Adult Site Broker Talk Episode 143 with Alison Boden of the Free Speech Coalition

Speaker 1 (0s): This is Bruce Friedman of Adult Site Broker and welcome to Adult Site Broker Talk, where each week we interview one of the movers and shakers of the adult industry and we give you a tip on buying and selling websites. This week we'll be speaking with Alison Boden, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition in part two of our interview. Adult Site Broker is proud to announce the launch of our new website, adult Site Broker three point oh at adultsitebroker.com.

The look and feel of the new site is nice and up to date and easier to navigate. The new site also has links to our affiliate program, ASB Cash, and our new blog. Speaking of ASB Cash, we've doubled our affiliate payouts. Now, when you refer sellers or buyers to us at Adult Site Broker, you're gonna receive 20% of our broker commission on any and all sales that result from that referral for life. You can either place a link to us on your site or refer buyers and sellers through an email introduction.

ASB Cash is the first affiliate program for an adult website brokerage. Check out ASBcash.com for more details and to sign up. Now let's feature our property the week that's for sale at Adult Site Broker. We're proud to offer for sale a review site network, which has been growing at a good rate for years. It features one of the largest industry directories in the world. It has over 900 pages and has been gaining great traction with Google, with lots of room to grow, it already gets a huge amount of organic traffic more than other review directories.

With more content, it's ranking well for all the main keywords. The network is making 50,000 profit most months with lots of room to grow the best month. The network made over 68,000 in profit. Profit for the year of 2022 was 550,000. The network has some of the best writers in the industry. There are also on-call developers and a full-time virtual assistant who knows every function of the site. The owner would be willing to give the new owner an outline of what could be done to further expand the business in the future.

Only 2.12 million. Now time for this week's interview. My guest today on Adult Site Broker talk is Alison Bowden of Free Speech Coalition. Alison, thanks for being with us today on Adult Site Broker Talk. Thanks for having me. Now Alison is a veteran adult entertainment industry exec. That's a mouthful, who served on the fscs board of directors for over three years, including as its president. Before taking on the role of executive director since starting her adult industry career in 2003, Allison has held a wide variety of marketing technology and leadership positions at companies like Adult Empire Game Link, video Box, and kink.com, where she was c e O.

She also serves pineapple support as its board president. When do you sleep? Allison holds a bachelor's degree in sociology with a concentration in women's studies from the University of Pittsburgh. You can follow her on social media at at Allison Bowden. That's Alison with an L. She enjoys hiking, drinking, wine diving, and listening to podcasts. No doubt, a steady diet of adult site broker talk. The Free Speech coalition's mission is to protect the rights and freedoms of both the workers and businesses in the adult industry.

Their organization functions as a resource, a leader, and a tool for the communities that they serve. They take pride in fighting to alleviate the social stigma, misinformation, and discriminatory policies that affect those who work in the adult industry for more than 25 years. Wow. They've been fighting and winning impossible battles from the Supreme Court to the ballot box and back again. I saw you at AVN and you were having meetings with various platforms. You were moving so fast, it wasn't funny.

Didn't even hardly get a chance to say hi. What do you see as the biggest issues facing the industry?

Speaker 2 (4m 25s): I think censorship in general has been a huge and building issue, right? I think these things are all kind of connected where the stigma of being the adult industry is hurting us with getting bank accounts. It's hurting us because legislatures feel the need to say that we're a public health problem. Yeah. And they don't recognize how much the adult industry actually does extremely well. I've been asked so many times, well, don't you, is there any checking of IDs of the people who are performing?

And I'm like, are you kidding me?

Speaker 1 (5m 2s): Yeah.

Speaker 2 (5m 3s): How do you know so little that you don't even realize?

Speaker 1 (5m 6s): Here's the thing about, here's the thing about politicians. They know so little. Have you ever heard them talk about technology? I'm sure you have when they, when they've done their hearings on technology and they've got somebody on from Google or Apple, some of the questions they ask,

Speaker 2 (5m 24s): Oh, it's painful.

Speaker 1 (5m 25s): It's insane. They don't know anything.

Speaker 2 (5m 28s): It's so crazy.

Speaker 1 (5m 29s): They know how to work their phone. That's about it.

