20 June 06 in Media
As pleased as we are that Naked Loft Party has achieved a certain notoriety, we couldn’t help but chuckle at the illustration that accompanies the Playboy blurb. ‘Cause God knows only white folks have high-end Eyes Wide Shut-style sex. Judging by the attendees at America’s top sexy parties, swingers these days are an increasingly diverse bunch of people. The media are a little behind the times.
More: Swingers,
Racial Bias,
Media
(1)
8 June 06 in Media
The U.S. Government is pressuring Germany to halt the flow of sex workers arriving for the World Cup. The administration is attempting to conflate legal prostitution with the international sex slave trade in much the same manner that it conflates legal pornography with the exploitation of minors here in the States.
A U.S. congressman and other anti-trafficking advocates estimate that thousands of foreign women, many from Eastern Europe, will be forced into sex work during the four-week tournament that begins June 9.
At a briefing, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice denounced “the sordid trade in human beings” and said the fight against trafficking is “a great moral calling of our time.”
The first problem with the State Department’s argument is that Germany has what is probably the world’s most heavily-regulated flesh trade.
Prostitution is legal in Germany, with about 400,000 registered sex workers who pay taxes and receive social benefits. However, the government says forced prostitution is not tolerated and it denies Smith’s claim that it is helping build brothels.
[T]he 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report gave Germany its highest overall rating for compliance with efforts to stop trafficking, and noted German efforts to combat exploitation during the World Cup.
“Nonetheless, due to the sheer size of the event, the potential for increased human trafficking during the games remains a concern,” the report said.
The second problem is that the State Department’s estimate of the size of the international sex slave trade amounts to a wild-assed guess.
Continue reading “Sex Trafficking and Bad Data”...
More: World Cup,
German,
Prostitution,
Sex Trafficking,
Racial Bias
25 April 06 in Commentary
In a thoughtful blog entry, author Susie Bright discusses the interracial question in porn:
It is only asked of fair-skinned women, and it only means one thing: will Miss Anne fuck a black guy? Men are not asked this question. Black women are not asked this question. Asian, Polynesian, Chicano, and biracial actors are not given a rag to bite down on. This is the Mandingo-cliche of the film biz, a throwback to the notion of “the flower of white womanhood.” To see it on casting interviews still makes my eyes cross. It’s part of mainstream movies too—it’s just baldfaced in porn casting, for obvious reasons.
Her interpretation of Joanna Angel’s controversial remarks in the House of Ass video is about the same as mine:
Joanna hasn’t simply foregone a black lover in her history—I doubt she’s had COFFEE with a black person before this shoot. You can tell that her life is segregated, like most suburban teens. It occurred to me that that entering a porn career might be many people’s first social encounter of any kind outside their demographic. Hello Amerikka!
Have a look. The essay is definitely worth a read.
[Via Susie Bright’s Journal]
More: Porn,
Racism,
Racial Bias,
Controversy,
Joanna Angel,
Tristan Taormino,
Susie Bright
(1)
10 April 06 in Commentary
Bacchus asks why color matters.
I guess I’m still old-fashioned enough to dream of a world where a pretty naked woman is judged not by the color of her skin, but by the contents of her birthday suit.
It’s certainly a fine sentiment—as nice as dreaming of a world where a young woman can walk down the street in a skimpy top without being harassed. Unfortunately we have a long way to go. Here’s why color matters:
- Because mainstream pornography and erotica are overwhelmingly white. Go ahead—tour the top babelogs, the top erotic photography sites and the top alternative porn sites. The mainstream has a beauty standard—a default setting if you will—and it is most certainly not colorblind.
- Because where non-white models do appear they are regularly stereotyped. Ethnic models are commonly presented as fetish objects: the “hot-blooded” Latin, the “submissive” Asian, the “ghetto” African-American and so on. A whole segment of the industry exists specifically to promote these kinds of stereotypes. This won’t change until we change the way people look at race and sexuality.
- Because even now, in 2006, crossing color lines is a big deal. I’ve covered the porn industry’s problem with race. Given the rampant discrimination within the industry it’s no surprise the end product reflects and reinforces the worst stereotypes. Simply ignoring race won’t make the problem go away.
- Because challenging porn’s portrayal of racial and ethnic groups is no different than challenging porn’s portrayal of women. The quality smut out there today owes its existence to people who critiqued the way women are portrayed (and treated) in the Valley. It’s about time someone looked at race and porn with an equally critical eye.
