LOS ANGELES — A panel of adult industry performers, producers and journalists were recently profiled in an article for MEL Magazine, in which they unpack the lasting and controversial impact keyword searches have had on the business.
In "The Keyword is Porn's Best Friend and Worst Enemy," journalist and screenwriter Tierney Finster sat down with Adult Time's Bree Mills, industry icon Nina Hartley, fetish performer Mimosa, Plumper Pass CMO Clint Works, European producer Erika Lust, VP of steaming site YouPorn Charlie Hughes and XBIZ News Editor Gustavo Turner to get their individual takes on how keywords continue to shape the way content is produced and marketed and how the industry is responding to problems presented by a system that inherently reduce performers to a series of labels.
While many noted the often derogatory nature of certain keywords, particularly with categories denoting a performer's race, or pertaining to race play, several said that they didn't foresee major changes to come soon.
"I’d like to see a change in how things are labeled," said Hartley, "but it would take a change in how we view sex, gender, race, class. Nor can I imagine a porn industry that uses less search terms. I don’t know how the product would reach its intended audience without using them."
Performer Mimosa shared, "The appetite of the male consumer, online culture, systemic racism and fetishes all have a huge hand in dictating categories. As people create more content and control their image more, we’ll see new ways of categorizing things, but I don’t think it’ll be a fast change."
Other, such as Plumper Pass' Works, saw less of an issue. "From my perspective, calling someone black isn’t a derogatory thing. I know there’s concern about porn fetishizing black men, but I consider 'BBC' a descriptive term."
Works, who says he feels similarly about the terms "BBW," "PAWG" and "BWC" says he sees the terms as "helpful" in sifting through content. "Guys searching for 'MILF' know they aren’t going to have to sort through thousands of videos of younger women. I appreciate how these terms help people access the kinds of videos they want."
While keyword terms may be helpful for consumers seeking specific content, the article shined a light on the potentially damaging effect certain terms can have not only on performers' psyches, but also on their bank accounts.
"Some of these terms can be offensive or harmful," said Adult Time's Bree Mills, whose company has put a concerted effort into minimizing the use of widely agreed upon outdated terms.
"A lot of people looking for trans porn search 'shemale' or 'tranny' porn, but we made the very conscious decision this year not to use those terms when we launched our Transfixed series. We don’t use any of that terminology regardless of how many views we might lose from not targeting those keywords."
"At the end of the day," she said, "it’s important to us to be on the progressive side of things. We hope we’ll influence other companies to take a similar stance and try to evolve."
Erika Lust, whose XConfessions series has garnered acclaim for its progressive, feminist and inclusive take on adult content, took a rather aggressive approach when addressing keywords, arguing that the repackaging of content on free tube sites as a collection of relevant keywords not only proliferates the use of "racist, sexist and homophobic language," but also serves to define a performer's identity, having the potential to affect which jobs are available to them.
Lust feels that the solution lies with consumers in this matter.
"At the moment, porn still exists in a vacuum where viewers don’t bring the same attention or criticism that they bring to other media that they consume. But porn isn’t a monolithic entity, it’s part of a discourse on sexuality, sex and gender and it mirrors our society."
"I use neutral categories that refer to the sex act or style of film, such as 'threesome,' 'BDSM,' 'documentary' and 'outdoor' [because] I want viewers to appreciate the film for the performance, as opposed to the physical attributions of the performer."
The debate over keywords, and their use by an industry constantly in-flux, is a nuanced one. XBIZ's Gustavo Turner offered, "Either way, as fluid sexualities become more talked about and accepted by the mainstream, there will be a marketplace for more diverse content. This will probably change in the near future, [but] the adult business has always been in tune with what people want to pay for, and that’s always going to drive the categorization."
Image: Mel Magazine
