An H.I.V outbreak in the porn industry has prompted a fresh debate over the mandatory use of condoms to protect its actors, yet many industry insiders believe that such a mandate would produce the opposite outcome.

Realistically, porn without condoms will always be more popular than porn with condoms, and currently the most popular porn is made by the biggest companies. If these companies were legally obliged to make their performers wear condoms, I would predict that the popularity of these companies would diminish; yet the preference for unprotected sex would remain.

Porn is fantasy not reality, and at the end of the day, when we watch a scene between Jenna Jameson and Peter North, we don’t want the reality of them having sex as quietly as possible under the covers lest their children who are sleeping in the next room should hear them, or worse yet, walk in half way through because they’re scared of the noises that the pipes are making. Least of all, we don’t want to see them using a condom, and this is just the cold hard reality of the situation.

A mandate for condoms wouldn’t only turn off the customers; it would make life more dangerous for the performers.

Prohibition is always followed by a void, and filling this void would undoubtedly be the underground porn industry. To ensure the safety of its actors the last thing the industry needs is for large sections of it to go underground. At present, the major industry players routinely screen their stars, and adhere to strict government guidelines, whereas less reputable organizations would be less inclined to follow such measures. From a humanitarian point of view, we all want our porn stars to be as safe as possible, but the use of condoms simply isn’t a pragmatic 21st Century answer.

There is an alternative in CGI porn, and the arguments for it shouldn’t be scoffed at, as one only has to look at Avatar to see how far the technology has come. Avatar is about 60% CGI, and 40% live recording, and if the industry moves in this direction perhaps we can expect to see real stars, yet computer generated penetration (I called it first: CGP).

Yet again, even if all penetration were computer generated, there would still be a demand for the real thing, which would play into the hands of the underground industry.

We find ourselves in the middle of a complex issue, yet we only have to take a look back to the alcohol industry in the 1930’s to see that prohibition just simply isn’t the answer. Without a doubt, this outbreak will not be an isolated incident, least of all because we have no way of ascertaining whether the disease was contracted on or off camera, but I see no more realistic alternative other than to allow the industry to continue as it is. Far better for all concerned that as much porn as possible is made by refutable companies, as apposed to the black market in condom-less porn, which a mandate would surely create.