To me, denying difference altogether is just as dangerous as fetishizing it. If you never look at race you end up sweeping a lot of problems under the proverbial rug. Color-blindness (like gender-blindness) is a luxury of privilege.
Bacchus argues that beauty is beauty, and I agree. Beauty is what you’ll find here, minus the stereotypes, the racial-fetishes and the monotone color scheme you’ll find in most other places.
And if I can make someone think twice before picking up a copy of “Me Luv U Long Time” or “Phat Booty Hoes” then I’ve done my job.
More: FAQ,
Porn,
Stereotypes,
Racism,
Racial Bias
(1)
7 April 06 in Commentary
Pornography occupies a precarious position in American life. On one hand, social conservatives would just as well do away with it altogether. On the other, social liberals and sex-positive types have profound misgivings about the industry, its practices and its products.
Alt-porn was supposed to get us out of this bind. If its proponents were to be believed, the new sex-positive erotica would undermine the old stereotypes, treat everyone fairly and deliver a product progressives could feel good about. As it turns out, the new porn looks a lot like the old porn plastered over by a clever facade of “cruelty-free” marketing.
I’ve been following the Joannagate controversy closely, in part because I was curious what the pied pipers of alt-porn might have to say about Joanna Angel’s remarks. In her response to Sam Sugar, Tristan Taormino, producer of the video segment in question, was kind enough to quote Joanna verbatim:
Continue reading “Don't shit in my mouth and call it a sundae”...
More: Porn,
Racism,
Racial Bias,
Controversy,
Joanna Angel,
Tristan Taormino
(7)
30 March 06 in Roundup
It’s been “things that make you go hmmm…” week here at ethnorotica:
More: Shout Outs,
Roundup,
Porn,
New York,
New York Magazine,
Joanna Angel,
Blackface,
Racism,
Racial Bias,
Controversy
27 March 06 in Commentary
I’ve been puzzling over this article published in the Washington Post on Sunday.
The marriage rate for African Americans has been dropping since the 1960s, and today, we have the lowest marriage rate of any racial group in the United States. In 2001, according to the U.S. Census, 43.3 percent of black men and 41.9 percent of black women in America had never been married, in contrast to 27.4 percent and 20.7 percent respectively for whites. African American women are the least likely in our society to marry. In the period between 1970 and 2001, the overall marriage rate in the United States declined by 17 percent; but for blacks, it fell by 34 percent. Such statistics have caused Howard University relationship therapist Audrey Chapman to point out that African Americans are the most uncoupled people in the country.
The author goes on to cite several factors she sees as primarily responsible for the decline in the black marriage rate:
Sex, love and childbearing have become a la carte choices rather than a package deal that comes with marriage. Moreover, in an era of brothers on the “down low,” the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and the decline of the stable blue-collar jobs that black men used to hold, linking one’s fate to a man makes marriage a risky business for a black woman.
I think the phenomenon is less attributable to race per se than to class. My analysis here is admittedly unscientific, but those in my peer group who went on to college, stuck it out and committed themselves to careers were more likely to end up in stable relationships, regardless of race. And they’ve done so in roughly equal percentages. In fact, the only out-of-wedlock births among my diverse high school peer group involved white couples.
Not to gloss over the issue of race—the cycle of disenfranchisement, poverty and lowered expectations is certainly a huge factor here—but considering either race or class in a vacuum doesn’t yield much insight.
More: Relationships,
Black,
Racial Bias
(1)
23 March 06 in Commentary
ColorLines magazine, via AlterNet, has a story up about a course in African-American sexuality being offered at a university in California. I thought the article was enlightening in terms of some of the issues that have been brought up here on ethnorotica:
Race “hasn’t been dealt with very well” in sexuality studies, Melendez says. Despite the fact that many people of color are interested in the topic, “there has been mainly a large group of white men and women in the field of sexuality. A lot has to do with the word ‘sexuality’; it gets associated with white people.” Melendez finds that when the word “sexuality” gets added to a course title, people of color don’t enroll.
As has been amply demonstrated in the world of erotica, even where people of different races and ethnicities are included, their sexuality is defined in terms of the “white gaze.”
Another reason for the low numbers of students of color in sexuality studies courses may have to do with the way race plays out in the mostly white classroom. “I spend all day talking about sexuality. I can say anything in my classes, and nobody will be shocked. But when [I] start talking about race, it often becomes a sensitive subject for my students,” Melendez says. “When we really start talking about what race means, we get uncomfortable. Students tend to think that if you know somebody’s race, you know a lot about them. I think that’s not true. Everybody experiences race and ethnicity differently. If you’re white, does that mean we can presume to know everything about you? It’s really important to de-teach [my sexuality studies students] about race. [I] constantly try to bring race and ethnicity into the conversation.”
