Exclusive: Eurocreme CEO speaks to PinkNews.co.uk about the bareback porn debate
Max Lincoln, CEO of one of Europe’s largest gay pornography producers ‘Eurocreme’, speaks exclusively to PinkNews.co.uk about his decision to stop producing bareback porn.
“Consumers of gay porn prefer to watch ‘bareback’ films over ‘condom’ porn, and bareback production companies enjoy significantly stronger sales than those that require their performers to use condoms,” he told PinkNews.co.uk.
“There is a window period between an individual becoming infected with the HIV virus, and that individual showing up positive in an HIV test. During the window period, the infected individual can transmit the virus to others during unprotected sexual intercourse.
“For that reason it is not possible for a production company to guarantee the safety of an actor in a bareback film.”
“Last year, in order to protect its performers against HIV infection, Eurocreme took the difficult commercial decision to produce only ‘condom’ films,” continued Lincoln, who founded the company in 2002.
“In the absence of any legislation governing porn production in the UK, this moral stance places us at a serious disadvantage in the marketplace.”
Bareback porn saw a massive resurgence in popularity in the late nineties and is now one of the top selling genres in the multibillion pound gay pornography market.
Many have blamed the rise in popularity on an increasingly apathetic attitude towards HIV/AIDS amongst gay men.
Commenting on the campaign in California to make the production of bareback porn illegal, Lincoln told PinkNews.co.uk:
“Bareback sex is not a criminal offence, and it would be a dangerous precedent for the Government to legislate against the depiction of a perfectly legal activity.
“Porn companies exist to entertain, and it should not be left to them to educate the general public at their own expense.
“It is also facile to imagine that legislation will prevent the consumer accessing bareback porn; It will instead send him down the route of piracy and filesharing. The correct approach in the UK is for the producers, retail outlets and the gay press to self-regulate, much as has been proposed in the USA. This would at least allow responsible adult companies to compete on a level playing field.”
“If the Government is to become involved in this issue in any way, it should be to devote funding to HIV awareness programmes, particularly directed towards young people.”
Eurocreme was founded in the United Kingdom by director Max Lincoln, whose first film was ‘DreamBoy’, released in 2002.
