{"id":468,"date":"2010-04-27T07:12:28","date_gmt":"2010-04-27T11:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blasianbytch.com\/?p=468"},"modified":"2010-06-13T06:49:50","modified_gmt":"2010-06-13T10:49:50","slug":"justin-long-takes-a-stand-but-sitting-out-on-ir-porn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blasianbytch.com\/?p=468","title":{"rendered":"Justin Long Takes a Stand, by Sitting Out on I\/R Porn"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/a>
\n<\/div>\n

This is a response to Justin Long’s Op-Ed<\/a> on Luke is Back.<\/p>\n

Justin Long Takes a Stand<\/h1>\n

\"\"After reading Justin Long\u2019s frank and open op-ed, I had many questions -Why didn\u2019t this happen already? Will others follow? Will there be a backlash? \u00a0One thing I never questioned was the frustration and anger behind his choice or my support of it.<\/p>\n

The designation of substandard \u201cotherness\u201d has always been imposed on black bodies; the same script has titillated the American public since Birth of a Nation<\/em>. \u00a0Even as more racial and ethnic groups enter the gamut they are still weighed on the white vs. black scale. You see it everywhere, politics, entertainment and most openly the sex industry.<\/p>\n

I would like to say that I\u2019m 100% for everyone getting the opportunity to be depicted as \u00a0sensual and whole beings. I support everyone fucking. \u00a0Most of the erotica I write is categorized as interracial.\u00a0 My support of Justin Long\u2019s choice is not about my own issues with race mixing. \u00a0I will admit that I am not a porn actress; and actually don\u2019t consume a great deal of heterosexual porn. \u00a0I am, however, an exotic dancer as well as a journalist who writes and reads a great deal about sex, gender and media. I\u2019m also a mixed race Black woman.<\/p>\n

My first exposure to racism had its roots growing up in a suburban town where I wasn\u2019t invited to birthday parties of my white and Jewish friends for fear the little n*gg*r wouldn\u2019t be well behaved.\u00a0 Black American friends had a distain for my mother Caribbean heritage, often mistaken for African. Race was an isolating element. It made the world into a very confusing game of them and us. \u00a0I couldn\u2019t really be on any team.<\/p>\n

My first exposure to racism in pornography came when I was a freshman in college. \u00a0\u00a0My first interview as a journalism student was a South American born Asian man that produced and stared in gonzo movies for his own site. My story was about the representation of \u201cmodel minorities\u201d in pornography. He explained to me that he did not make interracial porn.<\/p>\n

My mind was blown, he was an Asian man having sex with White women, how was it not? \u00a0He justified his statement by saying, \u00a0\u201ca movie is only interracial if the man is Black\u201d. \u00a0I wrote him off as being in denial then, but as I talked to more Asians and Indians that performed in American porn almost all of them repeated what he said. \u00a0They performed almost exclusively with White performers because they were considered White.<\/p>\n

When I asked him why the vast majority of women on his site were White, he told me there weren\u2019t enough Asian, Black and Hispanic women in porn to shoot with them. \u00a0Of course many of the women on his site claimed to not be professionals.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t take an ivy leaguer to smell bullshit when it\u2019s hurled in their face. If this man actually believed this or not I never questioned but porn releases and sales don\u2019t lie. There are plenty of women of color working in the adult industry.<\/p>\n

My sophomore year was the nadir of my college career. I failed a required math class to remain in my school\u2019s honor college losing a sizable scholarship. Rather than admit to my parents I chose to become a dancer. This was also the year I took basic reporting.<\/p>\n

On the suggestion of my co-workers I started to research and learn about prostitution on the Internet. \u00a0This opened my eyes to just how backwards the adult and sex industries in this country are.<\/p>\n

As part of my final Basic Reporting project I posed as an escort. \u00a0To be believable I mimicked an escort ad to get people to call my phone where I could then interview them about their experiences.\u00a0 I arbitrarily copied an ad in this case a Blonde \u201cmilf\u201d. \u00a0I changed enough for it to be plausible ad for myself. This particular ad had on the bottom:<\/p>\n

\u201c I am not a racist, but I only service Caucasian gentlemen\u201d<\/p>\n

I changed my ad to say I was exclusive to Asian men, I received some calls, mostly from White men and interviewed them and almost all of them said my ad caught their eye because \u201chere was this black girl with the audacity to exclude customers\u201d. \u00a0Many easily spotted it as a fake simply because of that.<\/p>\n

After all Black or \u201cEbony\u201d providers don\u2019t exclude Whites. \u00a0I was also told that my price was too high, they wouldn\u2019t pay that much unless I was a porn star. The ad only had me valued at $600.<\/p>\n

