Porn purchases in 2013 added up to $97 billion dollars with $10-12 billion of that from here in the US. While on the surface it seems like anything goes in this industry, it all comes down to cashflow — and when the money stops, everything stops. The banks that process credit cards for porn sites have just issued their new list of verboten lingo, and some of the sites we cover here at The Sword may be running for cover soon.
Credit card companies and banks love the money they make — and the premium “high risk” percentages they command for processing porn purchases — and they especially love how it shores up their bottom line. What they don’t love is exposing their stock holders to the risqué end of our risky business and periodically issue edicts of forbidden words. A new list of things they want out just arrived in my inbox, and that OMG you might be hearing means it has reached a few studios as well. The big news: It’s not just words this time, they’ve added themes they no longer approve of too. Any of these sound familiar?
• Non-consent content – This includes: rape, abduction, forced, forced-bi, incest, drugs/alcohol etc.
• Unconscious performers – This includes: sleeping, hypnosis, drugged, chloroformed, drunk, etc.
• Underage content
• Violence – this includes: murder, extreme beatings, cutting, blood, use of weapons, etc.
• Hypnosis – due to its relationship to Unconscious performers and lack of consent – prohibited
• Financial domination – We don’t process for true financial domination (payments)
• Mommy/Granny/Daddy/Grandpa – can flag as Incest – not recommended, but not prohibited
• Adult baby – acceptable
• Ageplay – underage play is not acceptable
• Scat/Brown showers – Acceptable for audio text. For Video text, Scat acceptable within limits.
Brown Showers not acceptable for Video Text.
• Pedo – not acceptable, under any circumstances
• Beast/bestiality – not acceptable
It made me think of this scene from SketchySex …
![SS041_003[1]](http://thesword.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/SS041_0031.jpg)
… where a 19 year-old is duct-taped to the kitchen counter and used as a “neighborhood cum-dump” for guys from Craigslist.
And while the more sinister edge has not been as sharp at SketchySex lately, the “forbidden themes” sounds a lot like Fraternity X, where there’s pretty much always a drunk bottom getting gangbanged on a weight bench. Though we’ve talked before about how the actual sausage is made, some folks over there are likely in store for a similarly long, uncomfortable conversation with the compliance departments of credit card companies because what’s on their no-no list describes just about every scene on their site. Well, maybe not every scene. Just this one …
![FX070_10[1]](http://thesword.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/FX070_101.jpg)
Or as they say at FraternityX “Yes, we love duct tape!”
Or the first or second time they slipped the hapless twinks roofies before using their holes as drive-by deposit windows for a sperm bank
![fx096-still-14-noWM[1]](http://thesword.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/fx096-still-14-noWM1.jpg)
Or when instead of slipping Brad a roofie or bare anonymous dicks, they raped him with a beer bottle before the gangbang
![fx102b-still-15[1]](http://thesword.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/fx102b-still-151.jpg)
Not to forget the romantic Valentine update where bong hits set the mood for Matt to be the group cum dumpster
Or the latest at FraternityX …
![FX0103B_2[1]](http://thesword.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/FX0103B_21.jpg)
Where they first filled Marc with a beer funnel…
![FX0103B_11[1]](http://thesword.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/FX0103B_111.jpg)
…then tied him up for the blow job line …
![FX0103B_8[1]](http://thesword.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/FX0103B_81.jpg)
Like they said, “Yes, we love duct tape!” which means it’s time for the fuck train
Fraternityx – Give Me That Ass
The video is not rape?
Who are these credit card companies to tell an adult film studio what they can and can’t show?? It is simple, these companies do not WANT to be associated with certain stuff, just as another poster in a previous message considers scat to be “Utterly repulsive in every way.” Sure the porn companies can still produce the stuff and sell it personally to their clients, they simply can not sell the stuff via the credit card companies transaction methods. Some may want to paint this issue in the form of “individual rights” which usually means, “I can do whatever I want and you can’t force me or stop me.” However it has long been decided that corporations are “individuals” with rights, religious views, etc. and in this context they can not be forced to do something that they don’t want to do. It is a good for the goose – good for the gander situation. In addition some activities on that list are clearly not legal, and it is not a good idea to “force” someone to do something not legal. While credit card companies are not “common carriers” in the traditional sense of a railroad, airline, postal service or internet service — each of these have rules about what can and can not be carried on their networks. Is this corporate censorship as some have claimed? Nope – porn companies are free to produce the stuff on the listing – the buyers will just have to physically and individually visit the porn company store to buy such content. Yes, that means a great deal of fewer sales – meaning much less profits, and or more time and effort on the part of the buyers. In the 1970’s folks had to go to creepy movie theaters to watch such content!
