Pornland author Gail Dines is attempting to make the argument that the sexualities of millions are being forcibly hijacked by a billion dollar porn industry.
In Pornland there is a chapter titled “Racy Sex, Sexy Racism!”. Dines writes that it is commonly seen that women of color are almost always subject to a certain genre of porn named Gonzo. According to the author, porn is subject to racializing the behavior of sexual stars in their performances. Descriptions such as “Saxxx tried to clean herself up [but] she was still a low-down dirty ghetto ho! So I rammed her.” Websites and videos commonly feature race-biased titles like, “Me Fuck You Long Time,” or “Oh No! There’s a Negro in My Mom.” Racism in the porn world tends to be caused by the fact that most of the production jobs are predominantly white.
Scholar of pornography, Mireille Miller-Young of the University of California, Santa Barbara, has noticed areas of concern in the adult entertainment industry, although tends to generally disagree with Pornland’s anti-porn philosophy.
Stereotypes in porn are commonly occurring trends that manipulate fantasies, inequality, and exploitation. Women of color however are already directors and web mistresses. Vanessa Blue, Diana DeVoe and Shine Louise Houston are succesful examples of colored women who may be considered to carry themes of feminism and anti-racism. In any case, Miller-Young points out, “If you really want to understand porn from the view of women of color you need to talk to them, not just evaluate their experiences based on the titles of the movies they appear in.”
Ethnic female directors like Mika Tan have spearheaded movements to produce quality movies that showcase women of color without stereotypical roles and images. … Racism is a symptom of the bigger problem of society and porn no more contributes to that than any other form of commercial media. While there is certainly an element of racism in some adult movies, this is by no means the barometer to judge all pornography. This would be like judging all priests based on a few child molesters or all Southern white males based on a few members of the Ku Klux Klan.
Female porn directors who are addressing ethnic movements are producing quality movies that showcase porn stars without stereotypical roles and images. Racism in porn may stem from larger sociological issues, which are perpetuated as frequently in other forms of commercial media. An abundance of elements of racism can be contributed to certain adult movies, but it cannot be eluded overall that pornography is a racist medium.
So, to return to the original question: Is pornography racist? It certainly has racist elements, just like all forms of media and pop culture, but it also depends on who you ask–and we should be asking women inside the industry as well as its critics.
