A UC Berkeley Law Student/Porn Star Talks About the Importance of Asian Men in Porn
Jeremy Long has an undergraduate degree in rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley, a master's in business from Cambridge and is working on a Berkeley law degree to become a public defender.
Also, he's a porn star.
In an interview with the Daily Californian, Long (it's a stage name) details the pressures and perks of being one of the most successful Asian-American men in the adult film business, an industry that's been frequently criticized for simultaneously whitewashing and fetishizing its minority talent pool.
"I saw it as a chance to represent Asian males in the industry," Long told the Daily Californian. "It's unique because there's no other major producers doing this genre." While Long says that the industry isn't necessarily conscious of its racial bias — "There's no evil guy behind a desk being like, 'Oh I hate Asians, fuck them.' It just happens based on what's around (producers), and there aren't many Asian guys in those circles" — he says the diversity vacuum has actually made his career in the industry more secure.
"I get a lot more chances than anybody else would," Long told the Daily Californian. "The thing they need with male talent is reliability: 'Show up and get the job done, or we can replace you.' But as one of the only Asian males in the industry, I can't be replaced. So I get a lot more chances and more accommodations than any other male talent would. I've had it easier."
The porn industry isn't kind to men of color. Although multiracial families are growing at a faster rate than ever, interracial coupling or the use of minority actors in the pornographic film industry can still be considered detrimental to an actor or director's career. In the Daily Beast, porn actress Aurora Snow said that for many white actresses, the line in performance is often drawn on racial lines.
"Most girls in the industry hear at some point from their agent or another performer that an actress can increase the longevity of her career by refusing interracial scenes—at least until directors have stopped using her," she wrote in the Daily Beast.
In an interview with the Root, Lexington Steele, one of porn's most famous black actors, said racial taboos in the industry "definitely" exist: "I think it's something that's built within the fabric of the industry, because if you look at the individuals that are in positions of authority over some of the white females, the ones governing them are the ones implementing this practice of no interracial.
"Quite honestly, adult media is the only major business that allows for the practice of exclusion based upon race."
With an actor like Long, however, who embodies the brains and brawn that it frequently takes to succeed in the adult film industry, that trend may be on the verge of reversing.
