Millivres to continue to sell bareback porn titles
Millvres Prowler Group, the largest gay publisher and retailer in the UK, has distanced itself from the production company at the centre of allegations about performers being infected with HIV through so-called ‘bareback’ porn, but said it will continue to sell bareback titles.
MPG publishes the Pink Paper and magazines GT, DIVA and AXM. The company employs more than 100 people at its Prowler stores in Brighton, Birmingham and London and its headquarters in the capital.
The Group had a combined turnover of £10 million in 2006/7.
On its website it claims it is “respected for its strong sense of ‘community’ ethos.”
Bareback refers to the practice of having sex without condoms.
On Wednesday evening BBC programme Newsnight broadcast an investigation into bareback porn and the possible link with performers contracting HIV.
It focused on the activities of a porn production company called Icreme.
As a result of the BBC investigation three porn films were withdrawn from sale after Newsnight revealed that some performers are becoming infected with HIV.
Two of the DVD titles featured eight young men having sex with each other “in various combinations” without using condoms.
Four of them were diagnosed as HIV positive shortly after filming.
One of the men told Newsnight that he was “distressed that footage which he believed showed him becoming infected had been put on sale.”
MPG said in a statement to the BBC that it would continue to sell bareback, which is estimated to make up 60% of gay porn sales in the UK.
“As a company and as individuals we have tried to do the right thing.
“We reluctantly entered this market only once clear that the attitudes of a significant proportion of the gay community had moved on.
“We attach what practical controls are available and we will keep campaigning and supporting safer sex.”
MPG said it had terminated its relationship with Icreme and any associated business.
