Unsafe porn film sex just a turnoff, fans say

Bill Hastings

The Chief Censor is considering labelling porn films for depictions of unsafe sex after finding that more than half of a group of regular porn viewers thought showing unprotected intercourse was "inappropriate".

The study of 65 regular porn viewers living in Hawkes Bay, carried out by Victoria University for the Office of Film and Literature Classification, asked what they thought of unsafe practices on screen.

A total of 56 per cent felt it was "inappropriate" (44 per cent said it was not and 3 per cent had no opinion).

A total of 71 per cent said that such portrayals might encourage unsafe sex, though the study did not ask if they had practised unsafe sex as a result.

Seventy-five per cent said they had tried something they had seen on a sex video, reinforcing the idea of a link between visual stimuli and behaviour.

While the survey's participants were self-selected and thus not wholly representative of New Zealand, says Chief Censor Bill Hastings, the finding of the study "is cause for concern".

As a result, his office is floating the idea that films depicting unsafe sex should have a label or classification making that content clear.

"One thing we can feed to the New Zealand public is whether people want to see a separate category - maybe an R18 - for unsafe sex," he said.

The people who found on-screen unsafe sex inappropriate had five broad opinions:

* It was wrong or did not portray a good image of sex movies.

* It was a bad example.

* It could increase the risk of sexually transmitted diseases among actors.

* Porn film-makers were hypocritical by prefacing their movies with health warnings promoting safe sex but not demonstrating it.

* The adult movie industry had a responsibility to promote safe sex.

Responses ranged from "people might think: They do it, so why can't I?" (20-something man) to "should always show protected sex" (60+ man).

However, some found unprotected movie sex more stimulating.