Numbers don't lie

If that's the case then watching movies or tv, listening to music, playing video games, driving a car, buying groceries, using a public restroom,... is supporting systemic racism. The porn industry is certainly not perfect but more diverse than many other industries... The big problem with _systemic_ racism is that it's in the system already. It's everywhere. Just the fact that we still think of people with different skin colors or ethnicities as "races" proves that. I'm not saying there is no discrimination because there are no races. But the fact that we still think in these categories works to keep the discrimination in the system.

Totally agree. So what can be done?

That is the million dollar question... A lot of things are still completely invisible to white people. If you've never experienced it yourself it's hard to see these things. So, the first step is showing people what's going wrong. My favorite example are motion detectors on soap dispensers and similar small appliances. They often don't work for people with darker skin because the sensor can't detect them. This is not something that white people deliberately did because they're racists. They just invented a proximity sensor that worked for everyone in the lab and they never even thought about people with a darker skin because it never occured to them that there might be a difference in how they would look to the sensor. The result is a very racist soap dispenser and many enraged people. The take-away from this should be that until the systemic inequalities are 100% solved we need to teach everyone (and yes, that usually means every white person) what you have to look out for. It's not enough to not actively be racist - we have to actively not be racist. We need to know about the things we all might still unconciously do so we can stop doing it and we need to actively think "how could my actions be discriminating people?" before we do anything. Memes like yours are certainly one of the ways to show people inequalities that exist (although in this case there might be a lot of factors to consider in the background as well). At least you made me actively think about my "Actress of the week"-series I've been posting and how many of them are white... I will try to better myself and actively try to bring some more equality to this stream. Thank you for your input!

Wow. Thanks so much for your response. I never even knew about the soap dispensers! You've inspired a few more memes about systemic racism.

That's why it's one of my favorite stories about discrimination. It shows exactly the problem with not knowing you could be part of the problem. The first time I read about it was from the perspective of a black person who took it very personal. They didn't really think this could happen out of pure negligence. I disagree. I just think most white people aren't trained enough in the ways of thinking how their actions could affect other people who are different from them. I mean, the same goes for sexism as well. So many products are designed by men for men and women then have trouble with it. It probably wasn't done on purpose either - it was pure ignorance. I think it's time to stop using ignorance as an excuse and actually time to start actively becoming better people who think about the consequences of our actions not just for ourselves but for others as well. And that will take many eye openers and a lot of effort. I don't know how many people we can reach by making memes here but we gotta start somewhere.

Ok, in regards to the question from your book discussions:

1. Yes, you can be racist toward white people - I think I might be a little sometimes... At least I seem to often generalize what "white people" do, just as much as I generalize about men or straight people. 🙈

2. There's already a divide in the black community between dark skinned blacks and light skinned blacks - introduced by white colonists, of course - which traditionally valued lighter skin higher even within an ethnicity and lead to dark skinned people now claiming light skinned blacks "don't even understand their problems because they had it easier". And I think that might be some part of what the book is talking about.

3. Hell yeah, it's wrong to ostracize her for being light skinned because your skin color is not your fault and in this case it's EVEN LESS her fault because the lighter skin is a result of freaking RAPE... It's never ok to discriminate against anyone based on things they didn't have any influence over, I absolutely agree with you there. But the whole "you were born out of sin so you'll always be a sinner"-argument is a whole different can of worms and people just need to stop it. Especially if that "sin" is being a different color - lighter or darker. It apparently didn't matter to the ones doing the discriminating so why should it matter in judging that behavior? Colorism is a subcategory of racism and it doesn't matter what color you're against. Saying you can't be racists against whites is the same kind of stupid as saying you can't be racist because there are no races... 🙄

What you said reminded me of this NYT Op-Ed.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/opinion/confederate-monuments-racism.amp.html

“You want a Confederate monument? My body is a Confederate monument.” Touché, Lost Causers.

“I have rape-colored skin.” Devastating, heartbreaking words.

I love how we’re not just discussing racism but colorism as well! An even deeper segment of the rabbit-hole of bigotry, and one that even people of the same “race” are capable of doing to one another.

This is a dream of deep and civilized conversation on ImgFlip come true ❤️

Great points and well said.

Believe it or not, due to my reputation for “wokeness” around here, I don’t buy the “white people cant experience racism” bit.

A white kid who goes to a majority-black school and has a hard time fitting in and is bullied for his skin color because of it? Victim of racism.

A white farmer forced off their land in Zimbabwe without compensation? Victim of racism. (Though complicated by the picture that the white farmer is a beneficiary of prior colonial practices against black natives.)

These examples are pretty hard to come by in the grand scheme of things, and fixating on them to the exclusion of discussion of anti-black racism is wrongheaded, but they exist.

Fighting racism is about raising education and civilized discussion, not pounding new slogans into people’s heads no matter how well-intentioned.

Hell yeah bro. Glad to see I'm not the only one

Tl;dr I disagree

From the chart you posted (and taking it as factual, although no source is provided), it looks like porn reflects the racial makeup of the entire population of the United States

That supports an argument that porn isn’t actually racist at all

I know the porn industry has its problems but so do many other sectors of our economy

Example: I work in law and I have a strong suspicion that African-Americans are way underrepresented in the legal industry. Is that an argument that the legal industry is racist? Maybe, maybe not. It could just be a reflection of a broader racist society that denies African-Americans the same educational opportunities as a practical matter.

Anywho: I would need more detail about this chart and more evidence in general to conclude that the porn industry is any more systematically racist than any other industry in America

For me the point isn't that it's more systemically racist than other industries. It just might be worth thinking about if the systemic racism that definitely exists throughout the system in general (that's what systemic means, afterall) also extends to the porn industry. I do agree that this is not sufficient data to make that decision but it's certainly a way to get the ball rolling and have this discussion. The big problem with systemic racism is that most people don't realize they're part of the problem and we have to train to critically think about all aspects of life to make absolutely sure.

Dare I even ask?

Asking is what this stream is for, so go ahead. 😉

John Mayer cringe: a deep dive!

He took a lot of heat for saying this a few years ago; today it’d probably be a career-ender

Yeah, pretty cringy. This meme reminded me of a discussion about Mayer's comment I think I heard in a podcast (invisibilia maybe 🧐). If he said it today it might not be a career ender, he might sell more records to conservative listeners.

I mean I'm not white and I watch soooooo....