May 22, 2023
Fetishes in Porn and Systemic Violence
The porn world has become a monopoly. Two companies (Mindgeek and WGCZ Holding) own nearly all the popular porn sites according to BISHUK, a website designed as a guide to sex for everyone over fourteen years old. This particular article discusses the connection between capitalism and porn and relates it to systemic inequalities. Although this may seem like a jump from an economic to a social perspective of porn, the author, Justin Hancock, illustrates how it is all related: “Just like the rest of society, [porn] tells should stories about gender, sexuality, and sex itself.” He defines should stories as messages that we receive in society about how we should do things, also referred to as societal expectations. The impact that porn has on societal ideology regarding sex quickly extends to the treatment of racial and gendered groups. The fetishization of these groups in porn videos is common and subconsciously normalizes prejudiced views, and in some cases, violence. Those that I found most afflicted are people of color and transgender folks, particularly Black people and transgender women. The way that porn depicts people through fetishization directly aligns with the already existing power dynamics in society and reinforces harmful stereotypes, resulting in microaggressions and possible violence. I will be analyzing this connection by examining the popular website, Pornhub, and drawing on the portrayals of Black and transgender people.
Upon first glance on Pornhub, the category “Ethnicity” is the first to appear. Just a few of the options within this category consist of Ebony, Japanese, Interracial, Korean, Brazilian, Latina, and Asian. Concerning the topic of my essay, the particular ones that I looked into were Ebony and Interracial. These two groups were interestingly similar regarding the type of videos and their respective titles. The acronym BBC was in the majority of the titles, known in the porn industry as Big Black Cock. This acronym was specially incorporated in the Interracial category with titles like BBC-hungry and BBC-addicted blonde, both of which the female partners were white and the male partners were Black. Similarly, genitalia and secondary sex characteristics were described with the use of the word Black right before them, further emphasizing the racial component of the video. The same was not done with videos of solely white people. Additionally, I found a difference between how Black men and women were portrayed in interracial porn videos. Women were characterized by having bigger butts and were often described as thick. Moreover, Black women were often paired with more than one white man in a way that portrayed the woman as specifically wanting the white racial aspect of the sexual encounter. Black men also tended to be paired with white partners (primarily women), mostly in scenes where aggressive or rough sex occurred. The body types between Black men and their white women partners differed with the men tall and built while the women were shorter and petite. The opposite was seen with Black women and white men; the women were heavier set while the men appeared noticeably skinnier. My overall takeaway from the racial categorization in porn is that stereotypes are reinforced by using body type, racial hierarchy, and gendered roles.
In an industry with “an atmosphere [already] loaded with gendered and racist hierarchy,” it is no surprise that this translates over to the films themselves (Berg 4). Racial subcategories are becoming more widespread as a specific feature of porn sites, allowing viewers an easier way to divide their sexual desires and fetishes by race. Although “Black actors gained new access to the industry” with the creation of racial subgenres in porn, the fetishization of their race depicted a social standard of viewing Black people as sexual objects (Berg 14). The stereotype of Black people being over sexual beings has existed since the time of slavery and remains a present issue today. In an NPR podcast episode discussing sex stereotypes of African Americans, it is brought up that Black people, particularly Black men, tend to be viewed as animalistic in their sexual desires. Sex educator and professor Herbert Samuels expressed the theory that some Black men have internalized the hypersexual stereotype and have come to accept it as a part of them, despite the lack of evidence supporting this myth. Through porn, stereotypes such as these are exploited by producers and performers in an attempt to enhance appearances and appeal to racialized sexual desires. The racial impressions in porn represent more than sexual desires, as they also display the social dynamics of race that persist in society (Hoang 153). The stereotype of Black men being aggressive in a sexual context that is shown in porn aids the corresponding societal belief of having dangerous personalities and contributes to the violence against Black men. Furthermore, the portrayal of Black women as hypersexual can be directly associated with the sexual violence they experience in and outside of sexual encounters. Considering these connections, I have found that how Black people are depicted in porn leads to greater violence in real life.
