(Porn stars getting poked in more ways than one)
Corporate Profile: Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation (AIM)
History of AIM
AIM, a nonprofit organization was created in 1998 by Dr. Sharon Mitchell and Dr. Steven York. Sharon Mitchell is a former porn actress who started in the 1970s and retired from the industry in 1996. Steven York is the Medical Director for AIM. Sharon Mitchell left the industry to work in chemical dependency counseling and was contacted by the Free Speech Coalition (FSC). The FSC is a trade association for the adult entertainment industry and they contacted Mitchell to find the root of an HIV outbreak in the porn industry. Mitchell, through process of elimination, found “Patient Zero” and thus began AIM.
AIM was not supported by the producers of adult entertainment in the beginning and the support came from the actors and performers in the industry. According to the AIM website, around 1,200 adult performers are tested monthly through the clinic. After the support of the talent, adult entertainment companies now donate a significant amount of the funding for AIM.
AIM’s policies
The mission of AIM is to provide testing for sexually transmitted diseases for sex workers as well as offer counseling and scholarships for those looking to leave the sex industry. The testing for individuals is recommended to be done on a monthly basis and if a test is found positive the infected individual is quarantined from work until cured or the disease is in remission. AIM cannot prevent an individual from working but AIM advises against it.
Important Members of AIM
Executive Director
Dr. Colin Hamblin
Medical Director
Information regarding the board of directors for AIM is not freely available. (Possibly in part for their safety.)
Local Clinic
AIM does not run clinics around the country as it is stationed in the lower part of California. It has two locations, Sherman Oaks and Granada Hills. AIM, although a nonprofit designed to meet the needs of those in the adult entertainment industry, has clients that are civilians. AIM has competitors from doctor offices to other STD clinics. Their most vocal competition is AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF).
Employees of AIM
The employees of AIM are trained medical professionals who are trained for testing of STDs. They are affluent in newer types of testing that garner results in shorter periods of time. There are also counselors that work at AIM who specialize in working with people from the sex industry. They are trained to deal with all the complications that come with the unusual lifestyle. AIM, through their scholarship program, has trained two former adult film actresses into becoming counselors. The relationship between AIM and their clients is quite positive. Since AIM is run by donations their clients help support the organization. Hustler recently held a charity poker tournament to raise funds.
Relationship with the Government
AIM, like the adult entertainment industry, has an uneasy relationship with the government. OSHA is currently in a legal battle with AIM over some of their patients and practices. AIM has had issues with OSHA before and is usually lumped in with all other companies related with adult entertainment. An issue that has been plaguing the adult entertainment industry is the issue over condom use in films. AIM supports condom use but the common belief is porn viewers do not want to break fantasy by seeing a condom on screen. Vivid claims that condom use in films will lower profits by twenty percent. OSHA has started a committee to test the viability of mandating condom use in adult films.
Competitor
AHF is the main competitor and attacker of AIM. The committee on condom use in adult films was lobbied by AHF for years and recently took the issue to OSHA. According to Dr. Sharon Mitchell, AHF has a hidden agenda for attacking AIM, to take the names of HIV positive clients so they can solicit to the clients. Unlike AIM, AHF uses a test that takes up to six months to receive results. In world of porn those time frames are not realistic for someone who uses porn as a living. AIM was created specifically for the porn market while AHF is tailored for the general public.
AIM as a target
AIM has been under a lot of scrutiny lately by both AHF and OSHA. Protesters stood outside the AIM offices wearing flesh colored body suits with painted nipples and fig leaves with signs reading AIM=Death. AHF believes AIM is used by the porn companies to claim a safe working environment. Another issue brought up by AHF is client confidentiality that would be broken by the online database. (On the same note the protesters were filming clients entering the building…anonymous?) AIM received a lot of heat in 2004 with an “outbreak” of HIV in the porn community. The outbreak consisted of four people in total tested positive for HIV. Claims were made by OSHA about how poorly the situation was handled. (Although if OSHA or AHF did the testing it would have been six months before any results would have come back.)
Why AIM as a corporate profile?
Since the adult movie industry is an almost perfectly competitive market, choosing any one film company would be a disservice to represent the market as a whole, since no one company dominates the market or creates the market standard. Some companies produce more films and create synergy with companion products but since the goods/service is self gratification, the true differentiating factor is the performers not the company. Companies that have been around longer do not necessarily have an advantage over newer companies because of the high turnover rate of performers and the customers’ low brand loyalty. One of the few things that unite this diverse industry is AIM. Adult performers from amateur to contract stars receive medical care from AIM and most of the adult entertainment companies require proof of sexual health from a clinic like AIM. Another unique quality about AIM is its online database which allows employers to keep tabs on performers’ health and prevents the actors from forging results and keeps the STD rates lower in the porn community than in other group. This unique nonprofit has helped create a safer working environment for sex workers of all kinds.
NPR talks with Sharon Mitchell
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