Speaker 2 (5m 32s): Exactly. And and I, and I guess I shouldn't have been shocked, but when we went to Dec DC in December to lobby, you know, on banking discrimination, right. It was very much just actually explaining the problem. Because no one in Capitol Hill is even, they don't understand the basics. Right. So it's just a lot of education. Sure. And shockingly, they're, they've been very open to hearing

Speaker 1 (5m 59s): Really

Speaker 2 (5m 60s): What our industry is going through and Oh yeah. When you bring a performer like Ali Ray, sorry, Ali Venox in, and she tells her personal story about losing over 30 accounts, not being able to be on her own mortgage and what that did to her. Hmm. These people, they, they understand like, oh wow, this is happening to individuals, real human beings. Yeah. This is a problem.

Speaker 1 (6m 28s): Yes. Wow. Was it with Democrats and Republicans?

Speaker 2 (6m 33s): Believe it or not. Yes. Wow. With both sides. And of course, you know, the, the interests are slightly different. One's more focused on hello, freedom to be a business or to conduct your affairs. The other one is more focused on, you know, the fact that people who are already having struggles, you know, our industry is truck full of g lgbtq people of color, other people who are marginalized. Sure.

Now they're being further marginalized, but frankly by

Speaker 1 (7m 5s): The laws. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (7m 6s): Yeah. They were, they were both actually like, oh, wow, that's not fair.

Speaker 1 (7m 11s): Geez, that's wonderful news. That was gonna be my next question, but that is just, that is just wonderful news that they at least were open. Here's the problem I see. To, to get any politician, even most Democrats, cuz I know we have some Democrats that are willing to stand up for us, but unfortunately, from what I've seen, they're very few. The problem is to get politicians to come out as in favor of anything that is perceived to help the adult industry seems to be like pulling teeth.

Speaker 2 (7m 52s): Yeah. I I definitely don't think that it's like a, a strategy that they're gonna pursue kind of coming out and saying they're supporting big porn. However. Yeah. I think that honestly the, the big strides toward embracing sex worker rights we've made in the United States in the last few years are actually what has opened their eyes really. And, and let them kind of listen to this.

Yeah, for sure. Hmm. Cause you know, in the last few years of the first time that people are actually, you know, the presidential candidates in 2020 actually had to answer where they stand on sex work, decriminalization.

Speaker 1 (8m 36s): Oh, sex work is from your mouth, from your mouth to God's ears,

Speaker 2 (8m 40s): You know? And I, and I think that, that finally, it is not as stigmatized as it as it was. And you know, obviously it's a little easier to have that conversation on the D side, but Yeah. You know, knowing that you can walk in and say, look, you have, with the advent of only fans and other platforms, especially during the pandemic, right. Your district probably has five to 10,000 active sex workers, legal, working in it right now.

Speaker 1 (9m 12s): Those are voters.

Speaker 2 (9m 13s): These are your constituents. Exactly. Exactly. So, you know, it's a bit more compelling and I think that people are a little more open to listening than they used to be. Which isn't to say that it's not gonna be difficult, obviously. Right, right. Or it's not gonna take a while, but it's encouraging. It's encouraging.

Speaker 1 (9m 32s): Right. Absolutely. So you talked about age verification. That's obviously happening in Europe as well. In fact, it, it started to happen in Europe first. The UK's been kicking it around for what seems like decades. How is the F S C approaching this?

Speaker 2 (9m 50s): Well, so as a, as an industry, you know, our main concern, we never want minors on our websites.

Speaker 1 (9m 60s): Amen.

Speaker 2 (10m 0s): Like, it's just, it's not what we want. It's a, many of us are parents and we don't want that. Or we're just normal humans who don't necessarily want any children looking at porn. And if you're really, you know, looking at the nuts and bolts of it, they don't have money. We don't want them, we don't. If there were

Speaker 1 (10m 21s): A That's very true. I I've never heard it put that way. That's why I laughed. But that's very true.

Speaker 2 (10m 26s): You know, they're just, they're not people that, that we want on our websites, but we also don't want to make it difficult for adults to access the, the material that, that they deserve to, to right.

Speaker 1 (10m 41s): Or to have to put their, or they have to put their private information.

Speaker 2 (10m 45s): And that's the scary thing. You know, look, given how many data breaches and Yeah. Other invasions of privacy that we've seen in the last few years, it just, it's not wise to have people have to put in their, their photo ID from the government or, you know, do a face scan that some company says is getting deleted. But what I don't know that, I think that our main concern is limiting access to minors in a way that doesn't destroy everyone's business.

