Should Porn Actors Be Required to Wear Condoms?

Having solved all of Los Angeles’ other problems, the L.A. City Council on Tuesday approved a city ordinance that will require porn actors to wear condoms during film shoots. (Read more about the details here.)

Ultimately this will be a question of what the market wants. Porn producers say people shy away from buying films with condoms in them, so it’s possible the L.A. City Council just signed a death warrant for what’s left of an industry fighting to survive against amateur porn sites and piracy. Did L.A. just drive the multibillion-dollar porn industry out of its San Fernando Valley?

It’s unclear whether this will be the death blow for professional porn studios. Some people enjoy reality-based adult films, and condoms are likely to be a part of their real lives. But many, if not most, adult film viewers look at pornography as fantasy, a place where their innermost sexual desires play out without consequences like pregnancy and disease. The human libido is partially, or even mostly, biologically ingrained, which means that viewing “natural” sex may cause more arousal.

If this mandate causes that arousal to diminish (boner and ladyboner killers!), will people out there in fantasy land stop buying products from people who make a living off this and continue the trend towards watching free amateur material and pirated older stuff on tube sites?

And here’s the real question: What will this do to the time-honored money shot?

Then again, sexualized teenagers and many adults take their cues from what they see in porn films — does all of that not matter when it comes to preventing disease and saving lives?

It’s an interesting debate — and we want your opinion. Weigh in below in the comments…