As Californians get set to vote on Proposition 60
– a ballot measure that threatens to subject adult performers to frivolous lawsuits, to harassment and to reveal their home addresses – we took a look at what they're watching on CAM4 to see if their preferences at the computer could predict their votes on this contentious proposal at the ballot box.
The result? Let's just say their real preferences are laid bare.
We looked at all the searches done for CAM4's live, streaming adult content and specifically which states have the most people watching bareback and bareback-related streams and videos. When we put all the data together and tallied it up, one state came to the top
You guessed it: California.
Californians love bareback content. Straight, gay, fetish; no matter the style, California's appetite for bareback style far exceeds any other state. Right behind the Sunshine State are Texas, New York, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Then comes the District of Columbia, which, of course, is home to our nation's top lawmakers. Who knew Congress was so into bareback?! Needless to say, if Prop 60 goes through we're going to have some seriously sexually frustrated lawmakers, and no one wants to see that.
"I am opposed to Prop 60 because it will put me and other performers at risk..."
Yet, if you read the newspapers, the public opinion polls suggest Californians are split on how they'll vote. The latest poll released just last week shows the race a tie with 40 percent for and 40 percent opposing Prop 60, while 20 percent of voters said they are unsure of how they'll vote.
If bareback is California's favorite porn, why aren't more voters opposing Prop 60, and what might it take for those undecideds to vote against it? For insight we turned to our own Prop 60 expert, Ela Darling. Ela is a leading voice in the adult entertainment industry as the president of the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee and a pioneer in virtual reality pornography.
"I am opposed to Prop 60 because it will put me and other performers at risk when it comes to fans and stalkers and people who wish us harm," she explained. Darling added that while condoms get most of the attention surrounding Prop 60, the proposal's most insidious problem is that it threatens to expose the names and addresses of adult performers.
According to Don't Harass CA, if Prop 60 goes through, any Californian would be able to sue a performer if the person thinks they see sex performed without a condom.
"I am a Cam Girl, and I also produce custom video clips with my partner. If I were to cam or make a video clip with my partner where you happen to not be able to see the condom, even if we're using one, then anybody in California watching that would be able to sue me personally, take me to court and learn my legal name and home address," Ela said.
So many people want to make it about condoms and it's not. It's not even in the conversation at hand. The people who make it about condoms are the people who want to distract you about the actual dangers of this issue, which is that our personal privacy and safety is sacrificed," Darling said. She went on to explain that one out of control fan found and harassed her mother at work. "Imagine what any of these people would do if they had access to my home address. It's terrifying."
Republicans and Democrats and Libertarians ... all agree that Californians should vote NO on Prop 60.
Yet a loss of privacy and safety is exactly what will happen if Prop 60 prevails. Performers and their families would be vulnerable to stalking, harassment and bodily harm.
Proposition 60 would create an atmosphere of harassment against adult performers. Because of how Prop 60 is written, performers' personal information would become public whether lawsuits are legitimate or not. Anyone who wants to stalk or harm a performer could simply file a lawsuit just so they can learn the performer's address. To make matters worse, the person who files the lawsuit would get a portion of the proceeds, leading to a cottage industry where people can actually make money exposing and harassing adult film stars.
Just how bad is Prop 60? The state parties representing Republicans and Democrats and Libertarians - who agree on virtually nothing else - all agree that Californians should vote NO on Prop 60. Seven of California's largest newspapers have all come out in urging a NO vote: The Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, the Orange County Register, the East Bay Times, the Sacramento Bee and the San Diego Union Tribune. The LA LGBT Center, the SF AIDS Foundation, The Wall Las Memorias Project plus dozens more health and advocacy organizations oppose this dangerous, misguided measure that would put performers at risk.
"I think if both political parties are able to see that Prop 60 is a bad idea that puts performers in danger and will cost taxpayers millions of dollars, then voters should listen. It's a pretty powerful statement when they come together in such a divided election year," Ela said.