Right. Right. Like, let's say, you know, site number one institutes avs tomorrow, all their traffic is just going to site number two that isn't complying. Right. So making sure that it is equitable, that, you know, you can still do business while doing Right. By, you know, minors, frankly, parents need to be involved with this. I don't understand why almost none of them, them are using device filters, parental controls, all of the tools that they have at their disposal

Speaker 1 (11m 59s): Because they're lazy.

Speaker 2 (12m 0s): Our websites, well, right. Let's, let's trust the pornographers, keep my kids outta from looking at their websites instead of doing my job.

Speaker 1 (12m 9s): Right, exactly. You talked about breaches, the Ashley Madison one should scare everyone because a lot of information came out in the public domain that embarrassed a lot of people

Speaker 2 (12m 25s): And, and thinking about the destruction that that can do to people's lives. I mean Yes. So let's talk about my own employer. If kink.com had a giant data breach and then somebody goes into a divorce and that they found that their ex-spouse is in the kink.com list, do you think they're not gonna try to use that in a custody battle?

Speaker 1 (12m 50s): Oh hell yeah.

Speaker 2 (12m 51s): Absolutely. They'll, yeah. So it's really dangerous for everyone to, for these legislators to come up with these half baked ideas and think that, you know, well it's for the children. Well actually I think it's probably harming everyone.

Speaker 1 (13m 7s): Oh yeah, absolutely. Well, you talk and you also, you talk about age verification. Let me give you my take on it and you tell me what you think. I think a long time ago the industry should have gotten together. I, I say that tongue in cheek to a degree because the industry doesn't get together on anything as you well know and said, okay, we are going to establish an age verification standard for the industry and come up with something. There would've been a lot of companies would've jumped on board to be providers.

We would've already had it. And then governments really would have nothing to say, cuz we're already verifying age. The problem now is we've got a third of the states in the US or something close to that proposing that and a lot of countries.

Speaker 2 (14m 1s): Yeah. I mean, I think the proliferation of free content hurt this business in Oh yeah. So many ways. Oh yeah. So many.

Speaker 1 (14m 11s): Yes.

Speaker 2 (14m 11s): You know, of

Speaker 1 (14m 12s): Course. And of course the whole PornHub thing with MasterCard and Visa, that was just so damaging and it could have been avoided.

Speaker 2 (14m 22s): Yeah. Yeah. And I, you know, look, if I had a, if I had a time machine, that'd be one of the things I would do. Maybe go back and, and encourage somebody else to buy, buy PornHub, but Right. You know, knowing that that bell can't be on wrong, I think people did what they thought was right at the time. You know, like I said, nobody wants to be the only one doing it because that just means you're outta outta business. And when the free sites refuse to, you know, comply, I mean, and even now, if, if PornHub complies like they're doing in Louisiana, they're the people who went to PornHub and got, you know, Hey, I need your id.

They just went to a different tube site. Sure. So until we can all agree on something, and like you said, very difficult, at the best of times, we definitely are in a moment where we need to find a way to reward the people who, who do the right thing. Right. And the right thing. Meaning, you know, the thing that both preserves their businesses and the lack of access to minors. I think that, you know, we really have to think hard about what is gonna, what's gonna work as opposed to

Speaker 1 (15m 39s): Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (15m 41s): What these legislators are doing.

Speaker 1 (15m 43s): Along, along the lines of all this, I had an interview a few days ago with Todd Spates of Yanks Cash and he, I asked him, he's, he's gonna, he has a book coming out by the way, it's gonna be very interesting. And he said The biggest problem with our industry is a lack of leadership. One thing he said was he never sees the three or four major tube sites sitting on a panel, the CEOs of those sites and talking and taking questions.

And I went, you know, you're right. I haven't either, you barely see any of the top management at shows and that's just not right. Cuz those are the guys that are really ricking in the bucks and they should be more responsible to what's happening in our industry because a lot of the negative stuff that's going on is being targeted right at them.

Speaker 2 (16m 45s): That's very true. And I'm sure that's part of the reason they're not showing up in public.

Speaker 1 (16m 50s): Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16m 52s): You know, I would love it if the major, you know, the decision makers at these large companies did see themselves as more part of our industry because whether we like it or not, they are. And I absolutely encourage, you know, if you need a panel, fscs happy to organize it, but like, I really do think having those folks understand their place in this industry and show feel a part of it, feel responsible for it because they are.