Race, like money, is still very much a taboo subject, even among those who let it all hang out so to speak. Have a look and, ahem, try to ignore the trolls in the comments section.
[Props to Viv]
More: Sexuality,
Academia,
Racial Bias,
Stereotypes
20 March 06 in Commentary
Over at SugarBank, the mysterious Sam Sugar links to an Arena Magazine story about the rampant racism in America’s porn industry. He also picks apart Luke Ford’s nauseatingly ignorant rebuttal:
I like Luke’s, his writing’s pretty much essential for the industry and he’s often entertaining. This piece I had a problem with. He appears to have agreed with ‘The Bell Curve’ and digested a lot of talk radio but missed ‘Freakanomics’, ‘The Culture of Fear’, ‘Blink’ and ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’. His opinions are malformed enough to demand a response. So rising to the bait I go…
I have mixed feelings about Sam’s essay. On one hand, Sam eloquently deflates Luke Ford’s “arguments” (which may as well be lifted straight out of the Aryan Nation playbook). On the other hand, Sam gives Ford way too much credit.
It’s the racist, misogynistic scumbags of America’s “gonzo” porn industry—people like Luke Ford and his friends—who have given freedom of sexual expression a bad name. They are in large part responsible for the federal government’s crackdown on everything erotic, and they’re the reason that even progressives in this country blush at the thought of rising to the defense of the jizz biz.
Consumers, as always, are voting with their feet. Is it any surprise there’s such high demand these days for alt porn? For porn produced outside the US?
The scumbags of Porn Valley can rant all they want but the rules of the game are changing: non-white performers like Lexington Steele are going into business for themselves; production of English-language content is diversifying beyond the Valley; the rise of broadband makes it ridiculously easy to reach the consumer; an emerging generation of progressive commentators and bloggers are becoming the new tastemakers in erotica…
And we’re going to give these dinosaurs a well-deserved shove into the tar pits of obscurity.
More: Pornography,
Racism,
Stereotypes,
Racial Bias
(4)
13 March 06 in Found
I have to come clean here. You see, in junior high I fell in with a bad crowd, a group of multi-racial misfits who studied martial arts, collected manga and anime, went to comic-cons and traded duffel bags full of illicit hentai. Luckily for me I eventually discovered girls and thus spared myself a lifetime of collecting little figurines and living in my parents’ basement. Others weren’t so lucky.
It amuses me that years later the fodder for my adolescent fixations has suddenly acquired coolhunting cachet. We in America like to poke fun at the Japanese for their use of Engrish and their appropriation of the most ridiculous bits of American culture, but I’m quite certain they feel the same way regarding our fetishizing of “deviant” Japanese sexuality and otaku culture.
I heaved a wistful sigh and decided to share this little anecdote when I stumbled upon this guide to drawing manga characters (for the uninitiated, just think graphic novels—I know some purist living in his mom’s basement is shaking his fist at me right now). As you scroll through the illustrations pay close attention to the physical ideal that’s being presented here. Though I still consider myself somewhat of a manga and anime fan, the hyper-westernized, almost pedophilic character of the artwork never sat well with me. Clearly Asian characteristics are usually reserved for old folks or else very one-dimensional minor characters.
It’s perhaps not surprising that a society which perpetuates racism versus outsiders also struggles with internalized racism—this duality lies at the core of all forms of irrational discrimination.
[Via Sexoteric]
More: Asian,
Japanese,
Manga,
Stereotypes,
Racial Bias
(2)
9 March 06 in Media
There’s a great new show that courageously tackles the subject of race in America—a show that is smart, cynical, funny, and at times even heartwarming.
That show is called The Boondocks.
Then there’s this other show—a show that purports to confront racial stereotypes yet promotes the idea there’s such a thing as a “typical” white or black family; a show that lets us wallow in our cherished superstitions without really confronting them; a show that pretends a little spray-paint and makeup can stand in, even on a temporary basis, for something as complex as racial and cultural identity.
I’m talking of course about Black. White. The premise is simple enough: two families—one black, the other white—“switch” races via the miracle of cosmetics, then walk a figurative mile in each others’ shoes.
Continue reading “Black? White? WTF?”...