It was one of the most baffling showing of White Privilege I\u2019ve ever seen. Why would a provider\u2019s race mean she didn\u2019t have the power to be as selective with her johns as the next woman? Why was a white woman automatically more valuable?<\/p>\n

Fortunately my teacher put a stop to my story fearing I was putting my life in danger, not to mention the unethical method of gathering information. \u00a0I never got to dive deeper, speak to agencies that asked for \u201cclassy\u201d women , but really wanted White and light skinned Latinas.<\/p>\n

I did however learn a thing or to about sex and race first hand when I began dancing at underground parties, bachelor parties and special events at strip clubs. \u00a0Each promoter had his or her own idea of how to \u201cmarket\u201d me. \u00a0When they asked my race I would say \u201c I\u2019m black and Asian\u201d. They would frown and explain that I wasn\u2019t \u201cAsian\u201d enough to be billed as Asian.<\/p>\n

When I got to events there was my name and underneath it \u201cLatina\u201d, \u201cPersian\u201d, \u201cRedbone\u201d and if I was lucky \u201cEbony\u201d. It was as if the word BLACK was taboo, like it would some how bring down my value.<\/p>\n

The only times I would be billed as Asian was when I wore my hair straight, or wore a long straight black weave. I was even asked to speak as much Korean as possible. Which is ignorant on a great many levels.\u00a0 One night I was asked not to speak at all.<\/p>\n

Promoters often asked me to escort when I explicitly said I would not. They would say things like \u201cThis White man will pay a lot of money for you,\u201d As if it was shocking that I had the audacity to refuse a White man\u2019s dollar.<\/p>\n

I wonder how many times the White dancers were begged to see men of color, were they also called stuck up, or uppity for refusing to go out of their boundaries. \u00a0Did they get booked as Black, Asian or Latina when they were not?<\/p>\n

My \u201chaughtiness\u201d cost me a lot of future jobs I suppose, but I didn\u2019t feel that anyone had the right to pressure me to do things based on my race, size or gender. \u00a0Sadly many did not think I had that privilege.<\/p>\n

Privilege is the very basis of the racial hierarchy in America shown most unapologetically in pornography. \u00a0Imagine a major Hollywood studio making a film that depicted people of color in the way most porn does. Hell would break loose, books would be written and Oprah would cry solemnly into a camera.<\/p>\n

None of that happens with porn because too many people think, its just porn. \u00a0That \u00a0mentality not only dehumanized every performer and participant in the industry but propagates the mindset that it\u2019s not worth reform.<\/p>\n

Many will cry \u00a0\u201cThis is America I have a right to free speech,\u201d of course you do but if there is never a voice of opposition or another view point then all that\u2019s created is a cesspool. That\u2019s what American porn for the most part has become.<\/p>\n

The industry faces staggering downsizing and is failing to see opportunity to grow. The argument is that White males buy most of the movies. \u00a0Are all White males really that racist? \u00a0I would like to hope not.\u00a0 I\u2019ve spoken to a number of white men that find the racist undertones in pornography off putting and make them reluctant to purchase it.<\/p>\n

Using this excuse it a self-fulfilling prophesy. \u00a0If the movies made lack diversity, and don\u2019t appeal to women and people of color why should we buy them? \u00a0\u00a0This is a lesson many entertainment industries are learning, publishing companies are acknowledging how they shot themselves in the foot by excluding women, and people of color on the covers of books as well as in their pages. The adult industry is choking itself with an outdated attitude and business model.<\/p>\n

What Justin Long is doing is spiting in the face of the archaic notion that people of color are not initialed to the same privileges and value as their White counterparts.<\/p>\n

If you honestly don\u2019t think this isn\u2019t about privilege consider this, if an Asian woman said that she only wanted to perform with Asian men- would she be able to support herself in America being a porn actress? \u00a0Why is there such a divide between the respects that a Black female actress and White one receive? \u00a0Why are performers stripped of racial and ethnic identity at the will of producers and managers and how often does this happen to their White counterparts?<\/p>\n

I know I could never be a \u201cEbony\u201d adult actress and perform exclusively with the type of men I usually date \u00a0and expect a long mainstream career. \u00a0Even if I had my own site, would the talent even want to work with me a Black BBW and make themselves part of the \u201cfetish\u201d or \u201cniche\u201d market of performers?<\/p>\n

Now ask \u2026 would my White counter part be able so say, \u201cI want to work exclusively with White performers\u201d, and the more accurate \u201c I want to work with anyone but Black talent,\u201d? \u00a0Would studios, management, and industry back her?<\/p>\n

Justin Long is rebelling against a hierarchy that never served a purpose other than to dehumanize, segregate and propagate hateful attitudes. \u00a0So I stand behind this man who is sacrificing his way of life to make a statement that it has to stop. I implore you to do the same.<\/p>\n\n

<\/div>

These Might Tickle Your Fancy:<\/h3>