Right. And then work with the rest of the industry to make things better. Right. That'd be incredible.

Speaker 1 (17m 30s): Yeah. Well, only fans is another one. Obviously. They're all of a sudden the biggest concern in our industry, you know, and there are, there are other huge companies that make a ton of money. So Yeah. You guys should organize something. In fact, I suggested to Todd, I said, FSC should do something like that. One comment he had was, yeah, FSC is great, but the, but the only problem is FSC relies on sponsorship money and Oh,

Speaker 2 (18m 5s): That's not the problem.

Speaker 1 (18m 6s): Okay. Yeah. See, I didn't think so either. I acknowledged what he said, but yeah, I mean,

Speaker 2 (18m 15s): No, it makes sense. You don't wanna piss off the people who are paying your bills.

Speaker 1 (18m 19s): Right, right,

Speaker 2 (18m 19s): Right. But I can tell you that only fans isn't a member. So I'm not worried about pissing them off. I think the biggest, the biggest deficit,

Speaker 1 (18m 27s): They're not a member. That's amazing.

Speaker 2 (18m 29s): Yeah. No, they are not interested. Evidently we've approached them a number of times Sure. And would still welcome their membership now. Yeah. However, I think that there's also a misconception that FSC has any particular power. I can't make anybody show up to a a panel or No,

Speaker 1 (18m 49s): No. You can't drag and get 'em dragging and screaming there. Right.

Speaker 2 (18m 53s): No, no. Although I would try and I promise you that

Speaker 1 (18m 56s): I will. Yes, I know you would Alison, I know you would. I know you. Yes, you most certainly would. So what are the other initiatives that you care about the most?

Speaker 2 (19m 8s): So I have been doing my, you know, 20, 23 goals with my team, which I used to do in the fall, but turns out planning for all these trade shows, lot of work. So we're

Speaker 1 (19m 23s): Finally, yeah, it's pretty crazy.

Speaker 2 (19m 24s): Everything now. Definitely discrimination, definitely avs. We're also kind of looking at how to capitalize on, on kind of, like I said, the industry is actually run really well, but we need a way to, to demonstrate that and to get credit for it. So working on industry standards that are then verified. Right. And so when, you know, let's call it a good housekeeping seal. If a website has this seal, you know, that they are, you know, compliant with all, all the models have been age verified.

Oh, I like that. Everything on the website is consensual. Hmm. There is a, an adjudication process if they're, you know, or allegations that something isn't consensual. All of these, these sorts of different standards that we're just starting to kind of sketch out.

Speaker 1 (20m 20s): I

Speaker 2 (20m 20s): Love it. Although I'm sure we all have it in our pocket, you know what they should be, but Right. But actually putting it down, getting, putting in place a mechanism to verify it and to, to sort of mediate issues. That is a big initiative this year. Right. Because we think that, you know, when you can prove that you are a good citizen, it will be easier to get other people to treat you like one.

Speaker 1 (20m 46s): That's a fantastic idea.

Speaker 2 (20m 49s): Well, thank you.

Speaker 1 (20m 50s): Yeah. I love it. So FSC is an organization that is sometimes taken for granted by the industry. That's actually an understatement. You know, I, I know over the years when you ask people about fsc, you get a lot of shrugs of the shoulders and it's like, yeah, but what do they really do? And so I know you meet a fair number of people who are in the industry but aren't members now when you talk to them, what's your 62nd elevator pitch to join up?

Speaker 2 (21m 23s): Well, I don't know if I have even 60 seconds. I try not to talk that long, but here's what I'll say. I was in their shoes. I didn't know what FSC did or why I should give it money. One of the first things I did when I took over kink.com was cut our FSC donations by three quarters. And that is why my goal is not only to get things done for the industry, but to actually let you know what we're up to.

Yeah. It's important that we are fighting for banking fairness. It's important that we are trying to influence the way that AVS gets implemented. It's important that we are actually pushing forward and trying to get the industry credit for all the good things it does. And we have to involve our members. We, we Right. Have not done a really great job of doing that. And so we've been able to accomplish a lot since I got on board and I'm really excited about what our plans are for 2023.

