SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Late Friday, hardcore BDSM content producer Kink.com announced it would distance itself from “extreme” material in an effort to reach a broader audience and expand the company’s educational and community outreach.
To meet those goals, on Monday Kink.com announced it has hired a director of sexual health and advocacy: Eric Paul Leue, a longtime activist in the realms of sexual health and sexual rights.
According to founder Peter Acworth, neither move should come as a surprise.
“We’ve been moving in this direction over the past year, and we’ve had many discussions about our company and its mission,” Acworth said. “We’ve seen tremendous growth in our workshops and educational elements, as well as our bar, and thought it was time for us to refocus our priorities.”
As part of the shift, two of the company’s websites will no longer be produced; another will be rebranded to bring it into line with the company’s mission to demystify and celebrate alternative sexualities.
“While they were very popular, we have decided to move away from some of our more extreme products,” Acworth said. “This entails ceasing to shoot Public Disgrace and Bound in Public, which incorporate audience members and extras, and rebranding HardCoreGangBangs as FantasyGangBangs.
“While these products were highly structured behind the scenes, we felt they did not always convey the negotiated and consensual nature of BDSM as it is actually safely practiced in the real world,” he added. “ In some instances, the content could confuse the uninitiated viewer.”
Serving the Kink.com mission also led Acworth to hire Leue.
“Eric brings a fair-minded and judgment-free approach to the health and safety of performers,” Acworth said. “He understands sexual minority populations, whether adult performers or members of the kink and LGBTQ communities, often face stigma. With him, we will work to develop relationships with health providers, improve safety protocols and create educational programs for our performers, so they understand their rights, on and off set.”
In his role at Kink, Leue will split his time between San Francisco and Los Angeles to work alongside existing efforts, be an additional resource especially for off-set prevention efforts, and build stronger ties between community health leaders and the adult community. He will also work for timely and responsible legislation to protect the well-being and personal rights of adult performers. Kink has faced recent criticism in all of those areas.
“Prevention and sexual health is a matter of personal choice; what works for one doesn’t necessarily work for the next,” Leue said. “If we truly care about performer health, we need to continue our efforts for stigma-free sexual education and focus on a real-life approach: making all options available, and enabling people to make informed decisions about their health. The adult industry has been an early adopter and successful forerunner of this way of thinking.
“As a family man and leather man, I have a deep understanding of the realities of sexually progressive communities and how misinformed assumptions about our sexuality, education and health needs by others can actually harm us, even when their intentions are good,” he continued. “I believe that direct, open-minded and honest communication and collaboration with affected communities is the only way to advance the conversation, not only in regards to performer health, but also the general public.”
Acworth said the changes at Kink represent a refocusing on original goals, not an attempt to transform the company into something new.
“After almost two decades in the business, we’re looking to grow in ways that return to our original mission, and so we’re shifting our energies to things like Kink University, enhancing the social aspects of our websites, events in our community center and adding the ability to buy kink-branded BDSM gear on our sites,” he said. “In short, we are aiming for Kink.com to become a lifestyle brand. With the mainstreaming of kink [in the generic sense] as evidenced by the huge popularity of 50 Shades of Grey, we feel there is an opportunity to serve a wider customer base in the future.”
