Journal heliocentric's Journal: Race and the porn industry 24

Warning on potential bias: I have worked in the porn industry. Sorry ladies and banky, not as a stripper but as a photographer.

Ok, I totally believe that when hiring for things like office, construction, and factory jobs decisions should never be based on race, gender, religion, or such silly things like shoe size. I hate quotas but I do think everyone should have an equal opportunity. The same goes for schools, as schools should not factor race into their decisions about student selection. I don't think companies should be required to interview people of varying ethnic backgrounds just to meet some criteria*. I don't think companies should be forced to hire one person over another, nor should they be allowed to make decisions based on factors that do not truly reflect worker ability.

But...

How about when race has everything to do with your job? Take modeling as an example. If a company wishes to market a product towards different ethnic groups then shouldn't their selection for models reflect the group they are targeting? I don't want to spend time on the modeling concept; I am merely presenting it as a stepping-stone to get to the bigger concept.

Strippers and the sex industry.

If you look at the majority of porn sales you will see that the products involve white women. More often than not they are blondes, and typically they have non-tiny breasts. I don't know the makeup of the customers so I can't say if the majority of consumers of this product are indeed white males, but who is to say that there isn't a large group with reverse jungle-fever? Thus, the racial makeup of the customers is irrelevant; we need only discuss the demand.

So, knowing this demographic of the porn industry, let's say you were going to open a strip joint and you are looking at candidates for the stripper positions**. This type of job does not need to factor in words per minute, MCSE, PhD, or other dubious certifications and titles, this job is entirely about looks, and race is a factor in looks. I am not saying that there are not beautiful people of all races and all sorts of different lifestyles, but if you want to have a profitable business it might behoove you to target the majority*** of consumers. And it seems the majority of clientele will be most satisfied with white chicks having sizeable breasts.

I said earlier "nor should they be allowed to make decisions based on factors that do not truly reflect worker ability," but isn't this business about a person's ability to get money from a customer? The best way to do that is to reflect what the customer most desires. If you had an employee who didn't match this desired criteria and still brought in as much (or more) than one who did, then you would be a fool not to keep them on. But what if you fire an underperforming employee who wasn't white with big breasts?

Should you be liable for basing hiring/firing/scheduling decisions on race and other body factors when the job is entirely about the employee's body?

If so, should modeling agencies be required to hire the ugly?

Should you be required to hire weak nerds as bouncers, too?

Where do you draw the line?

I don't care if you think porn is immoral, or you make porn your religion, that is irrelevant. This is about the concepts of equality in the work place, and strippers are workers, too.

* - The NFL fines teams that do not at least interview a black person for a coaching position.
** - No pun intended.
*** - I am not talking about the midget on donkey or other niche industries.