There are very few endeavors that are comparable to running an adult entertainment business. Every business faces challenges, of course, but few face the sort of negative assumptions, damaging stereotypes and, occasionally, outright hostility that adult entertainment businesses confront from day to day. But if you think adult businesses are the only ones that encounter that sort of pushback, then you’ve never talked to the head of a swingers club about the obstacles they face in pursuing their passion.
YNOT recently had a chance to sit down with the owner of a new, members-only swingers club called Eden After Dark. He reached out to us because he wanted to share his experiences with the adult community, in hopes of bonding with a kindred spirit. He feels the adult industry and the swingers’ lifestyle have a lot in common – namely stigma and judgement from the outside world. In general, little is reported about swing clubs because they tend to be incredibly private for just this reason, so we jumped on the chance to hear a little bit more about how their business is run.
Based in Las Vegas, Eden After Dark was started two years ago, smack in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, by veteran lifestyle party enthusiast Christian Matthews. Matthews had a vision on how his swing club would be run: it would be members only, it would be the absolute undisputed champion aesthetically and it would emphasize Kink, LGBT+ and inclusivity. And by being inclusive he meant not just throwing an “LGBT+ friendly” tagline up on a flier like many other clubs did. That, he said, was “no different than the big box retailers rolling out a bunch of rainbow tee shirts in June for PRIDE month, a predatory money grab coupled with a P.R. stunt.”
Eden After Dark would be actively involved in the LGBT+ communities, push boundaries and bring all walks of life into “one harmonious awesome place wherein they can live their truth.” The club would also cater to bisexual men who Matthews felt were sorely underrepresented and stigmatized.
“Off paper, I truly made Eden After Dark for bisexual men,” Matthews said. “In swing lifestyle there is an extreme pressure on women to ‘be bi’ almost to the point of forced. Whereas bisexual men in the swing lifestyle oh, you just don’t talk about that. That’s too taboo. What’s crazy though is that it’s going on behind closed doors far more than you would think. There are very few places that fully accept and embrace a bisexual man. Hell, I know a man that owns one of the best swing lifestyle clubs in the country who wanted to have a monthly bi night but was terrified about hurting his brand, so he attempted to make a whole other brand for it.”
With a background in operations and support for Fortune 100 companies, Matthews seems to be an unlikely candidate to start a swinger’s club. Then again, there’s that classic stereotype that both the swinging lifestyle and the adult industry face: What type of person starts a swinger’s club? What type of person goes into the adult industry? All walks of life from all different backgrounds, that’s who.
So, Matthews, who obviously had a head for business, decided to leave behind a job that had sent him all over the world to focus on what had been a side passion of his for many years – throwing unbranded and unofficial swing lifestyle events. Inspired by his ex-girlfriend, who told him he had “something special,” he took the plunge and started Eden After Dark.
For some, the thought of starting a business during a pandemic seems insane, but for Matthews, it was a blessing. It gave him the luxury to slow down and really focus on branding before opening the doors. Matthews said that now that COVID regulations are loosening up a bit, he’s ready to trot out all those amazing ideas he came up with during lockdown that “will shake the very foundation of swing lifestyle events forever” causing other owners/promoters to “quake in fear or take notes.” Obviously said with an air of friendly competition and humor, he followed up that his respect for other people in the business ran deep and he’d be happy to collaborate with anyone: “The adult industry as a whole has so much gunning against them that we all need to work together to make change happen.”
Asked if he ever thought there would come a time when the adult industry and swinger worlds would be accepted, Matthews said he felt that the Only Fans explosion during the pandemic really set the industry back in a lot of ways and that Europe was way ahead of the US in opening their arms to the industries.
He did, however, offer some optimism: “Time, exposure, and getting younger adults into political positions can effect change,” Matthews said. “Our lawmakers in the U.S. are hilariously out of touch with their constituents. Mainly due to a massive age disparity.”
Sounds about right – and it means the kindred spirits in the adult and swinging spaces will have to stick together and support one another while the rest of the world catches up.
