TY - JOUR

T1 - Racial dodging in the porn industry

T2 - a case with no silver bullet

AU - Landes, Xavier

AU - Nielsen, Morten Ebbe Juul

PY - 2018/4/3

Y1 - 2018/4/3

N2 - Racial dodging is endemic in the porn industry. It mostly takes place when Caucasian female performers refuse to shoot scenes with African American male performers, ask them to be removed from productions or ask for bonuses for shooting interracial scenes. The issue has caused intense debates in the industry. We contribute to these debates by offering a moral evaluation of racial dodging. We show that it unfolds a tension between two legitimate moral concerns: equality and self-ownership. More specifically, we make three claims: two specific and one general. We claim that: actresses have the right to refuse to perform in interracial scenes; actresses do not have the right to ask (or to expect) non-Caucasian performers to be removed from productions, or in other ways act as substantial obstacles to equality in this particular job market; and racial dodging is mostly not a problem with individual actresses. Racial dodging is the consequence of historical prejudices and structural racism. In that sense, we argue that the current focus on (Caucasian) actresses alone is misleading, which contributes to obscure broader responsibilities that fall on producers, directors and the public.

AB - Racial dodging is endemic in the porn industry. It mostly takes place when Caucasian female performers refuse to shoot scenes with African American male performers, ask them to be removed from productions or ask for bonuses for shooting interracial scenes. The issue has caused intense debates in the industry. We contribute to these debates by offering a moral evaluation of racial dodging. We show that it unfolds a tension between two legitimate moral concerns: equality and self-ownership. More specifically, we make three claims: two specific and one general. We claim that: actresses have the right to refuse to perform in interracial scenes; actresses do not have the right to ask (or to expect) non-Caucasian performers to be removed from productions, or in other ways act as substantial obstacles to equality in this particular job market; and racial dodging is mostly not a problem with individual actresses. Racial dodging is the consequence of historical prejudices and structural racism. In that sense, we argue that the current focus on (Caucasian) actresses alone is misleading, which contributes to obscure broader responsibilities that fall on producers, directors and the public.

KW - Equality

KW - interracial

KW - pornographic industry

KW - racial discrimination

KW - self-ownership

U2 - 10.1080/23268743.2018.1435302

DO - 10.1080/23268743.2018.1435302

M3 - Journal article

VL - 5

SP - 115

EP - 130

JO - Porn Studies

JF - Porn Studies

SN - 2326-8743

IS - 2

ER -