The FemininE-Mystique
In October 1999, noted feminist author Susan Faludi (Stiffed) declared on L.A.'s Pacifica Radio that porn is the only place where women make more money than men. Faludi was referring to on-screen talent, but off-screen and behind-the-scenes, women are also making strides in the adult world, particularly as entrepreneurs of Internet erotica. Women are shattering the glass ceiling that held them back in the straight world's "pink ghetto," and though the U.S. has yet to see either a black or female president, the adult Net has at least one president who is both.
The importance of women to the adult industry can not be overstated. Obviously, as talent, females are indispensable - but they're also becoming increasingly important to the market as consumers. Theresa Flynt-Gaerke says that more than half of the clients at her Hustler Hollywood store (the upscale sex shop on L.A.'s Sunset Strip that sells dildos and DVDs, latte and latex, and computer-related products) are women. And who better to sell to women than other women?
But just what are the unique attributes of online female adult entrepreneurs? What sets these 21st century trendsetters apart from the rest of the pack? What does it take for women to make it on the adult Net? What is the right E-stuff - and who has it?
At the ia2000 in Miami last October, AVN Online posed these questions and more to three female adult Netizens from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, working in various facets of the biz. Their answers - and their opinions - sometimes differed from one another; but they were always informative, often candid, and occasionally, quite surprising.
No Limits
Shantale Pipkins is the president and chief operating officer of Dreamzotic Communications, LLC, The Video Streaming Network (www.dreamzotic.com), which provides content for member areas of adult paysites. Dreamzotic has a full library of videos, available in their entirety, for diverse tastes.
Pipkins majored in civil and architectural engineering at Drexler University, where she met her future husband, Robert (now Dreamzotic's V.P.). They married a month after graduating and moved to New Jersey, where they researched Internet businesses, and launched Dreamzotic in 1996. The African-American entrepreneur says the adult Net is flourishing because "On the Internet, it doesn't matter what you look like, who you are, or where you came from. As long as you do a good job, people respect you. There's a lot of people on the Internet who make a lot of money, and nobody has seen their face. It definitely levels the playing field. In the physical world, it's very important how you look and come across. There's discrimination against people because of race, sex, etc. People discriminated against in the real world don't find that so much in the Net. For women, it's easier to get ahead in the Internet business. You're selling your product, not yourself, as a businesswoman. There's definitely less of a glass ceiling - you might even say there is no glass ceiling. There are very few barriers; all you have to be is determined, and you can really make something of yourself.
The creator of Dreamzotic says that, in general, she finds people in the industry are well-educated and more cultured than the "average" person. "The conservative world thinks we're pigs, and a bunch of perverts," she contends, "but those running bona fide adult businesses are businesspeople like anyone else. They just don't necessarily wear a suit every day."
Pipkins admits that not everything is sunshine and roses, even in the progressive world of the adult Net. "Sometimes in person, men have difficulty dealing with me at first, because they think I'm talent, not [the] owner of the company," she says. "But I think once they realize I'm the owner, they respect me."
Pipkins ultimately believes the Net will help women throw off some of the repression imposed by mainstream society, and help them to more fully explore their inner selves. "[The Net] is an arena where women can let themselves be free; feel less inhibited. They can express themselves sexually without feeling it's wrong. Because our society basically tells women they shouldn't be interested in sex; they're here to procreate, not to fulfill themselves physically. S/M footage shows women in the Dominant role; women are taught to be docile, but they can take control. But women can pursue anything they want to do in this life. There are no limits, no barriers."
Pornographic and Proud!
Mistress Scarlet is, in a way, Content (pronounced as 'contentment'). That is, the name she was born with is Content Love Knowles, and she's the owner of Goddess Consulting (www.mistressscarlet.com). She dies her hair bright red, and her Mistress Scarlet moniker is a reference to Babylon's scarlet woman, the mother of abominations, a principle figure in the Thelemite religion she practices. She was born in 1959, and calls herself "an independent scholar, with a diverse education, mostly in arts." She's been involved in adult entertainment half her life; she was an exotic dancer in the '80s; and she's been into BDSM since she was 20, having turned pro in Austin, Texas six years ago.
Scarlet advertised her business locally, and got a computer in January, 1997. By April, she'd put up her first Web page, Mistress Scarlet's BDSM Web, which she describes as "like a bulletin board - one page, and very long." To her surprise, she received traffic immediately. So she started surfing other sites, got some links, and people wrote to her right away, offering help.
