To start off with, I have two things to say .....

FIRST) child sexual abuse is wrong
SECOND) codependency and domestic abuse are wrong

However, neither of these things has anything to do with BDSM or 'rough sex'. If an adult woman dresses up in knee socks and a pleated skirt, that is something totally different than what a pedophile priest or Michael Jackson (allegedly) does. If that woman then gets together with a guy and the guy spanks her bare bottom becausae she is a naughty, naughty girl, that is something totally different than what Ike Turner did to Tina Turner.

Anyone over the age of about 5 knows the difference between real and make believe. Fantasies, even if you act those fantasies out, are make believe and not real. I know the difference. The friends I associate with know the difference. I believe that anyone viewing this website would know the difference also.

..... but .....

I don't trust the government to know the difference. These are the people that gave us the Susan B Anthony for crying out loud. I don't trust them to be the cornerstone of wisdom and sensibility. Individual citizens are more aware and are able to make judgments for themselves better than any politician can do.

This is not to say the government is intentionally malicious. Politicians are not the characters of close minded prudes out to destroy any and all forms of sexual expresion.They are bureaucrats. And bureaucrats love paperwork. Does the link for age compliance statements on the webpage have to say 'Title 18 USC # 2257' or ' Title 18 USC No. 2257' or ' Title 18 USC number 2257'. Does the manila folder I use to store the signed model releases have to be labeled 'kinkyropes.com' or 'www.kinkyropes.com' or just 'kinkyropes'? Larger companies with a dedicated office staff could handle that kind of stuff. For a small scale operation like us, it is an unnessasary burden.

UPDATE: At the time this was written, outsourcing recordkeeping requirements to a third party is an ongoing debate. If one company outsources work to a second company, and the second company violates the law, the first company can be held guilty for the crime. There has been at least one porn studio that this has happened to and the owner was setenced to nearly 4 years in prision for crimes that wer comited by the company he outsourced to.

So how can I fight against what I believe to be a bloated inefficient bureaucracy? Voting, or writing letters to my congressman I don't feel are effective. Politics only breeds more politics, never less. So instead, I take my cue from the way others have fought bad laws before me. Just do what you feel is right.

When government said no to music on the web, there was not a huge march on Washington of people demanding their rights. They just downloaded music anyway. When government said no to driving fast on the highway, people did not vote out the politicians who created speed limits. They just got radar detectors to skip checkpoints and CB raidos to warn fellow citizens about checkpoints. When government said blacks and whites couldn't sit next to each other on a bus or in a diner, there was not an organized letter writing campaign. Black people just decided they would sit where they wanted to. When government said alcohol was wrong and passed a constitutional amendment banning it, there was no lawsuit filed to try and get the law declarfed unconstitunial. Those people who thought the law was stupid just ignored the law and kept drinking anyway.

The government tells me that all models I show on this website must be over 18. This is something I agree with. I have xeroxes of ID that show everyone depicted on this site is not a child. But I am not educated enough about the law to jump through all the hoops that the law says I should do in order to show I am not a pedophile. The government is cracking down on violence against women. This is something I agree with also. I have xeroxes of model releases that show everyone depicted on this site consented to what happened. But I am not educated enough about the law to jump through all the hoops that the law says I should do in order to show I am not a misogynist.

So here is my 2257 statement: I have paperwork on file showing that models are over 18 and are consenting. Even if that paperwork doesn't hold up to the exact letter of the law, it does hold up to the spirit of the law.

As a final issue, I want to point out two additional things. One is that not only do I not want anyone under 18 participating in my website, I don't want anyone under 18 viewing it either. If you are under 18 and have questions about sexuality please go to http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/ Two is that not only do I not support violence against women on this website, I don't support it anywhere. However, codependency and domestic abuse can be found any any demographic group. It would be naive to assume that it never happens in the BDSM subculture. That is why I strongly encourage anyone who practices BDSM to read the codependency self-test at http://www.anonymousone.com/faq29.htm and think critically about what it is they are doing.