University of Michigan Law School journal dedicated to the exploration of issues relating to race and law

Evading Culpability: Racism in the Porn Industry

April, 2022

In the summer of 2020, Black Lives Matter protests erupted all over the world in response to murders of Black individuals at the hands of law enforcement. The grief and anger kickstarted a conversation. Society was forced to acknowledge that racism is not an issue of the past but is a present evil that must be actively combated. While the fight for racial equality has seen victories over time, the summer of 2020 ushered in a new era— the Era of Accountability. Not only is overt discrimination condemned, but apathy is also criticized. Industries are expected to promote diversity and actively work towards dismantling systems of oppression. Half-hearted statements of solidarity are no longer adequate.

Crowd of protestors hold up signs that say ‘Black Lives Matter.’

How is it then, that amidst this revolutionary demand for racial reconciliation, one industry goes unchecked? Why are so many companies, media outlets, and businesses called to actively fight against racism, while one industry’s rampant racism flies under the radar? Perhaps because people prefer not to discuss such a taboo industry— the pornography industry.

In June 2020, Pornhub joined all other major companies in a corporate rush to publish statements condemning racism.¹ On Twitter, the Pornhub account declared, “Pornhub stands in solidarity against social injustice.”² The company also announced that it would be donating $100k to the Bail Project.³ At the same time Pornhub publicly waved the banner of solidarity, the company saw the rise of a new subgenre: Black Lives Matter porn.⁴ After clicking past the statement condemning racism, users could find videos titled, “White Girl Moans Black Lives Matter While Getting F***** #BLM” and “Black Anal Matters.”⁵ The “BLM Protest” category included a video depicting black men penetrating white women at a supposed BLM protest.⁶

Banner with the ‘Pornhub’ logo.

This should come as no surprise; pornography has capitalized on racist stereotypes for decades.⁷ Under Pornhub’s “Ebony” category, users can find an endless cache of videos depicting black women as individuals with uncontrollable sexuality.⁸ This category features titles such as “White Guy Tames Angry Black Woman” and “Nasty Hood Rat.”⁹ When Black women are not being hypersexualized, they are depicted in situations involving bondage or slavery.¹⁰ Black women are often shown in a submissive posture, usually with two or more white males.¹¹ As one writer commented, “where white women are depicted in pornography as objects, Black women are depicted as animals. Where white women are at least depicted as human bodies, Black women are depicted as shit.”¹²

Images of Black women are exploited by pornography and women of color are exploited by pornographers.¹³ Black people still suffer from economic disadvantages as a result of slavery and segregation.¹⁴ Because of this, many Black women have limited economic opportunities, and are economically and sexually exploited by the pornography industry.¹⁵

Along with being the target of racist stereotypes, workers of color face rampant discrimination within the industry. Performers of color are cast far less often than white actors.¹⁶ One performer explains, “pornography is the least progressive industry in America. There’s no other industry that can say, ‘You are black so you cannot do this movie.’”¹⁷ And once Black women start working as performers, they are treated significantly worse than their white counterparts. Many agencies establish quotas for how often white women can work with Black talent¹⁸ and pay white women exorbitant sums of money for their first shoot with black performers.¹⁹ These practices encourage white individuals to uphold their beliefs that they are superior to their Black counterparts.²⁰

In 2018, a Black performer faced backlash for filing a lawsuit against an adult-film production company.²¹ According to Moe Johnson, the director of this production company, Jim Camp, persuaded a female white co-star to call Johnson the N-word on camera (multiple times) without his consent.²² Johnson’s attorney, Dan Gilleon, explains that “racism seems to flourish in the adult industry because a large segment of society doesn’t care…they say ‘these people aren’t even human and not worthy of our respect or concern, so let them attack each other all they want.’”²³

A closeup photo of Moe Johnson.

The production company’s response to this lawsuit was one of shock and outrage. Enraged by the prospect of being held accountable, Jim Camp messaged Johnson: “You’re a disgrace. To your people. To your family. To yourself.”²⁴ But Johnson stood strong and moved forward with the lawsuit, encouraged by Gilleon who reminds us, “in the law, there’s no exception given to a scenario where it’s a black male sex worker concerning his civil rights…there’s no law that says everyone has the right to a hostile-free or discrimination-free environment except black male sex workers.”²⁵

The porn industry’s formal nod towards racial equality is meaningless. Pornhub’s terms and conditions do not allow “racial slurs or hate speech”, but a search for the N-word turns up thousands of videos with the word in the title, description, or comments.²⁶ While the porn industry pays hypocritical lip service to Black Lives Matter, it profits from stereotypes and racist images that threaten those lives.²⁷ In order to progress in the fight against racial injustice, society “must recognize the glaring contradiction in being concerned about the destructive effects of racism and outraged by all manifestations of it— except when it appears in pornography.”²⁸ If society’s goal is to ultimately eradicate racism, this major industry must be held accountable.