When it comes to sex, we are a simple-minded people. One might even say basic.
American culture is capitalist culture. And capitalist culture is going to reach for the broadest categories in hope for the largest profit. The lowest common denominator. And, because we live in a culture where the high moral imperative for a company is the return on investment for its shareholders how they increase their market share is a relatively low priority. As is how their employees are treated. In fact, the worse they can treat their employees: the lower the pay, the fewer the protections, the more minimum the benefits, the better. This is, after all, the land of the free that justified enslavement as an economic necessity.
Therefore, it should be no surprise that Pornhub, riding the publicity around the brutal murder of George Floyd by the state sent visitors to Black Lives Matter porn… Most of which varied from a little to extremely racist. The murder was simply another opportunity to fill their coffers. Nor should it come as a shock that pornographers Inked Angels tweeted a list of “10 tattooed Asian porn stars you should follow” in support of the Asian community after the race-based murders of six Asian women in Atlanta. When they received push back their petulant reply was ultimately deleted along with the list. There were doubtlessly no Asian women involved in the company’s social media outreach.
Porn is a pick your kink landscape where almost anything goes. Even things that would be unacceptable in any other venue. The “MILF” genre dabbles in incest. The “barely legal” genre flirts with child pornography. The interracial category with its almost exclusive focus on giant Black men with even bigger penises coupled with the tiniest and whitest women to be located embraces almost every negative stereotype about Black men to be found. It goes on and on.
Porn upholds stereotypes that are centuries old. The submissive but sexual Asian woman. The angry but sexually insatiable Black woman. It focuses on the bodies of people as parts- especially those of people of color. The “monster” cocks of Black men and the big “booties” of Black women are prominent in porn titles. For newcomers of color to avoid the negative stereotypes steeped into the industry is almost impossible. To do so is to risk their careers and would be useless in the face of the unfair and controlling contracts most sign. It may not be what pornographers mean to do when they “give the people what they want”, but they maintain these age-old stereotypes by literally stroking new life into them.
Sources
https://museemagazine.com/features/2020/7/7/our-nations-kink-for-racism
https://prostitutionresearch.com/why-does-the-porn-industry-get-away-with-racist-portrayals-of-black-people/
https://fightthenewdrug.org/porn-content-normalizes-promotes-racism-racist-stereotypes/
https://fightthenewdrug.org/the-brain-science-of-how-porn-consumption-reduces-a-consumers-empathy/
https://fightthenewdrug.org/get-the-facts/
http://pornharmsresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/24163417-Racism-in-Pornography.pdf
http://www.hustlingtheleft.com/CRAPP_E_LIB/leftissue.html
https://fightthenewdrug.org/how-mainstream-porn-perpetuates-racist-stereotypes-of-black-men/
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/a34642666/racism-porn-industry/
https://www.newsweek.com/confronting-racism-pornography-industry-opinion-1601228
https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/07/pornhub-black-lives-matter-genre-racism.html
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/asian-porn-racism-discrimination-1148275/
https://www.wired.com/story/porn-racist-metadata-hurts-adult-performers-of-color/
https://mashable.com/article/porn-racist-tropes
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-rise-of-racist-porn
https://iwantrest.com/blog/racism-and-pornography