How August Ames' suicide is changing the adult film industry
Since the suicide of August Ames in December, Kevin Moore (husband of Ames, porn producer and director) has been calling for change in the porn industry. In the span of three months, five deaths (Shyla Styles, Ames, Yurizan Beltran, Olivia Nova, and Olivia Nua) in the community have been reported either due to suicide, drug abuse, or reasons unknown.
"The business side doesn't want to acknowledge it because it's not sexy," Moore tells Rolling Stone. "The industry wants to stick its head in the sand and just hope it all goes away."
Moore may be correct, but APAC (Adult Performer Advocacy Committee) is trying to fight the industry apathy. In the works for performers is a database of sex worker-friendly therapists, OBGYNs, attorneys, and even accountants - who promise to view work in pornography as a valid form of employment and not out to "save" their clients from porn.
""We need to fight the stigma as a group, because we've all been under attack," Tori Black says, winner of two AVN awards for Performer Of The Year. "What happened to these girls could have happened to any one of us on a weak moment."
Moore also is developing The August Project, a suicide prevention hotline staffed with people who know the unique difficulties of being in the industry. "We're either a real business that takes care of our [performers], or we are the very thing the outside world thinks we are," he says.
Still, some concerns exist that the root of the tension is not addressed about crossover performers (entertainers who work in both gay and straight films).
"Despite the fact that no HIV has been passed on a PASS set (Performer Availabilty Scheduling Services) in over a decade, old fears about homosexuality continue to haunt the industry," says Riley Reyes, performer and producer and the vice president of APAC. "A lot of performers don't know that the HIV tests we use (in PASS) detect the virus much faster than the ones used at most clinics. (PASS) will detect HIV within around 9 to 14 days of infection."
However, there are some who argue any performer can do what they wish to do, regardless of their reasons. At the same time, no sex worker wants to be regarded as a health threat.
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