Kink.com is an independent
San Francisco-based
bondageinternet pornography company that runs a group of
websites devoted to
BDSM and related
fetishes. Kink.com, along with Kink Studios, LLC, Hogtied.com and Behindkink.com are
DBAs for Cybernet Entertainment LLC, the parent company that operates the studio.[1]
In March 2018, Alison Boden, the former VP of Technology, became the new CEO of Kink.com.[2] She helmed the company until founder
Peter Acworth returned in 2021.[3]
Origin
Kink.com was started by UK native Peter Acworth in 1997 while he was a doctoral candidate 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 website, Acworth decided to start a pornographic web site of his own. Since Acworth had what he described as a lifelong interest in
bondage, he oriented the site toward
BDSM pornography.[4] The site was called Hogtied.com and initially featured content that was licensed from other primary producers. The site was successful and was soon grossing several thousand dollars per day. Acworth left his graduate studies to work on the site full-time.[4]
In 1998, Acworth moved the company from
New York City to
San Francisco.[4] 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 whom he found through
Craigslist or through his photographer friends.[4][5] He opened the company's second site,
Fucking Machines, in 2000,[6] and has since opened 26 additional subscription Web sites.[7]
Several Web sites under the Kink.com umbrella feature directors who 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.
Acquisition of the San Francisco Armory
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.[4][8]
At one point, there were plans to demolish part of the building to make way for a condominium development. Such news brought in supporters who welcomed Kink.com's preservation of the historic building as part of an overall attempt to revitalize and bring back business to the area, without altering the appearance of the historic building.[9]
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.[4] The meeting was well-attended by both supporters and opponents of the Kink.com purchase. One opponent,
anti-pornography campaigner
Melissa Farley compared the images produced by Kink.com to images of
prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, and testified against the purchase.[9][10]
The Planning Commission ruled that Kink.com was not in violation of any law or
zoning requirement.[11][12][13]
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.[14] In addition to utilizing the Armory for its own productions, Kink.com also rents space in the historic building to local independent filmmakers to use as locations in non-pornographic narrative films and videos.
By 2013, Kink.com was converting rooms at the Armory into webcam studios that independent
webcam models could rent.[15] In January 2017, Kink.com announced that it would cease to use the Armory for film production.[16]
In 2018, Acworth sold the Armory for $65 million.[17]
Specialty web sites
In 2007, the company's web site
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.[18] Also in 2007, the company began streaming regular live shows, in part as a defense against
copyright infringement.[19] By 2008, live shows were being streamed by Device Bondage, a Kink.com bondage site,[20] and erotic wrestling site Ultimate Surrender began streaming its competitive matches live in 2008.[21]
In 2008, the company added on-demand technology to its web sites, selling updates to their websites on a per-episode basis rather than strictly by subscription.[22] This system recently began adding third-party content, including that from Germany's Marquis.[23]
Also in 2008, the company launched a site called Bound Gods, 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.[24]
In 2014, the company announced that it was stopping production on its "wildly popular" Public Disgrace and Bound in Public sites, and changing Hardcore Gangbangs to make it more explicitly the fantasy of the female participant. Kink announced that it was increasing educational efforts, with the aim of "demystifying
alternative sexualities" and would be welcoming the public into The Armory. It wished to turn Kink.com into a lifestyle brand à la Playboy.[25]
As of 2022, their main network has over 90 channels, 27 are Kink exclusives from nine studios, making it the largest fetish network to date.[26]
In October 2022, Kink launched KinkMen as its own, exclusive paysite within the Kink network, bringing in performers from across the male kink and fetish sphere, and featuring directors such as Dominic Pacifico and Micah Martinez.[27]
Documentary
This section needs expansion. You can help by
adding to it. (October 2019)
In 2013 Kink, a documentary, was made about the company.
Award nominations
2008, Kink.com was nominated for a 2009
AVN Award in a new category, Best Adult Web Site.[28]
2010
XBIZ Award Nominee - Innovative Company of the Year[29]
^Rubenstein, Steve (January 13, 2007).
"Ex-armory turns into porn site". San Francisco Chronicle.
Archived from the original on November 15, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2007.