Another category listed on Pornhub was LGBTQ with the subcategories lesbian, transgender, and bisexual male. Amongst these, I inspected transgender porn videos and titles. Immediately, I noticed that almost all of the videos were about trans women and rarely ever involved trans men. The porn with trans women fetishized transgender femme people who had not undergone bottom surgery, meaning that they still have a penis. One of the first titles I saw included a slur used for trans people (t****y) with the adjective Black in front of it. Touching back on the racial fetishes seen in porn, using Black as a describing word emphasizes the racial component intersecting with gendered sexualization. Similarly, the words used in the transgender subcategory highlighted the gender and, problematically, genitalia components. I saw others with derogatory terms in the title such as Sissy crossdresser, Tgirl, Ladyboy, and most commonly, Shemale. The use of these words not only invalidates transgender identities but also fetishizes the mere fact that a person is transgender. It becomes less the style of porn and the sexual acts incorporated that people seek out in transgender videos and rather seeking out those who are gender non-conforming. In some titles, there was an emphasis on the genitals of the person, using phrases such as Shemale with a Monster Cock. Seeing that genitalia is emphasized over gender identity in porn exposes the transphobic fetishes that are readily available for people at the click of a button. People don’t even need to search it up since it is so common of a topic that transgender sexualization has become its own category in porn. This fetishization has become normalized for those who watch porn, therefore, normalizing transphobic views as well. Establishing such beliefs sexually can lead to a predisposition of enacting sexual violence toward gender-diverse people.
The fetishizing of transgender people, particularly their genitals, is harmful for several reasons. A focus on the genitalia of trans people can make out their gender identity to be inauthentic. Since “sex/gender functions through perpetuating symbolic ideals of masculinity and femininity,” gender-diverse people are already in a place where they have to prove their authenticity (Irving 162). In addition, they have to combat catcalling, discrimination, sexual assault, and violence in their daily lives. Because of the exposure to transphobic fetishization in porn, trans folks are much more susceptible to abuse. It is also how transgender people are sexualized in porn that causes the fetishism that “refers specifically to the sexual investment in transness [...] as an overvalued sexual object,” thus dehumanizing trans people as the equivalent of a sex toy (Anzani, et al.). Simply seeing sexualizing language being used can give transgender people a feeling of dysphoria and vulnerability. Furthermore, microaggressions towards gender non-conforming people are often rooted in sexuality stereotypes, with people fetishizing trans folks by suggesting specific sexual acts based on their appearance. Not only are requests made but some people expect gender-diverse people to perform these “characteristic” sexual acts of interest. A study published in the “Archives of Sexual Behavior: The Official Publication of the International Academy of Sex Research,” revealed transgender and non-binary people’s personal perceptions of sex stereotypes; transgender women are assumed to be hypersexual, non-binary folks presumed to enjoy having sex with multiple partners, and transmasculine individuals deemed to be submissive in sexual scenarios (Anzani, et al.). Gender non-conforming people go into sexual experiences with these fears in mind, which can lead to avoidance of being in such situations to escape fetishization and possible violence. The connection between transgender portrayal in porn and fetishization in real-life situations is notably present and affects the livelihood, mental health, and physical safety of gender-diverse people.
In just the year of 2014, Pornhub received 79 billion video views (Lim, et al. 3). Considering the expansion in media access in the past nine years, we can assume that this number has significantly increased since then. The fetishization of Black people and transgender folks in porn is more available than it has ever been, causing greater internalization of racist and transphobic views, ultimately resulting in violent and harmful sexual tendencies. Outside of the personal effect, racial and gendered sexualization through porn can lead to reinforcing negative sex stereotypes that already exist within society. I argue that these fetishes appear in porn due to the existing societal stereotypes in an attempt to further exploit and capitalize on marginalized groups. In a society where discrimination is prioritized over acceptance, Black people and those who identify as transgender receive the worst of it, with the issue of societal prejudice intersecting into their sex lives. This intersection exposes these groups to a greater risk of violence, thus forcing them to live in a world that is unsafe for them, whether it is walking down the street or in the bedroom.
References
Anzani, A., Lindley, L., Tognasso, G., Galupo, M. P., & Prunas, A. (2021). “Being talked to like I was a sex toy, like being transgender was simply for the enjoyment of someone else”: Fetishization and sexualization of transgender and nonbinary individuals. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 50(3), 897–911. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-01935-8
Berg, H. (2021). Porn work: Sex, labor, and late capitalism. UNC Press Books.
Enke, F. (2012). Transfeminist perspectives in and beyond transgender and gender studies. Temple University Press.
Free porn videos & sex movies - Porno, XXX, porn tube. (n.d.). Pornhub. Retrieved May 20, 2023, from https://www.pornhub.com
Hancock, J. (2021, November 12). Capitalism and porn. BISH. https://www.bishuk.com/porn/capitalism-and-porn/
Hoang, K. K. (2015). Dealing in desire: Asian ascendancy, Western decline, and the hidden currencies of global sex work. Univ of California Press.
Lim, M. S. C., Carrotte, E. R., & Hellard, M. E. (2016). The impact of pornography on gender-based violence, sexual health and well-being: What do we know? Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (1979-), 70(1), 3–5. https://doi.org/10.2307/44017657
NPR. (2007, May 7). Sex stereotypes of African Americans have long history. NPR. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10057104