Peter Acworth
Encyclopedia
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. According to the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Acworth's work has been guided by "Kink's principles of intimate, conversational, playful, and mutually enjoyable interactions", and he has expressed the belief that "a product line should come from an individual's actual fantasies."
Acworth entered the pornography industry when 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, Hogtied, featured content licensed from other bondage pornography producers. Acworth soon left his graduate studies to work on the site full time.
In 1998, Acworth moved from New York City
to San Francisco. Finding that sales were leveling off because other sites were using the same content, Acworth began producing his own content, initially featuring himself with various models who he found through Craigslist
or through his photographer friends.
In 2000, Acworth founded his second site, Fucking Machines
, under Cybernet Entertainment, Inc., the corporate entity that ran Hogtied.com. A number of additional sites followed, and in 2006 Acworth changed the corporate name of Cybernet to Kink.com
.
In late 2006, Acworth announced the purchase of The San Francisco Armory
. He announced that Kink.com
would move into the building to use as corporate offices and as a studio for producing its movies. As a result, he sold Kink.com's then-current office at 942 Mission Street for $6.5 million, more than double what he'd paid for it four years previous. The San Francisco Business Times, part of Bizjournals, reported that since moving to San Francisco in 1998, Acworth had also made large profits on a home in the Marina and Hogtied.com's original studios on 8th Street. Acworth told the paper that he would not be buying any additional property in San Francisco. "All of our real estate profits are in the Armory", he said.
Acworth continues to perform occasionally in Kink.com
projects in addition to serving as CEO. In a September, 2008 interview with the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Acworth discussed a new project inspired by the novel Story of O
in which "Acworth wants to transform the armory's top floor into a series of Victorian/Georgian-inspired rooms... Participants will be given hierarchical positions—from maid to master of the house—and live according to the rules of domination and submission." He also said, "The Armory dates from exactly this Edwardian era, so the historical nature of the Armory does nothing but add to the mystique surrounding this idea."
Kink.com
Kink.com is a San Francisco-based internet pornography company that runs a group of websites devoted to catfighting, BDSM and related fetishes.-Hogtied:...
, an internet pornography producer that focuses on 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 fetish
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...
themes. According to the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Acworth's work has been guided by "Kink's principles of intimate, conversational, playful, and mutually enjoyable interactions", and he has expressed the belief that "a product line should come from an individual's actual fantasies."
Acworth entered the pornography industry when he was a PhD student in finance 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 £
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...
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, Hogtied, featured content licensed from other bondage pornography producers. Acworth soon left his graduate studies to work on the site full time.
In 1998, Acworth moved from New York City
New 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 content, 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.
In 2000, Acworth founded his 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...
, under Cybernet Entertainment, Inc., the corporate entity that ran Hogtied.com. A number of additional sites followed, and in 2006 Acworth changed the corporate name of Cybernet to Kink.com
Kink.com
Kink.com is a San Francisco-based internet pornography company that runs a group of websites devoted to catfighting, BDSM and related fetishes.-Hogtied:...
.
In late 2006, Acworth announced the 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:...
. He announced that Kink.com
Kink.com
Kink.com is a San Francisco-based internet pornography company that runs a group of websites devoted to catfighting, BDSM and related fetishes.-Hogtied:...
would move into the building to use as corporate offices and as a studio for producing its movies. As a result, he sold Kink.com's then-current office at 942 Mission Street for $6.5 million, more than double what he'd paid for it four years previous. The San Francisco Business Times, part of Bizjournals, reported that since moving to San Francisco in 1998, Acworth had also made large profits on a home in the Marina and Hogtied.com's original studios on 8th Street. Acworth told the paper that he would not be buying any additional property in San Francisco. "All of our real estate profits are in the Armory", he said.
Acworth continues to perform occasionally in Kink.com
Kink.com
Kink.com is a San Francisco-based internet pornography company that runs a group of websites devoted to catfighting, BDSM and related fetishes.-Hogtied:...
projects in addition to serving as CEO. In a September, 2008 interview with the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Acworth discussed a new project inspired by the novel Story of O
Story of O
Story of O is an erotic novel published in 1954 about love, dominance and submission by French author Anne Desclos under the pen name Pauline Réage.Desclos did not reveal herself as the author for forty years after the initial publication...
in which "Acworth wants to transform the armory's top floor into a series of Victorian/Georgian-inspired rooms... Participants will be given hierarchical positions—from maid to master of the house—and live according to the rules of domination and submission." He also said, "The Armory dates from exactly this Edwardian era, so the historical nature of the Armory does nothing but add to the mystique surrounding this idea."
External links
- Kink.com
- SFArmory.com
- Behind Kink – Kink.com blog.
- The Kink Kronikles - Interview with Peter Acworth