In June 1997, Scarlet burned a foot while performing, putting her out of commission for a month. She halted the offline ads for her business, but the calls never stopped. That's when she realized most of her business was coming from her two-month-old Web site. The hiatus enabled her to trim the number of her clients. "Burning myself was a turning point for me. I realized there was no reason to continue local advertising, and I was going to go totally Net." Except for an exclusive, hand-picked clientele, she semi-retired as a dominatrix and concentrated on the Web.
"Mistress Scarlet's BDSM Web is a virtual place," she explains, "providing stories by me, clients and others; photos of me; a photo gallery of amateur pictures; photos of consenting clients in session who find it exciting to be photographed and to have their pictures displayed; session accounts; bulletin boards; chat rooms. I run free Web sites with adult verification services. It's not hardcore sex, but it's not for children; one of my specialties is mummification bondage. I don't session on the Net - only in real time. Most people who come there do not want to make personal contact with me for sessions. In 2000, the fact that I do BDSM sessions will not be a part of my Web sites."
Researching how she could make money on the Web, Scarlet found the YNOT Network and Condom Project. "I realized what a pivotal time it was to be involved with the Net; like the dawning of television. Following the advice of Webfather, I bought domains." She became a reseller, promoting sites specific to the fetishes that interest her visitors.
"Going online obviously helped my business," she continues. "In fact, it put me into a new business. Economic enfranchisement empowers anyone. I'll be a post-feminist in a post-patriarchal world. Now I'm absolutely a pro-sex feminist. Feminism, in essence, gives women choice. I've never waited for anyone else to validate me in business. Manifest Destiny is dead in the real world, but in the virtual world my empire is only as small as my imagination. I recommend that anyone in the business read ACLU President Nadine Strossen's book Defending Pornography. I'm very proud to be a pornographer, because I enjoy erotic entertainment."
Sex Toys R Us
Rhonda Rivera is a wife/mother/PTA member... and veteran of the offline and online sex toy industry. She works for MDB Internet Services (www.sextoylane.com), coming onboard recently to help the company build their business and to "take them in a new direction."
Rhonda has profited from the adult Net, but feels that female consumers of online erotica are benefiting as well. She worked in the customer service area of an adult site, and believes women relate better to other females when purchasing sexual paraphernalia. She thinks most female sex surfing is done solo, and not by couples.
"With the advent of the Internet, it's easier for women to express themselves," she notes. "They don't have to walk into an adult bookstore, or face a salesman, and avoid embarrassment. They're going to whip out their credit card on the Net and get that vibrator they really want, but were ashamed to buy before. The Net gives them freedom to explore - they can just log on and go! If they're bi-curious, they can look that way, or if they prefer, view male erotica, an area that is blossoming. Or they can go shopping in the privacy in their own home.
They don't have to go to a peep show or buy a video and get red-faced. The Net helps women overcome timidity."
She points out that two years ago, she was one of ten women at the ia2000 convention. "Now it's up to 30 percent women," she estimates. "Not just the girls with their boobs hanging out: these are marketers, programmers, and businesswomen in what used to be the Boysland."
Rivera sums up the individualistic ethos of adult Netizens thusly: "I don't agree with the feminist or conservative movements; I agree with my movement. I do what makes me happy." And she warns would-be censors: "All you right wingers out there, all you people trying to limit our rights: I ship to you. I know who you are, I've shipped to embassies, to Virginia, to Washington. We have names... I don't think you guys should push us any further."
E-Sisterhood is Power
In terms of gender and ethnicity, the Net may well be the Great Equalizer. Since nobody knows who is purchasing a dildo, or who is buying what content, the Net's anonymity makes it truly color and gender blind, the high tech equal of the secret ballot. Indeed, this is a business where minorities of all kinds can truly shatter the glass ceiling.
All of the women we interviewed are under 40, and have a youthful �lan, as befits a young industry. Although they know networking can be essential, these e-capitalists are free spirits with individualistic personalities, and the Net allows some to be their own boss. They can work when and where they want, and most of all, they're able to reap the fruits of their labor. The Internet in general, and adult E-commerce in particular, can be highly lucrative. As a matter of practicality, 19-year-old Alisa Belisle, who works as an administrator for the Canadian adult company Zenon, may have said it best: "This is the best-paying job I could get straight out of high school."
To the extent that women have an equal role and control in the adult world, they are also taking control of their sexuality. Online erotica gives its purveyors opportunities to fulfill their inner obsessions and fantasies. Theirs is a rare blend of business, pleasure, and leisure, and who can beat that?
