Adult actor Tasha Reign claims being forced to wear condoms 'opens up the gateway to mandate my body'

Tasha Reign is campaigning against Proposition 60 (Getty Images)

A popular porn star has claimed a law that would force adult performers to wear condoms on all California sets would threaten her rights as a woman over her own body.

Tasha Reign is one of a number of adult actors campaigning against Proposition 60, a controversial measure due to be voted on in November.

Proposition 60 is being led by Michael Weinstein, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation president. It is effectively the tightening of a pre-existing law asking all performers to wear condoms during filming which is only acted upon if the agency charged with enforcing it, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, is notified.

Under Weinstein’s proposals, adult film sets which do not comply with the law can be sued up to a year after the film is released, instead of the current six months statute of limitations. It also allows any Californian living in the state to sue filmmakers if condoms are not used. To put that in perspective, there are more than 38 million people living in California.

Performers argue this aspect of the legislation is particularly damaging to them because it affects their financial interests in the films they perform in. They say having their details made public compounds their vulnerability.

Reign, 27, claims the measure is impractical and compromises her autonomy over her own body.

She told The Guardian: “I do acts where I literally could not use condoms, whether that be anal, whether that be double penetration, whether that be multiple guys. I cannot even imagine having a group sex scene like that.

“The bigger issue for me is that it opens up the gateway to mandate my body. I hate the idea that some man is going to tell me what I can and can’t do.

“[I don’t believe a person] should come in and tell me, on my own adult film set that I’m producing in my own home that I need to use a condom”.

The contentious law has been the subject of a number of protests which have been ramped up in recent weeks. On Monday, hundreds of adult performers staged a demonstration outside of Weinstein’s office in Los Angeles. Major porn sites also blocked access to their IP addresses in California on the same day.

Jessica Drake, a veteran adult film actress with a number of roles in mainstream productions under her belt, is a major opposing voice in the Proposition 60 debate and has organised fundraisers to fund the Vote No campaign.

Proposition 60 also requires producers to pay for vaccinations and STD testing. It is opposed by both the Republican and Democratic parties in California.

The Independent has contacted Weinstein for comment.