This is a special and important one because I got to talk to Race Cooper, a former porn star, who told me all about racism in the industry. Now a personal trainer and fitness model, Race worked for the illustrious gay porn company Falcon Studios, where he told me he suffered racism in many different forms.
Amid the Black Lives Matter movement, Race signed off a tweet and an Insta post decrying the hypocrisy and the racial prejudice in the porn industry. He blew up in a big way and was even interviewed by Pink News.
He still goes by his stage name of Race - which he initially picked as a test that he believes the porn industry failed. He’s a thoroughly nice fella, he’s good company, he’s bright and determined to help change things. And he taught me a lot about subtle forms of systemic racism and the highs and lows of porn. I'm not entirely sold on a lot of the woke stuff, but that doesn't mean we turn a blind eye to genuine injustices - and it can't be right that people are allowed to check boxes of races they don't wish to perform with.
Have a look at some of my other episodes, including Dr. Lera Boroditsky on how languages can shape thought, wrestler Rhia O'Reilly on the #SpeakingOut movement in her industry and NME music journalist James McMahon on OCD and mental illness.