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"1. Get tested. Often.

Porn performers know their STI status at all times, and they’re not afraid to talk about it. In the adult entertainment industry, testing is the primary tool used for the prevention of STIs, and porn performers maintain that it’s the single most important part of their sexual health toolbox.

Getting tested can be scary for those of us who aren’t used to it. Jessica Drake, a sex educator and adult performer, director, and producer, urges, “Please don't let fear get in the way of getting tested.” Her rationale? The more you do it, the less frightening it becomes. And porn stars know—they do it all the time.

The adult industry testing program FSC-PASS was developed in 2011 after an earlier testing system became defunct. “PASS was developed so that there would be a secure, online database that would list the availability of performers for work,” says Mike Stabile, a spokesperson for the Free Speech Coalition, the national trade association for the adult industry, which facilitates the PASS system.

“It partners with different clinics across the country to provide rapid STI testing, [and] it allows anyone—a performer, a producer, an agent—to log in and see if the person they are working with or looking to hire has a current ‘clear’ test,” he says. “All performers who work within PASS need to be tested for a full-slate of STIs every 14 days.”

And even among performers who aren't working in PASS, there is a "common courtesy and unwritten law" of a 14-day testing period, according to adult performer Brett Rossi. For the most part, every performer in the industry has been tested for trichomoniasis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, hepatitis B or C, syphilis, or HIV within two weeks of going on camera.

And here’s the thing: Strict testing works. “Because of the PASS system, there has not been an onset transmission of HIV in over a decade," Vegas says.

2. Don’t wait to get tested.

“Get tested! Even if you trust your partner or don't think you have anything, get tested,” says Riley Reyes, an adult performer, activist, and Vice President of the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee (APAC).

A lot of STIs don't show any symptoms, or lie dormant for long periods of time between tests. “Most STIs are spread unwittingly by a person who doesn't realize they have anything,” Reyes adds.

If you wait until you show symptoms of an STI, you’ve already waited too long. “The longer you go without being tested and the more partners you have, the chances of you walking around with an STI, not knowing and spreading it are much higher,” Rossi says. “Be smart, get tested.”

“In the general public people test very infrequently—often only after they detect symptoms—which means that infections have a much better chance of spreading,” Stabile says.

Because they know all of this, some porn performers test even more frequently than the PASS system requires. “I get tested probably every 10 days,” Rossi says. “I also try to get tested earlier than the 14-day expectation to avoid any mishaps and get treated sooner if I should be exposed to an STI."

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