After scrolling through the comments, I think there is another site which should be scrutinized—Treasure Island Media. There have been a few videos from TIM that gives the *perception* that the bottom in question was stoned out of their minds on something a bit stronger than weed. This whole thing boils down to *perception*….if someone in the video appears to be not in full control of their decisions, then that is what the credit card companies do not wish to be associated with. Like I read on a Scruff profile, “If you have to be on something to enjoy sex, then you are not doing it right”.
Who are these credit card companies to tell an adult film studio what they can and can’t show?? Their job is to simply process the damn credit card transactions, nothing else! Besides, a lot these stockholders they’re trying to “protect” are living out these same damn fantasies and fetishes behind closed doors, and I’m sure a few of them even have subscriptions to other sites that show the same stuff they’re trying to rule against. As long as they make their money, what the hell does it matter about the content porn studios choose to show? These studios are a business too. They have to survive and make money, just like Visa, Discover, AmEx and MasterCard do too. As long as all participants are of legal age (18 & Up) and give their consent to be part of what these studios produce, that’s ALL that matters. These credit card companies can f*ck off their foolishness!
Even those of you who find this content repulsive should be against this type of corporate censorship. What gives Wall Street bankers the right to dictate what kind of porn we can buy and view? What is next the Koch brothers deciding the gay category is banned? Give these ass holes and inch and they will take a mile.
Acting, maybe? Paid willing participants?
“Mommy/Granny/Daddy/Grandpa – can flag as Incest – not recommended, but not prohibited”
Daddy, or age difference, porn has exploded in the last 5 years, so. Incest? Please. Real incest is identical twins. Period.
“Scat acceptable within limits.”
Utterly repulsive in every way and probably impossible to fake…but ok “within limits”, whatever those might be.
I am completely uninterested and thoroughly turned off by SketchySex and Fraternity Sex, but the banks and credit card companies should fuck off! If it’s legal, then it should be available.
While Fraternity X and Sketchy Sex are trash, I think all of the guys in their scenes are 18+, are voluntarily participating and are getting paid. So what’s the issue?
Actually that duck taped kitchen from Sketchy Sex was my fave video of them bcoz after that the guys were going to the sala then continue f@cking while watching gay porn.
That was sports not gay porn!
If your going to hate G4P at least know the sites, this is one of them. Straight owned and 90% straight porn stars.
There is a certain strange poetic justice to the fact that Visa & Mastercard may drive Sketchy Sex and Fraternity X out of business. Poor Eli Hunter….where will he get his on camera jizz loads now?
$97 billion? Is there a source for that?
Estelle, one of the sources was NBC news. I updated the article with a link.
That NBC News figure is wildly inaccurate. A few years ago the industry itself estimated its worldwide revenues at $10-12 billion and that was before the industry went to shit. I work in the industry and, believe me, a figure of nearly $100bn is just ridiculous.
Excuse me but Brian Williams’ will tell you that he was personally responsible for generating at least 10 billion himself through his own porn escapades. So, there’s that!
It’s not even nbc news per se but a professor from New Mexico claiming that.
Not sure why you are singling out Sketchy Sex unless this is just an excuse to advertise them – there are a ton of other companies some of these “themes” would apply to including content by The Sword and most definitely the gay AND straight stuff at kink.
Jack, yearly compliance reviews are something every company goes through. With the new themes this year, these conversations are likely be longer for a lot of companies gay and straight. Those companies with scenes that have multiple red flags are likely to have the longest conversations. That scene from SketchySex and the five from FraternityX were selected as the best representation of obvious, multiple-flags red flags. As far as kink goes, performers in a kink video are much more likely to perceived as S&M enthusiasts, and therefore willing participants, than someone restrained by a decidedly non-sexual devices … ie duct tape. There will be plenty of long conversations to go around this year for everyone.
because you’re too busy raping, and roofie-ing people, while doing tons of drugs? I am not understanding your point for not applying for credit?
see, this is exactly why I never applied for credit, among other things.