Winner of the award for Best Gay Website at the past two AVN Adult Internet Awards shows, Canada's Chisel Media continues to set the standard for high-end, user-friendly gay adult websites.
Launched in July 1995 with a live Netcast of the 11th Annual International Conference on AIDS in Vancouver, British Columbia, Chisel.com (www.chisel.com) offers a wide range of services and information, including informational, educational, and adult. The site features more than a dozen high-end photo galleries and video clips; live, interactive productions; 24-hour streaming video and audio; a chat room; articles and interviews with celebrities such as David Bowie, John Waters, and Harvey Milk; and coverage of international events.
One of the most popular performers on the site is up-and-coming model Raph@el, a buff and beautiful 30-year-old blond who stars in his own weekly party, airing on Mondays.
In the works is a pay site for Colt model Wade Neff (www.wade-neff.com). The site will feature some exclusive content, which Chisel will be shooting and producing internally. "We have an entire in-house production set," says Chisel CEO Doug McClelland. "It's very good for business because many websites just offer the same recycled content." McClelland notes that Neff does not take money for his erotic work; thus, he says, Neff has designated his half of the profits to be donated to charity.
Not surprisingly, Chisel.com is a favorite among surfers. McClelland says the site receives more than 300,000 hits per day; and it was named Sexiest Website at the 1999 Men-In-Video Awards, where winners are determined by a fan vote.
Because Chisel is based in Canada, they don't have to conform to the same rules that govern U.S.-based content providers. "There are many variations in the law," says McClelland. "In Canada, only sex with children, animals and non-consensual bondage is prohibited, so we don't feel the same self-censorship pressure that people feel in the States."
But Chisel isn't just about hardcore. The company also hosts a mainstream informational site/e-mail service/home page for subscribers at www.gaymale.com; another mainstream site, GayExplorer.com (www.gayexplorer.com), features recommended destinations, services, agencies and events for the gay world-traveler. (Users can also link to this site from the popular www.cruisingforsex.com.) "Those are the big non-adult things we are working on right now," McClelland says.
Chisel made history on September 19, 1997 when its parent, Starnet Communications Canada, Inc., became the first company operating a gay website to be traded in the equity markets. [Starnet recently sold its adult interests to Chisel; see sidebar - Ed.]
Chisel.com is not the only product of the company's endeavors. Sister projects include the popular hetero site Sizzle.com, the lesbian site DykesforHazzard.com, and the steamy, upscale BlueKitten.com, to name a few.
According to McClelland, they are all one big happy family. "We each have our own production and editorial staff, but we share the same technical and system levels, along with customer service," he says. "We are a little isolated in Canada, so it's nice to have other people with various interests around to bounce ideas off of."
McClelland has often said that he wants Chisel to be to the gay adult Web what Playboy is to Hustler. "As with any business, you have to decide where to put yourself conceptually. We set ourselves out as high-end product," he says. "Yeah, we are pornographers; but we want to be proud of our work, just like anyone else."
