Firstly, BT, slapping is likely considered mild to moderate BDSM in most viewers minds. I know it is an act I don’t just assume is OK in sexual relationships, I would need unambiguous consent to such an act before I would do it to a woman (BDSM people tend to take consent ot the nth degree anyway nowadays with detailed conversations and many times checklists filled out before play starts, especially with a new partner). I just can’t figure out how a BDSM company starts about half of the performers that actually catch on in the industry (not including talent that only remains in the biz for a few months like the “Hot Girls Wanted” performers) if performers entering the industry don’t swing that way anyway — and I am kinky myself. If other directors are entering the BDSM genre without adequate education and training — especially heavy corporal and suspensions (which is where I see the industry going with its current course) — just because they think it sells more DVDs and website subscriptions then I am truly scared of what could go wrong. I have to disagree with part of your comment, BT — I think directors are both thinking they can make a few bucks and talent entering the industry are expecting sex that turns them on (a turned on performer is going to make a more realistic performance and that will definitely show in the finished movie). In the case of most of the talent Kink brings into the industry that is varying degrees of BDSM. Performers like Skin Diamond, Rain DeGrey and Felony I can actually imagine saying “whip me, cane me, ball gag me, hang me from the rafters and hogtie me or I won’t do the scene”. They will also take on dom roles nowadays but their film roles almost always include BDSM one way or the other. Rain in particular is very vocal about her preference for BDSM scenes. In the past performers like Amber Rayne (God rest her soul, she passed on way too young IMO) and Madison Young (who at the very end of her performing career did acquiesce and do a few “vanilla” scenes) could easily be seen as needing BDSM in their scenes as well.

I will also note that there are different levels of BDSM activity. Almost any director can do a scene with simple “hands tied behind the back” or “hands tied to the bedpost” scenes with an experienced BDSM performer. Handcuffs are a bit dicier but with an experienced BDSM performer should be OK as well. My concern is with long scenes with hands tied to a ceiling support beam or hook and feet barely on the ground, suspensions and moderate to heavy corporal. Electroshock scenes are only mildly concerning as long as the director knows not to use an actual farm-grade cattle prod on someone (the cattle prods used in BDSM are specially designed for that purpose and don’t deliver paralyzing or killer shocks). IMO preferably no electric shocks would be applied to the spine, neck, head or chest but that could be argued either way depending on the experience level of the performers involved (I am not big on electro-play anyway, it just doesn’t turn me on).

Kink has changed over the last decade as well. They used to have a fairly even mix of male dom and female dom. These days they shoot far more femdom. I think that’s simply a reaction to what sells better for them. But it’s also where they’re playing with fire using crossover talent.

Couples porn for sure is most likely free of BDSM and will always exist.

I doubt Kink is the death knell for vanilla porn – heck, I don’t even know what vanilla porn is any more given the amount of slapping, biting, spitting, gaping and rough anal in “vanilla” scenes. I’d also be surprised if BDSM is the sexual preference of young women entering the industry. Not that I believe the interviews with young starlets, but think about how many of them say they’d never done anal or even had a finger in their butts before entering porn. Moreover, its really difficult for me to believe that there is young talent coming into the industry telling directors: Hey, if you want me on screen, then you better ball-gag and hog-tie me. Otherwise, I’m not doing it. Directors and producers shoot what they think they can get people to pay for. It’s pretty much that simple.

Yes, Cherie has been busy the past few years. I wish her well and hope to see her perform for at least a few more years.

As for Kink bringing in many if not most of the new performers into the adult film industry, I hope that doesn’t sound the death knell for “vanilla” porn (I think there is room for both in the industry). I am seeing more directors getting into BDSM (at least on film), I hope they know what they are doing and don’t make a stupid mistake costing a performer his/her life or causing a severe injury. I also wonder if the sexual preferences of people coming into the biz are starting to force directors to cater to them and possibly ending up far beyond their skill set just so they have talent to perform in their films. In the past BDSM scenes were directed by people knowledgeable in how to do whatever act is being done without severely injuring a performer. I am afraid that may not be the case in the future.

I agree that Cherie is one hot MILF. I have enjoyed her work for some time, but was not aware of her shoots for Kink until I read your comments here, then had to go check her list of credits on IMDB. She’s been pretty busy the last few years. Kink is a fairly small part of what she’s done.

