Kink.com
Encyclopedia
Kink.com is a San Francisco-based internet pornography
company that runs a group of websites devoted to catfight
ing, BDSM
and related fetishes
.
in 1997 while he was a PhD student in finance
at Columbia University
. After reading a story in a British tabloid about a fireman who made £250,000
in a short period by starting an internet pornography site, Acworth decided to start a porn site of his own. Since Acworth had what he described as a lifelong interest in bondage, he oriented the site toward BDSM porn. The site was called Hogtied.com and initially featured content that was licensed from other primary producers. The site was successful, and the site was soon grossing several thousand dollars per day. Acworth soon left his graduate studies to work on the site full time.
to San Francisco. Finding that sales were leveling off because other sites were using the same content, Acworth began producing his own material, initially featuring himself with various models who he found through Craigslist
or through his photographer friends. He opened the company's second site, Fucking Machines
, in 2000, and has since opened fourteen additional subscription websites. Fucking Machines was also reviewed by RabbitsReviews in 2004, and now has a score of 88/100.
Several websites under the Kink.com umbrella feature directors that relocated following the demise of Insex
as a result of US government pressure in 2005, but offer more of a focus on consensuality than Insex was known for.
In late 2006, Kink.com purchased the San Francisco Armory
for $14.5 million, for use as a production studio. A group known as the Mission Armory Community Collective formed to oppose Kink.com's use of the building and in early February 2007 held a public protest in front of the building. Some residents of the Mission District were disturbed by Kink.com's purchase of the San Francisco Armory
, feeling that a pornography studio should not be located in the middle of a residential neighborhood near schools or that the site should have been used for low-income housing or other community-oriented uses. At one point, there were plans to destroy part of the structure to accommodate condominium development. Ironically, the condo plans changing of the integrity of the building created supporters who welcomed Kink.com's use of The Armory as a way of revitalizing the structure and bringing back business to the area without altering the appearance of the historic building, as well as being in keeping with San Francisco's tradition of accommodating sexual minorities. San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom
also expressed concern over the Kink.com purchase, and scheduled a special meeting of the San Francisco Planning Commission in March 2007 to review the company's use of the building. The meeting was well-attended by both supporters and detractors of the Kink.com purchase. The Planning Commission for its part ruled that Kink.com was not in violation of any law or zoning
requirement. Although Kink.com has stated that its activities would be invisible to the surrounding neighborhood, La Casa de las Madres, a neighboring women's shelter
, announced that they would be leaving the location because of the media scrutiny of Kink.com's presence.
In 2007, the company's website Fucking Machines
was involved in a trademark
dispute when the United States Patent and Trademark Office
refused to grant a trademark for the name of the site, asserting that it was obscene.
In 2007, the company began streaming regular live shows, in part as a defense against copyright infringement
. One Kink.com bondage site, Device Bondage, now streams monthly live shows, and erotic wrestling site Ultimate Surrender began streaming its competitive matches live in 2008.
In 2008, the company added on-demand technology to its websites, selling updates to their websites on a per-episode basis rather than strictly by subscription. This system recently began adding third-party content, including that from Germany's Marquis
. The company recently launched a site called BoundGods.com, a gay bondage site directed by Van Darkholme
(also the director of Naked Kombat). Bound Gods was launched under a new gay-focused division, KinkMen.com. Kink.com has more recently added the following sites: Divinebitches.com, a female-centric site where men worship mistresses and Everythingbutt.com, a site focused on anything and everything to do with anal from enemas to anal sex and more.
In November, 2008, Kink.com was nominated for a 2009 AVN Award in a new category, Best Adult Website.
Internet pornography
Internet pornography is pornography that is distributed by means of various sectors of the Internet, primarily via websites, peer-to-peer file sharing, or Usenet newsgroups...
company that runs a group of websites devoted to catfight
Catfight
Catfight is a term for an altercation between two women, typically involving scratching, slapping, hair-pulling, and shirt-shredding as opposed to punching or wrestling . However, the term is not exclusively used to indicate a fight between women, and many formal definitions do not invoke gender...
ing, BDSM
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
and related fetishes
Sexual fetishism
Sexual fetishism, or erotic fetishism, is the sexual arousal a person receives from a physical object, or from a specific situation. The object or situation of interest is called the fetish, the person a fetishist who has a fetish for that object/situation. Sexual fetishism may be regarded, e.g...
.
Hogtied
Kink.com was started by UK-native Peter AcworthPeter Acworth
Peter Acworth is a web entrepreneur based in San Francisco. He is the founder and CEO of Kink.com, an internet pornography producer that focuses on BDSM and fetish themes...
in 1997 while he was a PhD student in finance
Finance
"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. After reading a story in a British tabloid about a fireman who made £250,000
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
in a short period by starting an internet pornography site, Acworth decided to start a porn site of his own. Since Acworth had what he described as a lifelong interest in bondage, he oriented the site toward BDSM porn. The site was called Hogtied.com and initially featured content that was licensed from other primary producers. The site was successful, and the site was soon grossing several thousand dollars per day. Acworth soon left his graduate studies to work on the site full time.