And so I'd love, I'd love your membership because I think you can be involved in making your own business more profitable and benefiting the industry as a whole. Yes. That's,

Speaker 1 (22m 44s): That's good. That's really good. I mean, everyone should be a member. I've always said that. I said that when I had pay sites. I say that now that I do B2B services like website brokering. And just because you're not a content provider or a pay site owner or a tube site owner, it's equally important that you're a member of fsc because FSC is doing things to try to not only help the industry, but really save the industry.

Isn't that right?

Speaker 2 (23m 21s): It's been, it's been a rough, rough year or two. I mean, yes. You know, we've faced our challenges in the last 20 years, but honestly I have not seen this level of attack from organizations that are just trying to get rid of porn from really a troubling culture war, you know, right wing and extreme left wing. You know, there are really frightening people who call themselves feminists who are trying to, to destroy our rights as well.

And so being under attack from all sides. Yeah. It's a unique, at least in my lifetime situation, I know that, that things were definitely much, much worse before, you know, before I got into the business and, and we are standing on the shoulders of, of real giants and we're facing our own really, really dangerous moment right now.

Speaker 1 (24m 20s): Yeah. I mean I've been in the industry over 20 years myself, I don't remember an attack level that's been turned up this high and it almost seems like, in fact, I'm sure of it that the Republicans are competing to see who can try to screw us harder.

Speaker 2 (24m 43s): It does seem like that. Like they have a bet. I dunno.

Speaker 1 (24m 47s): Yeah. Yeah. I mean, every day I open up ex biz, why not? And there's another article about somebody who's trying to screw us over, somebody who's passing a very onerous age verification law. Somebody who's trying to ban porn, somebody who's trying to get rid of L G B T books and oh my gosh, somebody who's trying to make being L G B T or being in porn illegal.

It's just Oh yeah. Freaking insane.

Speaker 2 (25m 26s): We created last year an action center and the software that powers it, you know, I, I get legislative alerts when things that I have certain keywords, and at the beginning of this year, it's been an avalanche

Speaker 1 (25m 43s): I know of. I get those new

Speaker 2 (25m 45s): Bills. Yeah. It's, it's crazy. And, and they're, they're nuttier than ever before. I mean, there are, you know, West Virginia just trying to ban all adult establishments. Okay. And then you've got a half dozen, probably more of bills that are trying to make drag shows. Like anywhere that you have a drag show, now it's an adult establishment. So it needs to be treated basically like a strip club. I mean, these people are really, really bonkers.

Speaker 1 (26m 14s): Totally. And if you, if you extend that, if you take that to the next level, the next thing they're gonna go after is all porn.

Speaker 2 (26m 24s): Absolutely. The biggest non legislative enemy of this industry is nkosi, the former morality and media folks. Oh yeah. Who are funded

Speaker 1 (26m 34s): Those fuckers.

Speaker 2 (26m 35s): The, the millions and millions. And they're, I mean, they've got an entire legal center doing lawsuits claiming that that PornHub or traffickers, they are winning the media war. They're out there spreading lies. Yep. And we're trying to fight back. Yeah. We're doing our best.

Speaker 1 (26m 57s): Well, and it doesn't seem like any, it doesn't seem like any of the mainstream media are fact checking this stuff.

Speaker 2 (27m 5s): Very, very few, you know. Right.

Speaker 1 (27m 8s): It's,

Speaker 2 (27m 8s): And it's really disappointing Right. Because we, you mentioned Mike Stab.

Speaker 1 (27m 14s): Yes. He,

Speaker 2 (27m 15s): He's incredible. And he's out there, he is not hard to find. He's, yes. He is essentially in many ways the spokesperson for our industry. Right. And he can absolutely fact check all of these lines. And I, they at this point, they're avoiding it. They don't wanna

Speaker 1 (27m 31s): Right. But as great as Mike is, and he's phenomenal and he's already done an interview on this podcast, and I plan to have him back because this thing's moving very, very fast. Unfortunately, what Mike has to say and what the mainstream media have to say, people are gonna believe the mainstream media.

Speaker 2 (27m 56s): Oh yeah. No, I mean, we don't have the, you know, a per 1% of the reach of people who are ideologically opposed to us. I mean, I think it's clear that Nick Christoff doesn't like porn.

