The problem with those kinds of discussion is that in contemporary Western society, racism is understood by most people to mean only overt and flagrant act of racial discrimination and violence, rather than considering racism as a structure of beliefs that categorizes, stereotypes, and hiearchises people according to racial lines, and which permeate every aspects of social life, from personal preferences to systemic and institutional structure of exclusion and violence. In other words, unless someone is a proud and out member of the KKK or uses racial slurs, no one is racist.
Going back to the example of porn: the ways in which Black guys for instance are portrayed in porn (as sexually and physically agressive and violent, with giant monster wang, often fucking tiny little white spinners, and often corrolated to the humiliation of an impotent white guy in cuckolding scenarios) is very much reminiscent of colonial myths and narratives of the dangerous Black native preying on and raping the modest and virginal White women (which is in direct opposition to the realities of colonialism and slavery, where Black/native women were routinely raped by the White colonizers and slave owners, often done in front of their lovers/family to serve as a repressive tool against dissent to the colonial/slavery order). Similarly, asian women are typically portrayed as submissive and docile, as more gracious and grateful then their white sisters: again, this is very reminiscent of colonial portrayal of asian women, who were portrayed as such, often in opposition to the new liberated and immodest white women back home who were threatening the status quo of the time by organizing for the recognition of their rights and who were starging to leave the house. The idea that asian women make for better (read more docile, submissive, reverent) wives/fuck among white men is still very much prevalent, and a quick search on Terb would find quite a few hits where guys make those claims.
Porn is only one (although maybe the most obvious one in this case) example of a social site which circulate racial ideas about people, and which influence our sense of self and preferences.
ETA: Another point to consider. Colonialism and racism, as two interrelated systems and structures of power, have historically produced ideas about race which not only categorize and stereotype people according to their race, but also locate them socially according to a complex hierarchy of races: on top of that racial/colonial hierarchy of "desirability" or "worthyness" are white aryan people (with Southern European below them, but above the Irish, also referred to as "white negros"), at the bottom of the hierarchies are aboriginals and black African, with North African and Middle-Eastern people being slighly above the bottom, and asian somewhere in the middle (East-Asian such as Indians being at the bottom of this sub-category, with Japanese, Chinese and Korean at the top).
Now, consider the demand for SPs along racial/ethnic lines: all other things (such as rates and services) being equal, a cursory look at reviews and recommendations threads on Terb suggest that there is a significant higher demand for white and asian SPs, than for black SPs, with EI SPs sitting somewhere in the middle. A similar pattern seems to be present when we look at agencies website (even after taking into account the racial distribution of the population in TO). Many black SPs will tell you that it is very difficult to get agency to agree to represent them, especially if there's already one or two black SPs working for that agency, because the perception is that there is not enough demand for black SPs. Noir and other black SPs have commented about this on this board, and suggested that many black SPs feel that they have to offer wider services in order to be as busy as their white or asian co-workers.
Are we to understand those patterns as mere coincidence and the mere result of an aggregate of individual choices and preferences?
Again, I don't think that one should go against their sexual preferences just for the sake of being politically correct. But I think that anyone who believe that their sexual preferences come from a social vacuum (ie,1) aren't influenced in the least by ideas circulating in society about race) are kidding themselve. And yes, I include myself in those people who's sexual preferences are influenced by race. While I'm an equal opportunity lover, I do recognize that race most likely play a role in who gets me hot or not, and why.