As for age… well, I’m not quite as old a Mike, but close. 🙂

I usually pay for a quarter instead of a month but I am guilty of cancelling after one quarter as well rather than renewing. I also have to agree that digital cameras have come down in price to the point where some guy, his girlfriend and a few of their friends can get together and start a subscription site and have some fun while at least getting a portion of what they invest into the site back. A commercial quality video camera is less than $1500 brand new nowadays and even a $400 consumer video camera is probably enough to get people to subscribe. Other items necessary are legal advice (sec. 2257 is a bitch), lube, condoms, maybe VD testing, a camera tripod, a few SD cards and a couple spare batteries for the video camera pretty much sum up the rest of what is necessary. They probably already have an internet subscription and a computer to use so I won’t count that as a start-up expense. With website programming, set-up and subscription they can start out for about $3500 and if the performers are limited to the couple and their at least somewhat hot, horny friends willing to perform for a pittance their ongoing expense could be only $1000 per month averaged over a year (taxes, bandwidth, continuing server subscription and legal fees) with a twice-weekly update schedule. At $20 a month (that $29.95 paid via credit card causes an interchange fee with their card processor and bank account fees) even 500 subscribers would cause them to almost break even. I think Lew Reubens is using this model right now for his BDSM porn site (although he claims to have tied someone to a luggage cart in 1943 on his Twitter, assuming he did that as a kid that would still make him well into his 70’s so he probably doesn’t need a day job). If they are doing it for fun, record scenes over the weekend or at night and have day jobs (if not Social Security age) to pay their household bills, food, etc., this is actually quite doable for many.

My bad, Toby. The first time I heard of her was her Kink scene. Also, I am old enough that 30-35 is still quite young to me. She recently said in a Mo Reese interview that she was 37 as of earlier this year so that would have made her 31-32 when she started. No matter, she is still hot (and may I say it a MILF, at least by the porn definition where actually having a child doesn’t play into the equation). She also seems to have a decent brain on her shoulders, I don’t read of her getting wasted every other night on whatever drug many porn performers swallow/smoke/snort in their spare time or getting arrested for stupid shit unlike a few others we know of.

Speaking of drugs I don’t have a problem with someone taking drugs recreationally once a week or so but we read of several performers that seem to smoke pot to the point of intoxication five or six times a week on their twitter accounts and blogs (I know they have a medical pot card but prescribed doses don’t cause intoxication). Of course if Cherie is at the far end of the spectrum in a good way, at the other extreme there is Tanner Mayes who got so far into meth (causing very erratic and disruptive behavior) that she became persona non grata on porn sets as the worst example of excess in recent memory. Tori Black getting herself and her husband arrested for assault and disturbing the peace at the AVN convention a few years back (and leaving their infant at risk of being taken into protective services custody although a friend of theirs ended up taking the child for the night) also qualifies as an extreme example of excess. I need not go too far into the Nevada residents only peripherally attached to the industry that seem to get arrested once per calendar quarter like clockwork for domestic violence against each other as an example of extreme excess as well.

Cherie DeVille is probably not a good example. She was over 30 when she got into the biz, plus her first work was not with Kink. She started in 2011, doing mostly girl/girl scenes. Her first shoot with Kink was April 2013.

mharris – you have hit the nail on the head. I work in mainstream publishing. My employer is actually thriving the last few years, believe it or not. I’d like to tell you – and believe – that it’s because we’re so smart, but the truth is that our success is to a large extent the result of some costly mistakes by our competitors that allowed us to gain readership and market share.

Print is still the bulk of our revenue, and our print advertising continues to grow – the equivalent of the porn industry selling DVDs. However, print is growing at a rate that is only marginally better than the economy. Last year, it grew at about 5%.

Digital products that advertisers are willing to pay for (consumers aren’t willing to pay for much) are the fastest growing segment of the business even if digital pales in sheer dollar volume compared to print, and it takes a constant stream of new digital products to keep the advertisers happy because they will only stick with any one way of reaching consumers for so long before they feel like its run its course and its time to try something new. What’s more, we have only a few competitors and that’s not likely to change.

Porn has the exact opposite problem – the biggest potential money maker for porn is the DVD market, and few of us buy DVDs any more – or, at least few of us buy porn DVDs. I pay for content always because content puts food on my table and I still buy CDs and mainstream DVDs but I haven’t bought a porn DVD in at least 5 years.

When it comes to digital products, most porn companies can’t sell advertising on their websites so they’re left with selling to consumers who are used to getting things for free. And, if you’re like me, I’ll pay $29.99 for a one-month subscription to Brazzers, Naughty America, Jules Jordan or one of those companies when I see a scene that I really, really want to watch. Then, during that one month, I’ll download 15 or 20 scenes to keep watching when the subscription runs out.

If you do the math, I used to pay $29.99 to get one DVD with four to five scenes, or between $100 and $120 for those 20 scenes that I now get for $30. In my end of the biz, we call that trading print dollars for digital pennies.

Moreover, while I have few competitors and there’s a high barrier to entry in mainstream publishing, anyone with a digital camera and an attractive girlfriend can put up a website and charge $29.99 a month. My readers – and advertisers – come back month after month. But while I’m paying for content, I might subscribe to Brazzer’s in June, Naughty America in July, Jules in August and Tushy in September. None of those sites is getting my money every month on a recurring basis.