Speaker 1 (28m 12s): Gee, do you think,

Speaker 2 (28m 14s): You know, it's, it's not about they, they find these stories, they make them up, whatever it is they're doing with, you know, the lives they spread about our industry. Mm. And they, they just, they're coming from a perspective that they think that most people assume, you know? Yeah. Porn's bad. It's a, it's a basic assumption. You know, part of what we try to do is at least complicate, if not completely, you know, turn it on its head. Like, well, is it, I mean, how is it bad?

Yeah. Well the, the studies you're using are actually really not scientifically rigorous. Look at these studies. I

Speaker 1 (28m 51s): Mean, all, they're all flawed. They're all flawed. Right. I mean, you can, and frankly

Speaker 2 (28m 55s): There aren't a lot of

Speaker 1 (28m 56s): You can do,

Speaker 2 (28m 56s): But there are good ones.

Speaker 1 (28m 58s): Yeah. And you, but you can do a study about anything Okay. And come up with a conclusion that porn is the worst thing in the world.

Speaker 2 (29m 8s): Many people have.

Speaker 1 (29m 9s): Yes. I know. There are tons of them out there. And you look at 'em and you're like, huh.

Speaker 2 (29m 16s): Oh yeah. And they, you know, they surveyed 12 people who, they founded a, a Walmart and these people said porn isn't great. I mean, it's, it's that level of scientific rigor.

Speaker 1 (29m 29s): Yes, yes. In the, in the Bible belt. They did that. Right. When, when Christoph published his articles, I canceled my subscription to the New York Times. I vote, yeah. I vote with my money. And those people, I, I'm surprised New York Times even let it happen. I could see the New York Post. Okay. I could see the Washington Examiner, but the New York Times, I used to have some respect for them.

Speaker 2 (29m 59s): It's so disappointing. And there are a few mainstream journalists who I think are doing right. Not, not just covering us, you know, positively, but actually covering us fairly. Yes. I think that, you know, you've got Sam Cole advice, Melissa Jira grant, a handful who are, who actually took the time to understand the issues.

Speaker 1 (30m 23s): Right.

Speaker 2 (30m 24s): But they are the absolute exception, not the rule. Oh

Speaker 1 (30m 28s): Yeah. That's probably 1% or less.

Speaker 2 (30m 32s): Hmm. Easily.

Speaker 1 (30m 35s): Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30m 36s): So I know it's so easy to get bummed.

Speaker 1 (30m 39s): Well, we get bombed, but I think we're all in a fighting stance and I don't think anybody's really given up the ship yet. You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (30m 51s): I really hope not. And to be honest, you know, so after ex biz or, or at the very end of Exs, we had our FSC summit and that was like a full day of, of panels that we did. And I got a, I was exhausted, you know, you go to Avian Ex and Yes. Was I, so I was like, oh my God, how am I gonna make it? And then that day I have just been energized incredibly by that experience because people were so engaged, they're so ready for this fight.

They Yes, really, yes. Are excited to defend this industry and fight back against this. And it's, yeah, kind of given me new, new excitement and purpose in my job, to be honest. It's, it was really great. See,

Speaker 1 (31m 37s): That's, that's fantastic. Yeah. Thebus show was, was really great. I was really pleasantly surprised cuz the last time I was there three years ago, it was rather small. And you know, Alec and Moe really built that thing up and it was, it was awesome. And then the award show was fantastic. Thanks for beating me for community figure of the year. I do appreciate that very much, Allison. You certainly deserved, what can I say? You know, that, you know, that was, I don't know if I told you that was my first nomination ever.

So it was very special.

Speaker 2 (32m 9s): Oh my

Speaker 1 (32m 10s): Gosh. Yeah. I know. All these years in the industry, I guess I'm a cool kid now. But anyway, never wanted to be a cool kid. But yeah, that was a, that was a really nice event and I couldn't be happier for you and I mean that sincerely, somebody had to beat me and I, I knew, I knew I wasn't gonna beat the thing I was up against. I mean, the people I was up against you lea those people. I

Speaker 2 (32m 33s): Couldn't believe.

Speaker 1 (32m 34s): Well, I mean, look at the, look at the list of the, of the nominees. It was insane. And I looked at it and I went, well you know, it'll be a nice experience. I'm not gonna win, but one of my friends, cuz all of you are my friends, all the other people that were nominated I know. Well yeah. Friends. And I was like, oh, this is just gonna be fantastic. And thank you very much to the industry for nominating me. So I, I was gonna say thank you to the

Speaker 2 (33m 1s): Academy. You've got my vote next time.