More: Television,
Black,
Stereotypes,
Racial Bias,
Controversy,
Black. White.,
The Boondocks
(1)
2 March 06 in Commentary
A few days ago the lovely and talented Audacia sent me a couple of ethnorotica-related links. And that got me thinking (dangerous, I know)—where the fuck are all the non-white sex bloggers, at least when it comes to blogs in the English language? I thought, for certain, that a review of Naked Loft Party’s blogroll would turn up at least a few. But no. It’s a sea of lily-white, with maybe a couple exceptions. A cursory review of the blogrolls at the top sex blogs out there revealed more of the same.
The obvious question is why? I know plenty of non-white writers, plenty of non-white kinksters, plenty of non-white people who keep diaries, so why aren’t they, y’know, representing? Are white people, due to whatever sense of privilege they share, more likely to expose themselves in this way? I’m not posing this question merely to be inflammatory; I genuinely want to know.
The general blogosphere’s diversity problem is much discussed of course (it both amuses and terrifies me that Gawker has a special correspondent for brown-people issues), but I dare say the sexblogosphere’s diversity problem is even more pronounced. Okay, so we had the short-lived blogging career of the loathsome and mannish Jessica Cutler, but you know what they say about exceptions that prove the rule. The funny thing is the sex-positive types I know are generally a progressive bunch, so I ask again, what’s the fucking deal here?
More: Racial Bias,
Sexblogs,
Blogging
(2)
27 February 06 in Commentary
Well no, not really. Blogger and sociologist Rachel E. Sullivan is apparently surprised to discover the internet is, in fact, a treasure trove of interracial porn:
When I first started studying interracial relationships, I thought I may be able to use the internet to locate Black/White couples to participate in my study. I would use Google or Yahoo!, and type phrases like “interracial relationships” or “interracial marriage.” Much to my chagrin most of the results that came up were pornographic websites.
It’s already well-known that the primary purpose of the internet is to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of pornographic content in the event of nuclear warfare. And we’ve already established that human beings are obsessed with both race and sex, so it does stand to reason that the intersection of the two whips people into a frenzy. Porn is, if you will, where the cultural zeitgeist is really at.
Rachel’s detailed analysis of pervy search results is worth a look, as are her conclusions, even though they aren’t terribly shocking to someone who spends as much time crawling through our culture’s muck as I do.
[Via Mixed Media Watch]
More: Pornography,
Stereotypes,
Racial Bias,
Interracial
21 February 06 in Commentary
Seattle dominatrix Mistress Matisse wrote an interesting column for The Stranger about otaku white guys in the BDSM scene who run around in flimsy kimonos like they’re the second coming of Tokugawa Ieyasu:
Now, The Last Samurai was an entertaining movie, but in real life I tend to be skeptical about white people claiming to be privy to the intimate traditions of a nonwhite cultures, especially when the only tangible evidence of that looks very much like a polyester bathrobe I saw on sale at Pier 1. It’s not wrong to want to feel like you’re part of something larger than yourself, but I think the kimono guys have misunderstood how they’re being perceived by others. White people have a long tradition of co-opting other culture’s dress and manners to the point of absurdity, and when I meet a neo-nawashi type, he usually reminds me more of Vanilla Ice than Ken Watanabe.
What was that? The sound of a nail getting struck on the head? I think so.
Ironically, in the same post where she mentions the kimono column Matisse links to another Stranger feature entitled “Seattle’s Sexiest 2006.” Go have a look right now.
Done? Good. Upon loading the page the first thing I grumbled to myself was “Seattle’s whitest people, maybe.” I know Seattle is fairly melatonin-challenged, but damn, can’t they do better than that?
[Via Mistress Matisse]
More: Bondage,
Asian,
Stereotypes,
Racial Bias,
Mistress Matisse
16 February 06 in Commentary
In a nation that thinks The Olive Garden (or the local Chef Wu’s) is exotic cuisine, it’s not surprising that adult entertainment involving non-white performers is marketed as “fetish” to the basest consumer. While I enjoy some categories of ethnic erotica the titles are so often cringeworthy that I have to take a pass on principle.
Exhibit A. I’d wager that Asian women the world over wish Full Metal Jacket had never been made. The throwaway lines “Me so horny” and “Me love you long time” have been fodder for jokes and pop songs since the movie was released almost 20 years ago. I have to hand it to them though: the geniuses of the porn marketing world do get right down to the point.
Continue reading “Why ethnorotica?”...
More: FAQ,
Pornography,
Stereotypes,
Racial Bias,
Asians,
Interracial,
Monster Cocks
(5)