History
In 1998, Acworth moved the company from New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to San Francisco. Finding that sales were leveling off because other sites were using the same content, Acworth began producing his own material, initially featuring himself with various models who he found through Craigslist
Craigslist
Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities featuring free online classified advertisements, with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums....
or through his photographer friends. He opened the company's second site, Fucking Machines
Fucking Machines
Fucking Machines is a pornographic website that features video and photographs of women engaged in autoerotic sexual stimulation with a large variety of penetrative fucking machines and other sex toys. The site is based in San Francisco and is part of the network of pornographic websites operated...
, in 2000, and has since opened fourteen additional subscription websites. Fucking Machines was also reviewed by RabbitsReviews in 2004, and now has a score of 88/100.
Several websites under the Kink.com umbrella feature directors that relocated following the demise of Insex
Insex
Insex was one of the biggest BDSM pornographic websites on the Internet and arguably the most extreme American pornographic production featuring female submissives. It was also a leading innovator in both live video streaming, pioneering the concept before broadband Internet access existed, and in...
as a result of US government pressure in 2005, but offer more of a focus on consensuality than Insex was known for.
In late 2006, Kink.com purchased the San Francisco Armory
San Francisco Armory
The San Francisco Armory, also known as the San Francisco National Guard Armory and Arsenal or simply The Armory, is a historic building in the Mission District of San Francisco, California.-National Guard Armory:...
for $14.5 million, for use as a production studio. A group known as the Mission Armory Community Collective formed to oppose Kink.com's use of the building and in early February 2007 held a public protest in front of the building. Some residents of the Mission District were disturbed by Kink.com's purchase of the San Francisco Armory
San Francisco Armory
The San Francisco Armory, also known as the San Francisco National Guard Armory and Arsenal or simply The Armory, is a historic building in the Mission District of San Francisco, California.-National Guard Armory:...
, feeling that a pornography studio should not be located in the middle of a residential neighborhood near schools or that the site should have been used for low-income housing or other community-oriented uses. At one point, there were plans to destroy part of the structure to accommodate condominium development. Ironically, the condo plans changing of the integrity of the building created supporters who welcomed Kink.com's use of The Armory as a way of revitalizing the structure and bringing back business to the area without altering the appearance of the historic building, as well as being in keeping with San Francisco's tradition of accommodating sexual minorities. San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom
Gavin Newsom
Gavin Christopher Newsom is an American politician who is the 49th and current Lieutenant Governor of California. Previously, he was the 42nd Mayor of San Francisco, and was elected in 2003 to succeed Willie Brown, becoming San Francisco's youngest mayor in 100 years. Newsom was re-elected in 2007...
also expressed concern over the Kink.com purchase, and scheduled a special meeting of the San Francisco Planning Commission in March 2007 to review the company's use of the building. The meeting was well-attended by both supporters and detractors of the Kink.com purchase. The Planning Commission for its part ruled that Kink.com was not in violation of any law or zoning
Zoning
Zoning is a device of land use planning used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another...
requirement. Although Kink.com has stated that its activities would be invisible to the surrounding neighborhood, La Casa de las Madres, a neighboring women's shelter
Women's shelter
A women's shelter is a place of temporary refuge and support for women escaping violent or abusive situations, such as rape, and domestic violence....
, announced that they would be leaving the location because of the media scrutiny of Kink.com's presence.
In 2007, the company's website Fucking Machines
Fucking Machines
Fucking Machines is a pornographic website that features video and photographs of women engaged in autoerotic sexual stimulation with a large variety of penetrative fucking machines and other sex toys. The site is based in San Francisco and is part of the network of pornographic websites operated...
was involved in a trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
dispute when the United States Patent and Trademark Office
United States Patent and Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia,...
refused to grant a trademark for the name of the site, asserting that it was obscene.
In 2007, the company began streaming regular live shows, in part as a defense against copyright infringement
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
. One Kink.com bondage site, Device Bondage, now streams monthly live shows, and erotic wrestling site Ultimate Surrender began streaming its competitive matches live in 2008.
In 2008, the company added on-demand technology to its websites, selling updates to their websites on a per-episode basis rather than strictly by subscription. This system recently began adding third-party content, including that from Germany's Marquis
Marquis (magazine)
Marquis is a fetish magazine owned, operated, published and primarily photographed by Peter W. Czernich and Sandra Würdig. Based in Germany, Marquis covers a wide array of topics related to the worldwide fetish subculture...
. The company recently launched a site called BoundGods.com, a gay bondage site directed by Van Darkholme
Van Darkholme
Van Darkholme is a Vietnamese American gay pornographic actor, director, an artist and photographer.Darkholme is among the few Asian American men working in Western gay porn as a director and actor, and is of Vietnamese descent. His photos usually show him totally naked, with his genitalia...
(also the director of Naked Kombat). Bound Gods was launched under a new gay-focused division, KinkMen.com. Kink.com has more recently added the following sites: Divinebitches.com, a female-centric site where men worship mistresses and Everythingbutt.com, a site focused on anything and everything to do with anal from enemas to anal sex and more.
In November, 2008, Kink.com was nominated for a 2009 AVN Award in a new category, Best Adult Website.
Awards
- 2009 XBIZ AwardXBIZ AwardXBIZ Awards are given annually to honor "individuals, companies, performers and products that play an essential part in the growth and success of adult entertainment". Organized by the adult industry trade magazine XBIZ, the awards were first given in 2003...
- FSC Leadership Award - 2009 XBIZ Award - Original Web Content
- 2011 AVN Award - Best Alternative Web Site