“RETROSPECT” by Dillon Diaz, Porn Guest Writer of the Month

It is February of 2023, Black History Month! Three years past the quarantine. Three years past the height of the BLM movement in the adult entertainment industry and are we in a better place?

In the spring of 2020 when we as a nation were more than urged to shelter in place we found the time to focus on problems that have gone ignored for far too long. Racism...for purposes of this article, racism in adult entertainment. Calling out individuals and corporations for their racist views & practices and demanding accountability was a top priority. While this was not the first time in history that has happened it may be one of the few times when people were actually listening, and appearing to want to make lasting change.

Round tables were being formed, difficult discussions were being had and everyone was encouraged to participate. In fact, not participating made you part of the problem. Much momentum was built toward a more diverse and inclusive industry and it was all very exciting, validating, and encouraging. The future looked bright. Of course, Covid stuck around longer than any of us could have imagined but we were all looking forward to getting back to work in this embracive new environment.

However, three years later, in many ways, it feels as if we have gone back to business as usual. There is still a lack of diversity and representation in the workplace on both sides of the camera. The impact of all of our round table discussions was much smaller than one could imagine. Perhaps more than talking, we needed to create policies and departments within the organization to correct the imbalances moving forward but that wasn’t done, not really. It was all just talk and we are still just at the beginning of the conversation if it has not yet inspired action.

With all of our good intentions did we do more harm than good? That really depends on who you ask. As for me, I think that anytime you can have an open and honest conversation without fear of what the consequences will be for speaking out then we are moving in the right direction. The progress may just be much slower than desired, but progress has been made. Now we need to continue coming together, continue having difficult conversations, continue demanding accountability, and continue brainstorming how we can fix this.

The answer really is simple. Hire more people of color!

Within my small social and professional circle I have observed some mobility of people of color in positions to effect change but it is a slow process. Distressfully slow. As a community within a community, people of color in adult entertainment need to come together and create more opportunities for people of color. Let me be clear, I’m not suggesting that we exclude our white colleagues. Im saying that you can’t expect anyone to do anything for you, you have to do it for yourself. Easy? No. Necessary, yes.

I had the eye-opening opportunity to talk to a group of professional black men who explained why they don’t subscribe to most of the sites that I appear on. While they do appreciate me and other performers that look like me, they refuse to give their money to companies that only feature models that look like us on rare occasions. “If porn studios are not willing to make a commitment to our community and give us more of what we want to see then they can’t have our hard-earned money.” I really couldn’t argue with that.

Utilizing sites like OnlyFans and JustFor.Fans may be an option for fans to support the creators they want to see but that shouldn’t be the only option. Some do want to see people of color in professionally shot porn with the same production values as porn featuring predominantly white men.

So someone needs to make a commitment to our community or form a partnership to bridge the gap. It may be a slow progression while trust is built but there is a market out there for black, brown, and beige men engaging in beautiful, kinky, intelligent, and fun sex. There is an opportunity to create a product that will be profitable and fill a void in the market. Who will take this opportunity? Who will have the determination and business sense to see It through? It’s an ongoing collaborative effort that we all have to take part in.

To answer my original question, are we in a better place, I would say yes but we are not done yet. There is still much work to be done. In the meantime, I suggest we all just love & respect each other a little more and examine how we can all benefit one another.

*Watch the trailer for "Being Black in Porn" starring Dillon Diaz here.

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