This is posted from the blog of the lovely Alex Reynolds Please take the time to read and assimilate the contents.
“Anonymous asked: I saw on twitter that you shot with another black model recently. I don’t meant to sound racist, but isn’t that getting to be a bit much?
You definitely sound racist.
There are over one hundred female models on Northern Spanking. They come from varied backgrounds, range in age from 18 to their 50′s, in size from XXS to plus, in education, profession, interest, sexual orientation, in gender identity and more. But until this year, a love of spanking wasn’t the only thing that these girls had in common: every female model on the site was white.
This was not by design or intent. When Northern was based in the UK (before I was involved) they hoped to find models of color to work with, but had few opportunities and were never able to make it work. When I got involved in Northern Spanking and started working on casting, I had a couple of goals. I wanted to help introduce new models to the spanking world, and I wanted to start the process of having racial diversity on the site. Recently, we’ve been lucky to shoot with three gorgeous and talented women of color: Adrianna Evans (who is mixed race, white and latina), Nuna Starks and, most recently, Cupcake Sinclair. All three girls are wonderful to work with, super duper pretty and just all around great spanking models. I didn’t hire these girls *because* of their racial backgrounds, but unlike some people in the porn world, I didn’t *not* hire them because of it.
So, let’s back up a little bit:
100+ white models
3 models of color
2 black models
But that’s “a bit much” for you? This is a thing that gets me: when there’s more than a token amount of diversity, people think that it’s “too much.” And honestly, TWO MODELS is a ridiculously low number to even think of as being anything significant.
Honestly, the spanking community is ripe with microagressions against black people. There’s an assumption in a lot of the language used that all spankees are going to be white. “Pale bottoms turning red” is a trope that gets talked about a lot, and which took me, personally, a while to realize how offensive it is.
Newsflash: minorities are kinky, too. The spanking world doesn’t belong to white people. Yeah, there aren’t often many minorities represented at events, that’s true. Maybe it’s because people treat them in bullshit ways like this. Maybe it’s because they don’t see themselves represented in the spanko media and therefore don’t feel like they belong. Maybe it’s because disenfranchised people have fewer spoons left to spend on things like kink. But it isn’t because white people are the only kinky people, so if we could stop thinking this way, that would be a start.
When I was a young woman looking at spanking videos online, the girls that I saw often looked like me. There were several popular models with similar body types to me that I looked up to and was inspired by. By seeing people that look like me in my porn, I felt like I was being given permission to also participate. People of color need this, too. Representation matters.
Furthermore, you don’t lose anything when there’s a model on Northern that isn’t to your personal taste. Just don’t watch that video or buy that clip, problem solved. No one is a “crowd pleaser.” I get complaints about INSANE things: “that girl was too chubby”, “that girl didn’t have enough curves”, “I don’t like to see girls who look like they’re 12″, “ugh, she’s too old to spank”, “she’s not very feminine”, “that girl is too girly for me”…
Don’t find a particular model or video hot? Then please don’t watch it. There are literally over 400 videos that you get access to when you join Northern, with a cast of, as mentioned before, over 100. You’re not really losing much if you don’t like the videos that one or two models put out.
But seriously. If you think that having two black models is “too many” then the issue here isn’t with Northern and our casting policies. You might not want to sound racist, but you need to examine your own beliefs and see where they really fall. Many people have racist beliefs and feelings because of the way they were raised. I definitely have to combat years of conditioning in certain departments, but I acknowledge that what I was taught to think was wrong and that I need to move past it. I still catch myself making assumptions, but instead of brushing it off, I call myself out on it and remind myself that I’m wrong. I know that you can do this, too, anon, if you give it your best go.”
All sentiments we can agree with and Alex, as you already do, keep on featuring those models you think will be the best for your site, We love the diversity, that’s what keeps the world going round.
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