DAILY XTRA: When Next Door Studios became the latest big gay porn studio to produce bareback scenes a few weeks ago, it raised some eyebrows. Stefan Sirard, Next Door’s CEO, has been a prominent critic of bareback films, even stating in an interview with The Advocate in 2009 that “Studios that don’t use condoms and don’t test should be in court for murder.” The Next Door Studios team was one of loudest advocates for condom usage in porn — so why the sudden change of heart?
“The reason is very simple,” Sirard told us from his office in northern California, “the tests have changed.”
“We are the only one in the entire industry, straight, gay, bi, she — we are the only that will do full panel testing. We will test you for HIV, syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, hepatitis B, hepatitis C. And on top of that, now with the bareback, we are adding two more tests.”
Not all of Next Door’s releases will be bareback, in fact, it will continue to film scenes with condoms. “I want the model to decide,” Sirard says. “If they choose bareback, they have do three tests,” Sirard says. “Three weeks prior to their arrival they have to test for HIV, 10 days prior to their arrival they have to do the full panel testing . . . and the morning of the scene they still have to test” using a drugstore HIV test, like a pregnancy test. “According to the medical field out there, the doctors, our labs, that’s plenty of documentation.”
Serard is against the mandatory condom usage in gay porn because “condoms break, condoms come out” and also “what about rimming? What about sucking?” As he states “to me, personally . . . if I see a medical record of someone I am about to play with, I would feel a lot better if I see all his medical record(s) and STD and it’s all clean.
“I think what we have in place is safe, and it’s very safe for the model’s sake.”
although I don’t BB, I do enjoying watching good porn. If that includes BB as long as the actors are tested then it’s up to them.
They are all hot. I love to take them all.
I hope, for his sake — and the sake of his models — Mr. Sirard is right. Because if there’s the slightest chance that he’s wrong, he’s playing with people’s lives.
I have done BB and understand its appeal. And testing only for HIV is not enough. I use a lab that does a complete service, Three tests in close proximity like that should cover a lot of possibilities. But the receiver takes the most risk. And yes we all do rimming and sucking and swallow loads which can be risky even for the cleanest bottoms. When someone says they are always safe I wonder. Did they ever have a condom break, come off, or just forgot one? That happens. I prefer to say usually safe. But its a choice with risk and we would be foolish to deny it. The best argument I heard was a porn star who said he could not handle latex condoms for 8 hours in a day. Good reason to have a union or go bareback.
I love BB porn and as well as actual sex. Hopefully the participants are very careful who they are playing with prior to their performance because drugstore test are not accurate right up to the date they are taken.
Yes, I’ve stated my feelings. But I admit, I enjoy watching it. However, I can respect Stefan’s attempts to be proactive. Is it foolproof? No. But it’s very responsible. I’m going to take a wait and see approach. Yes, it looks better but for a few minutes of fantasy for us, they take a huge risk for us. But on another hand….lucky bastards. 🙂
Put it any way you want… Condom or not, it’s still a risk if you are having multiple sex partners. The tests and all the labwork just makes it a calculated. well informed risk. We can go all paranoid about it or just give the people the freedom to make their own decisions.
great view but always an informed choice
Think this is very responsible. I have heard and read that guys who are positive, but undetectable, get tested regularly, every three months and on meds are less risk of infecting someone, then guys who have sex with men who never been tested because they don’t think they would be infected,or don’t want to know if they are for fear of rejection. Lots of guys also feel if they aren’t sick, they aren’t infected, that’s just not true. Sometime the immune system handles it for a long time, but they can still infect someone.
Anyone know who the sexy tatted bottom is?