![Lesbisches_Spiel,_Anonyme_Lithographie,_um_1840](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Lesbisches_Spiel%2C_Anonyme_Lithographie%2C_um_1840.jpg)
Ethnic pornography is a genre of
pornography
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults, featuring
performers
The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perfor ...
of specific
ethnic group
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
s, or depictions of interracial sexual activity. Though productions can feature any type of ethnic group (e.g.,
Caucasian
Caucasian may refer to:
Anthropology
*Anything from the Caucasus region
**
**
** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region
*
*
*
Languages
* Northwest Caucasian l ...
,
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
,
Middle Eastern,
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
,
Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
,
Native American), the most common emphasis in Western countries is on relationships between white- and black-skinned individuals.
Interracial pornography in the United States
Interracial pornography features performers of differing racial and ethnic backgrounds and often employs
ethnic and racial stereotypes
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
in its depiction of performers. American
stag films dated to the 1930s depict acts between black and white performers: Di Lauro and Rabin point to ''The Handy Man'', ''The Hypnotist'', and ''A Stiff Game'', the last of which identifies its only male character as "Sambo".
''
Behind the Green Door
''Behind the Green Door'' is a 1972 American feature-length pornographic film, widely considered one of the genre's "classic" pictures and one of the films that ushered in The Golden Age of Porn (1969–1984).Williams, p. 299 Featuring Marilyn ...
'' (1972) was one of the first pornographic films to feature sex between a white actress (
Marilyn Chambers
Marilyn Ann Taylor (née Briggs; April 22, 1952 – April 12, 2009), known professionally as Marilyn Chambers, was an American pornographic actress, exotic dancer, model, actress, singer and vice-presidential candidate. She was known fo ...
) and a black actor (
Johnnie Keyes
Johnnie Keyes (February 21, 1940 – June 3, 2018) was an American pornographic film actor.
Keyes had a lead role in ''Behind the Green Door
''Behind the Green Door'' is a 1972 American feature-length pornographic film, widely considered one ...
).
In the past, some of
American pornography
Pornography in the United States has existed since the country's origins and has become more readily accessible in the 21st century. Advanced by technological development, it has gone from a hard-to-find "back alley" item, beginning in 1969 with ...
's white actresses were allegedly warned to avoid
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
males, both on-screen and in their personal lives. One rationale was the purportedly widespread belief that appearing in interracial pornography would ruin a white performer's career, although some observers have said that there is no evidence that this is true. ''
Adult Video News
''Adult Video News'' (also called ''AVN'' or ''AVN Magazine'') is an American trade magazine that covers the adult video industry. '' The New York Times'' notes that ''AVN'' is to pornographic films what ''Billboard'' is to records. ''AVN'' spon ...
'' critic Sheldon Ranz wrote in 1997 that:
On the other hand, some commentators have pointed out that the lack of
racial divide and "nonsense about 'attraction' and 'preference'" in the
European pornographic scene allowed many top European female performers to appear in American interracial pornographic films.
Lexington Steele
Clifton Todd Britt (born November 28, 1969), better known by his stage name Lexington Steele, is an American pornographic actor, director, producer, and former stockbroker. He is the owner of the adult production companies Mercenary Motion Pictur ...
told
''The Root'' in a 2013 interview that white female performers who appear in interracial pornography may conceal their careers due to social pressure from their intimates, arguing "It's just an element of American culture that still exists, and that is the feeling that a white female will be deflowered or soiled, if you will, by doing a scene with a black male".
According to a survey by Jon Millward, while 87% of porn actresses are willing to take a
facial
A facial is a family of skin care treatments for the face, including steam, exfoliation (physical and chemical), extraction, creams, lotions, facial masks, peels, and massage. They are normally performed in beauty salons, but are also a comm ...
, only 53% will do interracial porn.
Alleged role of agents
Sophie Dee, prominent figure of the genre, said in a 2010 interview that she thought agents often pressure white female performers not to appear in interracial pornography. Dee said that they will be paid better for performing with black men and their careers will not be damaged in any way, pointing at positive examples of some
Vivid Entertainment
Vivid Entertainment Group is an American pornographic film production company, actresses.
Aurora Snow
Aurora Snow is an American retired pornographic actress, director, and columnist.
Early life
Snow was raised by a single mother and was the oldest of three siblings.
Career
Adult films
Snow entered the pornographic entertainment industry whe ...
noted in a 2013 article that the major factor preventing several white actresses from doing interracial scenes is "career anxiety" imposed by agents rather than their own racial bias. Tee Reel, male porn star and one of the few black agents in the U.S. industry, had a concurring opinion, saying, "In the business, some girls who say they don't do interracial, I've actually had sex with, off-camera."
Porn star Kristina Rose has alleged that some agents tell younger actresses that they will earn less from performing in interracial pornography to bar their involvement, although the opposite is true on a global level.
Scholarly criticism
![Jeskaya Sebastian Barrio](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Jeskaya_Sebastian_Barrio.jpg)
In Chapter 3 of her book ''Porn Studies'',
Linda Williams, professor at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, examines the film ''Crossing the Color Line'' starring
Sean Michaels, a black actor, and
Christi Lake
The XRCO Hall of Fame lists well-known adult entertainment works and workers. The list is managed by X-Rated Critics Organization and inducted annually during the XRCO Award
The XRCO Awards are given by the American X-Rated Critics Organiza ...
, a white actress.
In the interviews portion of the film, Michaels and Lake express how being "color-blind" is a progressive approach to interracial porn.
Williams identifies a contradiction between these interviews and the subsequent performance, in which both actors make several references to the differences in skin color between them.
For example, Lake refers to Michaels' genitalia as a "big black dick".
Williams argues that by pointing out racial differences, race is being made the main point of intrigue for the audience, which perpetuates the exotification of racial differences.
She argues that the eroticized sexual tension in interracial pornography dates back in American history to slavery.
Mireille Miller-Young, professor of feminist studies at
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...
, argues that while the porn industry hypersexualizes African-American pornographic actresses, they are often paid less, hired less, and given less attention during health checks than their white counterparts.
Some scholars also argue that white women are upheld as the most-prized commodity in the industry, while black women are often devalued for their sex work, regardless of their perceived erotic abilities.
See also
*
Asian fetish
An Asian fetish is a strong sexual preference for people of Asian descent or heritage. The term generally refers to people of East or Southeast Asian descent, though this may also include those of South Asian descent.
The derogatory term ''yell ...
*
Cuckold fetish
*
Miscegenation
Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...
*
Misogynoir
''Misogynoir'' is a term referring to misogyny directed towards black women where race and gender both play a role. The term was coined by black feminist writer Moya Bailey in 2010 to address misogyny directed toward black transgender and cisgende ...
*
Pornography by region
Pornography laws by region vary throughout the world. The production and distribution of pornographic films are both activities that are lawful in many, but by no means all countries so long as the pornography features performers aged above a c ...
*
Racial fetishism
References
External links
*
* Mireille Miller-Young, ''
ColorLines Magazine: Race, Action, Culture'', Winter 2005.
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ethnic Pornography
Ethnic and racial stereotypes
Multiracial affairs