Interestingly, as some people in the Twitter discussion pointed out, the media platform did not decide to take down clips in which rape and incest are simulated. However, looking at the ManyVids controversy we see the argument is not convincing to everyone. For people from racial minorities, their choosing to engage in and even their enjoyment of these practices is often justified by pointing out that the race play scene is a site of fantasy and therefore accepting race play is different from accepting (institutionalized forms of) racism. This article uses the ManyVids incident as a starting point to use phenomenological investigations and discourse analysis to show how the phenomenon of race play can offer new insights into the relationship between collective identities and personal agency. However, in academic research this phenomenon has mainly been overlooked. Race play – which is a sexual practice where the either imagined or real racial background of one or more of the participants is used to create a BDSM-scene (Bondage, Dominance/Discipline, Submission/Sadism and Masochism) – lies on the intersection between highly contested racial and sexual minorities, which allows for valuable investigations into the ways we negotiate these concepts. The result was again a heated discussion on Twitter about personal rights, racism and discrimination against specific fetishes.
A day later, the ManyVids removed all ‘raceplay’ video’s on the site, with a public statement that conflated race play and racism. This caused a public outrage over racist content. On the ninth of February 2017 erotic video platform ManyVids caused a scandal among their members on Twitter when a “racist woman” was given the MV Social Media Slayer of the Year.
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