A San Francisco pornography company that specializes in films featuring scenes of dominance and submission was fined more than $78,000 this week by state safety officials for maintaining dangerous workplace conditions, among them allowing performers to have sex on camera without using condoms.
Cybernet Entertainment, the parent company of Internet porn producer Kink.com, argued that many of its performers prefer not to use condoms and that the fine announced Friday is the result of a long-running campaign by those who oppose the adult film industry.
“The fines are excessive and, we believe, politically motivated,” Cybernet founder Peter Acworth said in a statement. “The complaints which prompted the inspection were not made by actual employees, but by outside groups with a long history of opposition to adult film. We’ll be appealing the decision.”
Records show that the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Cybernet for a number of violations after an inspection last August. The largest part of the fine — $75,000 of it — targeted Cybernet’s policy allowing its performers to choose whether or not to use condoms.
CalOSHA spokesman Peter Melton said there had been several complaints against Kink.com last year, and he described the fine as “significant.”
The inspection was prompted by a formal complaint filed against Kink.com by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a Los Angeles-headquartered advocacy group.
Previously, AHF Foundation successfully lobbied for condom requirements on porn sets in the city of Los Angeles and later for all of LA County in 2012.
The group has remained a driving force behind the regulations, successfully defending the county measure in court when the county declined to, reporting suspected violations to government officials, and suing companies who try to move parts of their productions outside the area.
