Orion Hunter, I just saw your response. I love the way you think, even though I do sometimes disagree with it. Perhaps it’s just that I love that you think AT ALL.

I guess I was imagining a different scenario: GD attempting to use what he thought was a neutral term — and what still is, for many people, a neutral term. Throughout Latin and South America, mulatto and its cognates in Spanish and Portuguese are considered neutral terms. As I mentioned in my first post, I have a Latino student in his twenties who used the term to describe himself just as this BA update hit. There isn’t universal agreement that the term mulatto is offensive. If, one day, a large group of people decide the biracial is inaccurate (which, scientifically, it is, since race is not a coherent biological category) then would you necessarily be a hatemonger for using a term that you thought was purely a neutral description? I don’t think so. I think people have to have more patience with word choice–but none with intention. So, on today’s Sean Cody update (Carlos), we have Neobamboom going on about how he doesn’t like Blatinos. Now, that term didn’t start out as a slur, but he’s using it to express his antiblack taste. And I wouldn’t care if he used mulatto, biracial, or Blatino to express it. He believes that blackness is a unique “type” that possesses some corrupting force and he hates anything with what he thinks is a hint of it. (Perhaps his brain will explode when he realizes that the life of our species began on the African continent and there wasn’t a separate Creation of white people).

To me, the big deal in Duroy’s post is not that he used the term mulatto at all, but that he assures those who “criticize him for using nonwhite models” that this model is *part white*. It’s aimed at the Neobamboom’s of the world, and I’m now going to stop mentioning his name. Because eww.

@marcus carls: Your quote: “I agree that words matter, but they matter in the context of their use.” You’re right, and on that we are in complete agreement. But here is why I think George Duroy/Bel Ami is being intentionally and/or unnecessarily inflammatory, dismissive and/or presumptuous in regard to the subject of race.

First, when it comes to the issue of Austin Merrick’s racial identity, GD had an invaluable and unimpeachable resource at his immediate disposal – the model himself. Many of these studios do not hesitate to ask their models how they self-identify SEXUALLY. In fact, quite a few insist on subjecting us to interviews, anecdotes and back stories that painstakingly extol heterosexual exploits and virtues. So why not afford Austin Merrick (or any ethic/racial minority) the same courtesy/opportunity when it comes to defining or clarifying racial or ethnic identity? Somehow I doubt very seriously if Merrick refers/referred to himself as “mulatto,” – mixed race, biracial, multiracial, or parent-specific (you know, the Mariah Carey model of saying “My dad is black African-Venezuelan and my mom is white Irish-American”) maybe – but I just can’t see him using “mulatto.”

Second, in regard to the word “mulat” or “mulatto.” In this specific instance, GD is marketing to an English-speaking audience. Therefore it is incumbent upon *HIM* to educate or familiarize himself with the nuances and pitfalls of the English language (or employ someone who is target-language proficient, especially if he is going to expound upon a potentially sensitive subject such as race). If I give a pitch or speech in Mandarin Chinese for a Chinese audience and I use a somewhat ambiguous, loaded or inappropriate word of phrase in the Mandarin dialect that, when translated back to English, is revealed to be harmless or acceptable, whose fault would it be if some of the Chinese still take exception? Who should take the blame for any resultant misunderstanding?

Me, for using the word or phrase without knowing or fully understanding/realizing its possible negative implications or connotations (the old “lost in translation” excuse)?

Or the Chinese who may take offense at its use?

I believe GD was in the wrong here and that he would have been better served if he had simply offered a sincere and unreserved apology without any of the self-serving, defensive, evasive and dubious explanations he sunk to elsewhere.

And third, why continue to bring up race AT ALL (especially when you consider the clumsy/hamhanded way in which Duroy and Bel Ami have handled these discussions in the past)? Why not just present the model without all the explicit racial language and let him rise or fall on his individual merits? Compare the ExtraBigDicks Feb. 13, 2013 update with Damian Taylor and the *colorful* description of his “cinnamon” ass. That kind of description is race-free, relatively innocuous, inoffensive and tantalizingly accurate imo – lol!! It paints/points out actual distinctions or differences without resorting to unnecessarily inflammatory, offensive or racially explicit or divisive language.

So it *CAN* be done.

But I guess that is simply asking too much of George Duroy and the Bel Ami staff. Forgive the length (time on my hands) and delay (just saw your response while looking up something for reference on another site; felt obliged to respond – ha!). Be well, dood!!

Orion Hunter, I think you and I are usually in agreement and we’re not very far apart here, if at all. I agree that words matter, but they matter in the context of their use. That is to say, if I were to get super-offended because someone referred to the people in my census category as black (which was once a perfectly acceptable term) instead of African-American, I’d be over-reacting. Now, if I’d spoken to them and said, I prefer to be called African-American and they said “Too bad, I’m going to call you what I want,” then I’d have grounds to be offended. The same is true with mulatto, mixed, and biracial. Different people grew up using different words to describe the same thing. As long as the attempt is to describe and not disparage–and as long as the person isn’t over-ruling a stated request to use a different term–then there’s no harm.

If we react to every “trigger word” what we wind up doing is slamming people who aren’t educated elites (or native speakers of English), while people who are quite bigoted but went to great schools and use only the newest terminology won’t get called on their bigoted policies (that operate without the offensive word but sure make their targets feel like those words).