Speaker 1 (33m 2s): Okay. I was gonna say thank you to the academy. But anyway, let's fast forward to the end of your time. When you finally are finished at fsc, what do you hope to have achieved for the organization and for the industry?

Speaker 2 (33m 16s): I haven't even that day, so, so Hm. You're doing this in real time with me. Yeah. But I would love it if, if I could at least follow the campsite rule. You know, you leave it better than you found it.

Speaker 1 (33m 30s): I think you already have

Speaker 2 (33m 31s): That day. Well, I appreciate that. Yeah. That day will be fulfilling to me if people in industry can get a bank account and not have it closed on them with no warning and no reason. There are folks who come into our industry and are, know exactly what they're supposed to do to comply with all the rules and regulations and do everything well. And that's been established and it's easy for them to do. And they are able to have extremely successful businesses without government harassment.

Amen. That would be incredible. I hope that when I leave, performers are even more empowered and treated even better and really appreciated for the incredible work they do, for how they've created all of our livelihoods. Yeah. And I, there's a little piece of me that's hoping that I've been able to bring the sex toy folks a little bit into the fold. Yeah. And, and kind of, you know, make some solidarity and, and work with them a little bit more because I think we're all in this together.

That'd be amazing.

Speaker 1 (34m 44s): I agree. And the novelty industry and the content industry really, there's a lot of crossover and we should work more together, shouldn't we?

Speaker 2 (34m 58s): Oh, I absolutely, and that's actually why I was at AME this year because we're starting a group for the pleasure products industry. Oh, that's neat. For them. Think it's a, you know, decide it's being founded right now. Really, really early talks.

Speaker 1 (35m 15s): That's

Speaker 2 (35m 16s): Neat. And if anyone's in pleasure products and wants to get involved, please reach out because Yeah, I think we have a lot in common that I think a lot of times the pleasure products folks are like, ah, we're not porn, we're not, you know, but everybody else outside, they all think you're exactly like the pornographers. Yeah. And we all need, we all need to fight for acceptance and for, you know, basic rights. Let's do it together.

Speaker 1 (35m 46s): Absolutely. Well, let me know if I can be of any help, because I've got some contacts in that space. I was interviewed on one podcast for the pleasure products industry and I get the impression that they're pretty heavy duty people. I kinda get the impression you're not even close to having being done there. Do I kind of get the impression that you're not gonna leave until you feel like your work is done?

Speaker 2 (36m 15s): Oh yeah. No, I've got a lot of work to do. I'm in this to win this for sure.

Speaker 1 (36m 20s): That's fantastic. Listening to you gives me a lot more confidence about the future of the industry, Allison. It really does.

Speaker 2 (36m 27s): Thank you. I that's, that's a huge compliment.

Speaker 1 (36m 31s): Well, it comes from the heart. Well Allison, I'd like to thank you for being our guest today on Adult Site Broker talk, and I hope we'll get a chance to do this again soon.

Speaker 2 (36m 41s): It was my pleasure. Thank you. And I look forward to it.

Speaker 1 (36m 45s): Me too. My broker tip today is part two of How to Buy a Site. Last week we discussed first deciding the type of site you wanna buy and then establishing what your budget is Next, it's time to look for your new website. So where do you look? Well, adult Site Broker is a great place to start. We always have a nice variety of website and non website properties for sale. But if there's a particular type of site you want, we can also act as your buyer's broker to help you find just the right site.

Other places to look, looker boards like ex.net and gf y.com. But to be completely frank, unless what you're looking for is a really low end property, you're probably not gonna find what you're looking for there. Of course, you could contact site owners yourself, but take it from someone who does it for a living. It's a major hassle and it can be really hard to even find out who owns a site. Almost all adult sites use who is privacy from their domain registrar.

So when you send them an email, it will be to an anonymous address. And in most cases, the emails aren't returned. We have a huge database of sellers and generally know who owns what. And if it's a website of note, if we don't know who owns it, we can always find out. We'll talk about the subject more next week. And next week we'll be speaking with Ashton Enger from Kiiroo and Feel Robotics. And that's it for this week's Adult Site Broker talk.

I'd once again like to thank my guest, Alison Boden. Talk to you again next week on Adult Site Broker Talk. I'm Bruce Friedman.