Peter Acworth is the business brain behind the operations of Kink, which he founded in 1997; however the indelible mark he has left on the world in terms of sexual evolution is far greater than anything a balance sheet could ever illustrate.
Simply put, without Peter Acworth there would be no KINK, no armory, no online beacon for kinksters and freaks to see that we are never alone. While there were a few BDSM porn sites before Kink, Peter’s creation was the first one that truly had the ability to draw an audience on a global scale to educate people and open up their minds to alternative ways of finding pleasure together.
At the time of KINK’s creation, Peter was a PhD student of finance at Columbia University. He read an article in the paper about a guy who made some money through an online porn site, and he decided to give it a shot. He wanted to make something that fit his own sexual tastes, which were mainly bondage relevant. His interest in bondage started early on, and just like many bondage lovers he experimented with tying himself up, and enjoyed looking at comics that had bondage in them. He started Hogtied first, and the rest is history. Acworth is truly a bondage fetishist who got into the porn business at the right time and excelled due to an enormous amount of business savvy. He says that he succeeded with Hogtied because he knew what the customers wanted, since he was someone who would watch it himself!
Throughout the past 20 years Peter has had to innovate to keep up with the times. The ever evolving technology for search engine optimization, credit card authorization, affiliate marketing and more can cause other porn site owners to stumble, because once you’ve got one thing set up, the next product is already out. However, with a crew of trustworthy directors and Peter at the helm, Kink has remained the top BDSM porn site, winning awards for leadership in the porn industry and for their content.
Peter has been the driving force behind all of the innovations that have happened here at Kink in the past 20 years. Through his savvy real estate decisions, the company was able to purchase the Armory, which is now a San Francisco icon. He also started The Armory Club, a lounge across the street, which brought in even more revenue for the company, because patrons are excited about the prospect of running into their favorite pornstars there.
Mr. Acworth is not only comfortable running the business side of things, he is often the public face of the studio, and at times a spokesperson for the porn industry, when industry issues affect the Kink world. Though he is quiet about his personal life and interests, he is a fervent activist for those who are in his care - his employees and the performers who come to any Kink porn set. Peter, along with the input of others on his team devised a set of rules for models known as Model Rights and Responsibilities, which each performer signs before shooting so they can be sure to know they have the power on the porn sets. ‘It’s really important to me that everyone is actually having a good time,’ Peter emphasizes. ‘Yes, this is a job, but I want people who want to be here.’
