TO: All Gay Porn Studio Executives
FROM: MOC BLOG
RE: Reaffirming All Colors In Studio Movies
DATE: Today
Wow. What a month, huh? You’re probably just as amazed as I am that the country you and I love – despite its many imperfections – sent a clear and unambiguous message to the rest of the world that we have finally turned a corner in our nation’s history. But Messr. Obama’s victorious claim on the White House is more than just a YouTube moment in viral space and time. There’s something rich in symbolism here that hasn’t been lost on me and many others: the promise of a truly multicultural society. But you’d never know it by looking at the gay adult entertainment industry.
In fact, about the only thing remarkable about the gay porn industry these days is that they haven’t imploded from creative exhaustion. Granted, a few of you are still doing some inventive stuff but if I were a visitor from another planet and had to make some assumptions about the kind of world you inhabited, I’d end up telling my Supreme Leader that Planet Porn (of the gay variety at least) had been taken over by a bunch of Scottsdale, Arizona country club members prior to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Now, before you get all defensive on me, I know what you’re going to say about broadening the ethnic makeup of your performers. And, frankly, I and others have heard it all before: “It’s not our brand,” “It doesn’t sell” and my personal favorite, “Our actors are uncomfortable working with men of color.” Some of you may even fault my logic claiming that if I looked more closely I would unearth of vast tomb of Latino performers already flooding the porn vaults. Well, okay. But to be perfectly honest, if it weren’t for their Hispanic surnames, I would never have recognized most of these guys as anything but SoCal pretty boys.
Look, the reality is you’re confronting two very real, very threatening developments to your economic health. One, the MySpace generation assumes that the eleventh amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to free porn. And, two, the increasingly multi-ethnic makeup of our country means that men (and women) of color no longer must rely on niche programming to satisfy their need for self-identification. In other words, if you don’t start incorporating more diversity in your programming they’ll simply leave you behind and create their own content. It’s cheap. It’s easy. And, increasingly, it’s becoming necessary. But it doesn’t have to be this way, does it? Like the vanquished GOP whose social conservatism is appealing to a steadily shrinking core group of voters, you can continue to churn out pictures for your white-preferring “base” and continue to undermine your bottom line. Or, like Obama and the Democrats, you can ignite the energy and enthusiasm of millions of new porn consumers by adopting an inclusive and diverse platform. The choice is yours: ‘Joe the Plumber’ or ‘Yes, We Can.’
Victor Hoff is the creative force behind MOC Blog, the popular adult blog that has been dissecting porn, sex and culture since 2004. He has written for FlavaLife Magazine, The Huffington Post and Fleshbot and has interviewed some of the brightest names in the Adult Entertainment Industry. His snark can be view daily at menofcolor.blogs.com.
RELATED:
Arty Flesh, Fleshy Art: The New Nude Male
Acrobatic Tranny at Dallas Black Gay Pride
Sex Workers Ask Obama for ‘Relief’