An educational video called the “Lifesaving Hand Job” and put out by a health insurance fund in Germany to fight testicular cancer has caused outrage for featuring an adult film actress.
The health insurance fund Techniker Krankenkasse posted the footage on YouTube.
It captioned the footage: “Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in young men. There is no early detection examination as part of the statutory cancer early detection programme. It is all the more important that men lend a hand and examine themselves regularly. Porn actress Anny Aurora shows you how to feel your testicles properly.”
The video, titled ‘Der life-saving Handjob’ (https://youtu.be/rhmU5K7vVuU), begins by showing a woman taking a steamy shower. The woman, according to the health insurance fund, is none other than porn star Anny Aurora, 25, who is from the city of Cologne in Germany.
Suddenly, the doorbell rings and she turns the shower off. She can be seen walking towards the front door while saying “I’m coming”. She opens the door and the man introduces himself as her new neighbour.
The woman, still only scantily clad in her towel, invites her new neighbour inside for a drink. He readily accepts and can be seen admiring her curves as he closes the door behind him.
The two protagonists then sit down on a sofa. The young woman tells her new neighbour that she is going to slip into something “more comfortable” and get the drinks, adding: “Then we can get to know each other.”
The neighbour looks on in admiration as she leaves to get dressed. In the next shot, the young woman can be seen returning to the living room with two glasses. She hands her new neighbour a glass before knocking her glass against his saying “Cheers”.
They both take a sip from their glasses while staring deeply into each other’s eyes. The young woman brushes her hair suggestively before taking the man’s glass and placing it on the coffee table in front of the sofa.
The pair then kisses. Then the young woman tells the man to stand up. He dutifully obeys and she begins to unzip his trousers.
The footage then stops and a buffering symbol briefly appears before a message appears on screen saying (in German): “The technical health insurance fund presents: the hand job against testicular cancer.”
The young woman then can then be seen telling the camera: “I’m going to show you how you can easily do a self-examination at home using this prototype.”
She can be seen holding up a fake pair of testicles. She explains that the first step to check for testicular cancer is to gently cup the scrotum in the palm of one’s hand. She explains that this is important to develop a sense of their weight and size.
She says that each testicle does not need to be exactly the same weight but they should be similar. The next step, she says, is to check each testicle individually. She explains that the higher testicle should be grasped between the person’s thumb and middle finger and rolled back and forth.
Any bumps or knots should be very easy to detect under the texture of the scrotum.
The young woman also said that using a mirror is a good idea to check for any swelling or other enlargements that may appear unusual.
A message then appears on screen listing, in German, all of the physical characteristics to look out for when checking testicles for testicular cancer.
The footage ends with the young pornographic actress telling the viewer to consult with a urologist should he find any abnormalities during the self-examination.
The footage has reportedly caused a stir after being posted online, where many netizens reportedly felt that it was relying on cheap tropes found in pornographic films and lacked information.
One user reportedly wrote: “It’s unbelievable how such an important topic is packaged in such a sexist way.”
While another said: “Big fan of hand jobs, absolutely not a fan of your decision to raise awareness of testicular cancer in this way.”
A spokesperson for the health insurance fund reportedly said: “Diversity, equality and respectful cooperation are very important to us. We reject sexism in any form. […] We were aware that this unusual approach would cause debate. We understand that this can lead to irritation, but we consider the topic to be so important that it should also be addressed in this environment.”
