Ethnicity of performers in pornography

Pornography based on the ethnicity of performers or interracial pornography is pornography that depicts Human sexual behavior between performers of different ethnic groups.

Although ethnic pornography has always been a genre of pornography, it began growing in visibility during the 1980s as attitudes towards interracial sexual relationships became more relaxed. Its popularity grew considerably during the 1990s, and in the 2000s it has become a prominent aspect of pornography.

Ethnic pornography typically employs ethnic and racial stereotypes in its depiction of performers.

Ethnic pornography
Ethnic pornography intended for a general audience typically features members of significant minority ethnic groups, particularly those seen as exotic. Such people may be seen as sexually unattainable and therefore mysterious and exciting, or as promiscuous or sexually biddable. A viewer may be curious about what people of different ethnic groups look like with their clothes off, or in the visual contrast between people of different races. Ethnic pornography may provide extra titillation by breaking taboos regarding socially unacceptable ethnic or racial stereotypes, interracial sex, or old anti-miscegenation laws.

As an example, pornography catering to Westerners' curiosity about Arabs has appeared in the wake of recent conflicts between the West and some countries in the Middle East. A new genre of Iraq War-themed pornography, depicting Western men and Arab women, has arisen in the mid-2000s. Perhaps this was inspired by the recent military actions and influx of Westerners in the area.

Ethnic pornography may also be intended for members of an ethnic group who are interested in looking at people of their own group. For example, there are a number of Jewish pornography websites whose material seems primarily directed at Jews and Asian-themed sites that target East Asian men. There are also pornography websites aimed at the Arab, Indian and Pakistani markets, areas in which traditional morals and attitudes toward women make dating difficult or impossible for many young men.

Portrayal in pornography
Ethnic pornography frequently depicts performers using ethnic and racial stereotypes. With few exceptions, members of each race are portrayed as having a high sex drive


 * Asian women: Sometimes portrayed as sexually submissive. Western film and literature has promoted stereotypes of Asian women, such as depicting Asian women as cunning and seductive "Dragon Ladies", as servile "Lotus Blossom Babies", "China dolls", "Geisha girls", war brides, or prostitutes. Japanese media have also at times sensationalistically promoted the stereotype of Japanese women overseas as "yellow cabs".


 * Black Africans: The stereotype of virility and penis size of Black men are usually emphasized in ethnic pornography.


 * Latins/Hispanics: Many Latin performers are categorized by race instead of ethnicity, and are described as white, Black, mestizo or mulatto, or American Indian.

Interracial pornography
In the past, some of American pornography's leading white actresses were allegedly warned to avoid African-Americans, 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 critic Sheldon Ranz wrote in 1997 that "we keep hearing a lot about 'the powers that be' that tell white women that it's not in their 'interest' to work with blacks. Is there any proof that Ginger [Lynn]'s scene with Tony El-Lay in Undressed Rehearsal hurt her career? Nina Hartley still gets lots of bookings in Southern strip clubs, especially Texas, even though she is an avowed interracialist."

In recent years, interracial films have increased in popularity. Many of these films still include racial stereotypes, but the segregation of actors by race has diminished considerably.

Racial fetishism
In academic discourse, racial fetishism is a postcolonialist term found in the writings of authors such as Homi Bhabha, Anne McClintock and Kobena Mercer. The term combines elements of the Freudian psychoanalytic fetish and the Marxist commodity fetish, and is used in the context of British and French colonialism and imperialism and their aftereffects. The term has as its origins Frantz Fanon's epidermal schema and Edward Said's Orientalism.

Homi Bhabha defined the idea of a racial fetish in contrast to the idea of the Freudian sexual fetish which he describes a denial of difference, where the male sees the female as a castrated male, seeing missing parts rather than a different anatomy. Similar to Freud's idea of a fetish, Bhabha defines racial fetish to be a fixation on other races being not different, but lesser or "mutilated" versions of the white male.