My girlfriend and I were debating this back and forth over the past few days... after a few play by plays from her video, I think I've fully convinced her that I'm right - so I figured I'd register here and see what you guys think of my case. 
My argument: Gaya Patal, who's ubiquitous in the world of web porn as an 'Indian porn star', isn't really Indian at all. If you watch video clips where she talks pretty extensively, she has a Central American accent. They dress her up in saris, glue-on 'jewels', etc. to the point that it's ridiculous because if they didn't, it'd be even more glaringly obvious that she's most likely Hispanic. Some sites (which have galleries of her in the freeones index) go another direction with it, and market her as Middle Eastern.
I don't particularly mind the dress-up fantasy of it all, but I think it's interesting as far as it relates to the laws of Supply and Demand in porn-land; Hispanic girls in porn are easy to find, Indian girls are not. Simply taken on her looks alone, Gaya Patal is middling, and she'd be just one more mediocre porn actress if she didn't find a 'niche'. Pretending to be Indian gives her that niche, and presumably makes her and whoever runs her website a good deal of cash.
I assume this is widespread in the industry -- Does anyone have any good, clear-cut examples to offer of people being marketed as an ethnicity that they're not? (Closest thing that pops to mind is that French-Vietnamese or Vietnamese-American porn stars are routinely given Japanese porn names, such as Katsumi and Tia Tanaka)
My argument: Gaya Patal, who's ubiquitous in the world of web porn as an 'Indian porn star', isn't really Indian at all. If you watch video clips where she talks pretty extensively, she has a Central American accent. They dress her up in saris, glue-on 'jewels', etc. to the point that it's ridiculous because if they didn't, it'd be even more glaringly obvious that she's most likely Hispanic. Some sites (which have galleries of her in the freeones index) go another direction with it, and market her as Middle Eastern.
I don't particularly mind the dress-up fantasy of it all, but I think it's interesting as far as it relates to the laws of Supply and Demand in porn-land; Hispanic girls in porn are easy to find, Indian girls are not. Simply taken on her looks alone, Gaya Patal is middling, and she'd be just one more mediocre porn actress if she didn't find a 'niche'. Pretending to be Indian gives her that niche, and presumably makes her and whoever runs her website a good deal of cash.
I assume this is widespread in the industry -- Does anyone have any good, clear-cut examples to offer of people being marketed as an ethnicity that they're not? (Closest thing that pops to mind is that French-Vietnamese or Vietnamese-American porn stars are routinely given Japanese porn names, such as Katsumi and Tia Tanaka)
