By M.Christian
YNOT – The term “industry legend” probably gets tossed around far too often in an industry as relatively young as online adult entertainment. However, in the case of Colin and Angie Rowntree, the term just might be legitimate.
Relentlessly hardworking and respected in both the mainstream and adult, the Rowntrees launched the benchmark BDSM community Wasteland.com almost 17 years ago. In addition to promoting safe and sane fetish play, they have been tireless in their political and social activism in support of free speech and all legal expressions of sexuality.
YNOT sat down with the Rowntrees for a conversation about their work in the BDSM community, their efforts on behalf of the adult industry as a whole and the state of the kinky nation.
YNOT: As you are … well, to put it politely, “extraordinary experts” on the topic of BDSM, how would you describe the lifestyle to someone who may not be familiar with it?
Colin and Angie Rowntree: BDSM — or bondage, discipline and sadomasochism — in its purest sense is “erotic power exchange” between two, and sometimes more, consenting individuals. In this, one partner is the “dominant,” or “Top,” and the other is the “submissive,” or “bottom.” At the core of the relationship is the bottom sexually and physically submitting to the training, punishment and sexual activities of the Dominant partner.
This does not mean, as is so often shot in adult movies these days, the “flog and fuck” manner of BDSM, but rather a carefully negotiated and handled psychodrama between the partners as the scene is played out. And, surprising to many unfamiliar with the scene, the “bottom” is the one actually in ultimate control of the scene. The “Top” stays in close touch with where the sub is in terms of pain threshold, psychologically and emotionally, and adjusts accordingly as the scene progresses in order to bring the submissive to the ultimate goal: “sub space.” In short, “sub space” is an altered state of being that happens when the sub transcends time and space after careful administration of pain and pleasure by the Dominant.
Like a lot of things, BDSM has changed over the years. How did the lifestyle arise, where is it now and where it might be heading in the future?
BDSM really came into its own in 17th through 19th Century England and France as far as developing its own tradition. Think Marquis de Sade and the English School of Discipline here. It started to take off in the U.S. in the middle of the 20th Century when a lot of magazines like Bizarre and such arrived on the underground publishing scene.
The first pseudo-mainstream character to enter the scene and increase interest and awareness was, of course, Betty Paige. From there, BDSM and fetishism in the U.S., England and Europe gradually entered the sexual counterculture until it reached a zenith of sorts with the debut John Stagliano’s film The Fashionistas. Upon that film’s release, the cat was truly out of the bag, and by the end of the 20th Century, BDSM and fetishism became fashionable with mainstream media stars like Madonna.
Where it stands right now is a rather odd schism. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of BDSM groups, clubs and associations around the world where the “old school” BDSM players meet and beat. The adult film industry, however, has taken a different path. Many producers simply want sexually brutalized content that has little or nothing to do with actual BDSM traditions. Hence, we coined the term “Flog and Fuck School of Adult Filmmaking.” Personally, as a producer and director, we find much of this content simply pandering to the lowest common denominator. We try to keep Wasteland shooting “Real BDSM with Real Players.” Indeed, that type of content is harder to shoot as there as so many complex variables in construction and shooting a real BDSM scene — but call us old-fashioned that way.
How has the internet changed the BDSM lifestyle? Have changes been for the better?
That’s a two-edged sword. For the better, the internet has broadened awareness of BDSM and allowed for the development of large-scale communities in a counterculture that prior to the internet was for the most part isolated and occluded. On the flipside, the inevitability of internet film producers constantly trying to outdo each other in levels of intensity has created a “shock value” climate that has little to do with BDSM. Instead, it serves to ramp things up to the point that what consumers see from many studios is a circus of the macabre.
Aside from our obvious concern that one of these producers may seriously injure a performer, much of their product cheapens the image of BDSM, transforming it from a loving, consensual relationship based on trust and erotic power exchange into a free-fall of more-and-more dangerous stunts to monetize content.
It’s not exactly news that sexual rights have been on a rollercoaster ride for the past 10 years or so. What do you see as the biggest positives and negatives of that journey, and what do you think folks should pay attention to over the next few years?
The gains made for sexual rights over the past decades in GBLT, BDSM and other specific communities will be very difficult even for the most vociferous right-wing tea-bagger to reverse at this point. The horses are truly out of the barn now. The one element of risk that I see coming up is that things are so much more open and “in your face” now, as we come into the next American political cycle there may be another wave of what happened during the Bush administration. We could see increased obscenity prosecutions and harassment via [18 USC §]2257 [recordkeeping] requirements.
Let’s just hope the extreme right stays focused on taxes for as long as possible. When they have a lack of issues, porn is always the first candidate for their lynch mobs to go after.
What can we do to help political activists like yourself?
Join the [American Civil Liberties Union] and the [adult industry trade association] Free Speech Coalition, at the very least. Go to industry boards and events and develop networks of like-minded adult producers and performers. There’s safety in numbers.
Aside from that, simply stay in touch with current trends, legal cases and such and get involved in whatever ways you can.
What fun projects are in the works at Wasteland now? What do you see coming up in the future?
We’re not sure if it’s “fun” or not, but we’re currently focused on re-tooling our entire network into HTML5 compliance with MP4 video as the core standard. That will enable us to serve all desktop, mobile, tablet and other device needs as consumers move into the “post-Flash” and “post-WMV” technology period.
On the artistic front, Wasteland.com and its sister site, Sssh.com — erotica for women — are moving very much back into the storyline-based film model. That is where we originally came from, and there is a very nice corner of the market for that sort of content as people are now suffering from “tube overload” and looking for content of artistic substance with better production values.
