Why do people love “ebony” porn but reject black women IRL?
We all know what a pain dating can be in the digital age, what with ghosting, trolls, unsolicited dick pics, and matches who look nothing like their profile photos. For black women, though, dating can be especially difficult, with loaded questions about where we’re “really from,” so-called compliments that comparing our melanin to food, or in more severe cases, racial slurs and straight-up rejection for simply being black.
Black women aren’t the only women of color who face racism and fetishization in the URL and IRL dating landscapes. What is unique to us, though, is that we’re far less likely than any other group, across gender and race, to be messaged or matched through online dating apps, as well as to experience dating success offline.
It’d be easy to conclude that black women just aren’t considered desirable by other races, including our own, versatile hair and gorgeous range of skin tones aside. But perceptions of our desirability reveals itself in other ways—like through porn viewing habits.
In a recent ten-year report of user data, Pornhub reported that the sixth most popular video category of all time is Ebony. In case you’re not up to speed on porn lingo, “Ebony” describes videos with black or black-passing female performers. I say “black-passing” because, as adult performer Janice Griffith told writer Chelsea G. Summers, “When it comes to shooting women performers of color, it depends on what color you are. How racist is that?”
Pornhub researchers also found that Ebony videos rank fourth highest in terms of average browsing time at 9:52 minutes, with the number one category being “old/young” at 11:03 minutes.
It’s worth mentioning that porn preferences don’t always reflect our IRL desires. For example, a lot of straight girls are into lesbian porn, and many lesbians love to watch guy-on-guy action. But reading the report from Pornhub, I couldn’t help but wonder: Why are people into black women in online porn but statistically less interested in us offline? Why do people click “Ebony” on Pornhub but left-swipe black women on Tinder?
I reached out to Dr. Ariane Cruz, an Associate Professor at Penn State and an expert on gender, race, and sexual cultures, for greater insight. “In the U.S.,” Dr. Cruz says, “black women have historically been consumed as objects of sexual pleasure while remaining outside of the ideals of womanhood … in ways that position them as entirely unfit for particular romantic partnerships.” So, while people may think black women are hot, our history of being marginalized, degraded, and characterized as unfeminine or unwomanly paradoxically rule us out as romantic and sexual partners.
If you think about it, until pretty recently, outside of BET, black women weren’t seen much in mainstream media, and when we were, it was through stereotypical portrayals like The Angry Black Woman, The Strong Black Woman, or The Sassy Black BFF. Thanks to shows like “Insecure” and “Power,” black women are increasingly displayed as thriving, fabulous, and desirable, but these shows were both created by black women in response to our historical absence from the media, which isn’t to say that they don’t “count” but that they’re solutions to problems that still persist.
Porn, on the other hand, though not absent of misogynoir, is one of the only forms of media where people can see depictions of black women as feminine, as womanly, even as sexually empowered. In this way, porn becomes something of an outlet for people who desire such images of black women. As Dr. Cruz explains, it allows for “a kind of ‘relationship’ with black women, one which is positioned as illicit or discouraged ‘offline’ or IRL.”
With few exceptions, Ebony porn still bypasses mainstream media in its depictions of relationships between black women and, in particular, non-black men. And whereas just a few years ago, Ebony videos reinforced stereotypes about black women as being “ratchet” twerking machines, more porn production companies are featuring greater body diversity for black women, which isn’t exactly groundbreaking but it is a step in a more positive direction.
Needless to say, Ebony porn is still problematic AF. The category name in and of itself, Dr. Cruz points out, “reaffirms the broader manifestations of black women’s non-belonging—their exclusion from the categories of gendered humanity.” And the fact that stereotypes still exist in Ebony, and that black porn performers “remain marginalized despite the popularity” of Ebony, proves that porn still has a long way to go in its depictions of black women and women’s sexuality in general.
If people want to watch Ebony porn, they shouldn’t be shamed for it. Do you, boo! Many people who enjoy Ebony respect and even date black women. Some Ebony viewers are black women, more or less for the same reason: because they want to see themselves represented. The problem is when consumers of Ebony porn videos reject black women IRL due to stereotypes in the media and culture.
Until we see greater racial diversity in mainstream media, it’s likely that porn will continue to be an outlet for people who desire black women, which is cool for the porn industry but kind of sucks for women who are just trying to date while black.
Dr. Ariane Cruz is the author of “The Color of Kink: Black Women, BDSM, and Pornography“, which was published by NYU Press in 2016.
