long, just like I had thought. So yeah, that all plays into why I want to help educate our performers.
If they are going to put themselves at risk, they should at the very least TRULY know what those risks are. They need to understand HIV, HPV and Hep C (and more).
rebellion- I know about Treasure Island. They are hardly representative of the Californian gay porn industry as a whole. They are banned from the GAY AVN awards for a start.
Steven Jay – Testing every 14 days instead of every 28 days and doing the full panel test will help to reduce the risk a great deal. All performers – straight, gay and bi, trans and lesbian – should be doing this. Let’s stop pretending straight & gay porn are separate industries, because really they are not.
Cameron Bay went and got tested 8 days before she had to. She was apparently concerned that she might have Hep C and took the full panel test instead of just a Hep C test. It seems she heard from another female performer about a male performer who was said to have Hep C – a guy they had both worked with recently. This is another strand to the story. I haven’t been able to find out who this male performer is or who the other female is. Cameron didn’t say. Of course it may be that the male didn’t have Hep C after all.
Kelli – There’s a video interview with Rod Daily on Next Door Studios dot com where he says he only dates women. He doesn’t go so far as to describe himself as just “gay4pay” however. Most of the scenes on his paysite, which is operated by Next Door Entertainment, are gay scenes. But there are also at a few bisexual threesomes and at least one straight boy/girl scene. Apparently he used to be in a relationship with another female pornstar – Presley Maddox – and they have a child together.
The male in question with Hep C and was still performing was Alex Gonz.
Ok Kelli, I see Cameron named Alex Gonz as the Hep C guy on the Amber Lynn show.
And who was the other female who worked with him and called Cameron about him? If (big if) it was Sofia Delgado, that’s a vital connection.
There don’t seem to be any released scenes of Gonz with Bay or Delgado. But there is one paysite that has released separate scenes of all three of them. Nuru network’s Massage Parlor.
I’m no expert on the subject, but there is no reason to blame anyone. Accidents happen. I don’t think anyone would knowingly want to infect someone else on purpose.
You keep mentioning bodily fluids, what if the CDC was wrong about its delivery methods as well? Are you going to be afraid to “swap spit” with someone? Should we not swallow cum/squirt anymore either?
Also, consider this….if its transmitted through blood, don’t you share the same blood as your parents/family? Jonathan Grimshaw tested positive in 1984, and is now 56 and still healthy. Maybe we should ask him his secret?
Don’t worry, be happy!
You have the same genetics as your parents but you don’t go around swapping or bodily fluids with them, do you?
As far as positive guy, his secret is that he takes his meds. A person on their HIV meds like say Magic Johnson can reduce their viral load to almost undetectable levels. But that doesn’t mean he is cured. The problem with HIV is that the second he is off of his meds, even after years and years and years of no detectible levels, the virus does return, usually within a few weeks.
Wow MrNiceGuy WTF????