Readers React: Film permits don’t tell the whole story on condoms and porn

To the editor: When The Times cites “further research” to explain why it no longer supports requiring condom use in adult films, it raises the question: What research? (“Condoms for porn actors: A statewide law isn’t the answer,” Editorial, Aug. 10)

Was there a new study that showed that condom use in adult films has declined since the passage of Measure B? Was there new evidence that condoms don’t protect performers from disease transmission?

Nope. The only “research” The Times cited to justify its declaration that Measure B is a failure was the tenfold decline in permits issued to adult production companies by FilmLA.

But if The Times had done its homework better, it would have found that only about 200 permits were issued to adult studios in 2010, the year the industry claimed it produced 5,000 films in L.A.

Clearly, the permitting process isn’t the perfect bellwether for determining whether adult films are being produced in Los Angeles and whether jobs are being lost.

Paula Tavrow, Pasadena

The writer is director of the Bixby Program in Population and Reproductive Health at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health.