@darkthunder1983: Higgins has had at least one black model iirc (goodlooking African dood with a beautiful body and twists, as I recall).

Btw, I don’t know if Duroy’s a racist (that’s a pretty serious charge that I hate to level without better evidence) but I think it’s safe to say he’s not the most racially sensitive person out there.

I wish he would either present his ethnic models without the unnecessary and often patronizing references to their, ahem, “novelty” or just dispense entirely with the half-hearted attempts at diversity. I don’t think that’s asking too much from the oh-so put upon and unfairly maligned Duroy (and/or his staff).

It’s hard to detect tone over the net Trex but you seem strangely hostile considering we’re basically agreeing as to STDs. I wasn’t speaking authoritatively as to how long an acquired STD may be undetectable, i was merely giving an example to illustrate why GD might not trust a recent test for a model right off the plane. I’ll say right now that i am not a medical authority on STDs, nor did i imply that i was in the above post. There’s certainly no statement of certainty on my part to warrant a “clue what you’re talking about” response. Furthermore, if anyone is getting their health information from a gay porn blog… well… they have problems.

As far as Mick is concerned, as an exclusive, he tests him often enough so that he feels safe doing bareback with him. I’m not sure as to the details of how often and when. That’s not really my business.

I’m somewhat conflicted about BB scenes. It SEEMS so far that testing has been working in that there have been few performers that have caught STD’s since the proliferation of BB and we have scarce evidence that those performers got them on a set rather than in their private lives. To be honest i prefer to watch BB scenes. That being said, i’d also be OK if they went back to having every scene with a condom. All in all, i like GD’S policy of allowing the models to maintain some autonomy when it comes to their health- allowing Kris Evans to only do scenes with condoms and in using condoms if he’s not 100% sure. I think safety comes before fetishes.

As to GD saying harsher things about American models, since you- unlike myself- are speaking as an authority i think it’s incumbent upon you to provide a link. Especially as it seems to me, you’re slandering the man. I’ve read many interviews with GD and i’ve yet to see him show any disdain for Americans.

Actually Insipid, Duroy has said much harsher things about American porn models in the past so I think its you who is failing to understand what he really means

And as for testing, it would be nice if you had some clue what you were talking about. The time lag between when the best HIV tests can detect an infection and the time an infected person can infect someone else is actually longer than 30 days. For many years it was 6 months. Newer tests are much better, but not that much better. If I’m wrong about that post the link to a public health website that says so. But in any case, even with a 30 day lag time, why is it you think its safe for Mick to bareback when even the best test would only show that he wasn’t HIV positive 30 days earlier. That test says nothing about his status on the day Bel Ami films his scene. Or maybe you think BelAmi keeps its models locked up in a cloister for the thirty days between their first and second test.

very hot

Well… There’s just not that many black folks in Central Europe. The problem is that GD is very sensitive to criticisms placed against him on message boards. He really shouldn’t be, but he is. He gets called a racist a lot because of the lack of ethnic diversity at BA, so his message there is to defend himself against that charge. He should go to message boards and defend himself to the charges as they’re being made and not put out the message in his comments section. It just comes out of left field to defend yourself against racism when you’re not being charged and just leads to many more people calling you a racist.

But i don’t think he’s arrogant or ignorant, just overly sensitive.

Well said! All of them (his thighs, his ass and his pecs) are delish. And don’t forget his abs.

Marty Stevens. That’s his name. Marty’s the one we see doing the photo shoots for the guys.

@marcus carls

Yeah, he had one. His name was Kimani Arenas. He is the ONLY black model that BA has ever had and that’s excluding American porn model Adam Dexter. Kimani only appeared in “Flings 2” and “Johan’s Journal Part 3: Sex Lab”. At least he has that one chocolate chip on the cookie. I don’t remember not one black model with Eurocreme or William Higgins unless someone knows something that I don’t. Either way I don’t know if Duroy has his head in his ass or maybe, just maybe, he isn’t the one doing the write-ups. It very well could be someone like Luke or that older guy who was a former model with the site that’s doing them.

Out of the angels, I think Adam’s the main top. It’s not odd to see him top as much as it is Kevin, Jack and Andre. Jack’s getting there but I can never take Kevin and Andre seriously as tops, even when Kevin topped Derek Raser in their flip and Andre topped Jason Knightley in theirs.

Peach, you crazy and yes, endeeeff, there are people that still us that term. My mother’s a schoolteacher and she actually told me that another teacher referred to one of the biracial students as “mulatto”. Duroy would have been better off saying mixed. Wonder what he thought about his old model whom was black or Adam Dexter who had a scene with Tommy Hansen.

“Terms by themselves do not injure us. It’s how they are used.”

I agree, to a point. But terms set the the tone and temperature of debate and discussion. Debate and discussion are how *civilized* societies decide important issues and seek to resolve conflict. Therefore terms and their mutually agreed upon definitions are vital to both enlightened debate and conflict resolution.

Bottom line: Words matter.

Goodnight all.

If they can’t do BB with most of the American models, they should try to ensure those scenes include cum-eating.

yes it’s truly hot scene. the plowing was hard and the bottom remained hard all the time!!! sizzling!!!