Keeping It Safe After the Clothes Come Off

'You Got to Do It for Money'

Mike Weinstein runs the AIDS Health Care Foundation. He believes that the graphic nature of porn shoots invites risk.

"Well, there are definitely sexual acts that are being depicted on film, for the benefit of the fantasy of the audience, that are much riskier," said Weinstein. "Also, you may [have] multiple performers at the same time. Obviously, that increases the risk of transmission."

The AIDS Health Care Foundation is suing both the Los Angeles County's Public Health Department and major porn producers to force condom use on sets.

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"I believe that every performer wants to wear condoms on set," Weinstein said. "I believe that every producer should be required to have the workers on that set, the performers on that set, just like they would on a Hollywood movie, you can't [put] people who are on a Hollywood set at risk, you can't have them do stunts without protection."

"Nightline" was there when an 18-year-old adult performer came to the AIM clinic for her 30-day STD test.

She said she was taking the testing "pretty seriously," adding that it's something she does every month.

"Because there's a risk of getting AIDs, everyone is scared of getting it, so you got to get tested every month," she said.

The performer said her work was probably not worth the risks.

"Not really, no," she said, "but you got to do it for money."

She said that working without condoms is the only way to get consistent work in adult films.

"People don't usually want condoms, so I don't think I'd get as much work," she said.

She said she felt pressure not to wear condoms and favored a change that would require them. "I'd make it like a law or something," she said.

But Hirsch and others inside the industry say a law requiring condom use would only push production underground. He says the known infection numbers prove that the current voluntary testing system works.

"We produce as an industry about 10,000 movies a year," said Hirsch. "Each movie has about five sex scenes, so that's 50,000 scenes a year. Multiply it by five years and we're talking about 250,000 scenes have been shot since 2004, and one person has tested positive. I like our track record."

But James still believes that's not good enough.

"Why is it worth it to go what I went through?" he said. "It's probably the worst thing. Just getting that call, 'You have HIV,' and then your whole life is upside-down. The only way to solve it is condoms. Period."