> By DWIGHT SILVERMAN > Copyright 1998 Houston Chronicle > > For years, the Oregon couple known in cyberspace as Hubby and Wifey > had a little secret -- they liked to take video and still pictures of > each other when they > made love. > > But their private pastime became very public about a year ago when > Hubby, on a lark, posted a Polaroid of a topless Wifey on an Internet > discussion group. > > Now they're making money at it. > > The couple regularly posts explicit photos in several forums, and each > posting casually mentions that "videos are available." > > They've been selling a lot of those videos at about $40 to $50 each. > They don't want to say how much money they've made, but it's a large > sum -- enough that > they worry that revealing it would hurt their image as earnest > amateurs. > > Hubby and Wifey -- who don't want their real names used -- are among > hundreds, maybe thousands of individuals who post nude and sexually > explicit images > of themselves online. > > They aren't professionals. These aren't porn stars or topless dancers. > They are everyday people who like to show off, and like Hubby and > Wifey, some of them > are making good money doing so. > > Hubby and Wifey, who met in high school, are now both 33 years old. He > owns a distribution business; she's a stay-at-home mom with three > young children. > > "We are really just kind of plain-Jane people," said Wifey. "If you > ever saw us on the street, you wouldn't recognize us. I look just like > a suburban housewife; > I'm not very glamorous." > > These provocative images appear in one of two places. > > One is in Usenet news groups, thousands of individual discussion > forums on the Internet, each devoted to a specific topic. Some of the > groups are set up > exclusively for the posting of erotic photographs. > > The other area is the World Wide Web, the part of the Internet that > combines graphics, text, sound and video. There, a growing number of > people who don't > consider themselves part of the sex business are setting up Web sites > that feature photos of themselves. > > Sex on the Web is big business, one of the few on the Internet to turn > a tidy profit. Forrester Research, a Cambridge, Mass.-based market > research firm, > estimates that sex Web sites will rake in $137 million this year, a > figure that will jump to $296 million in 2001. > > Most of that, said Forrester analyst Seema Williams, "will come from > smaller players. Big name brands don't mean that much in this > business. The brand name > doesn't necessarily dictate the type of product you are going to be > getting." > > The Web is the perfect delivery system for pornography, because it's > very private, said Williams. "No one is going to see you walking into > an adult video store." > > Pornography on the Net has been largely unregulated since the U.S. > Supreme Court last year struck down as unconstitutional the > Communications Decency Act. > That law, crafted as part of telecommunications reform in 1996, made > it illegal to place "indecent" material on the Web in a way that it > could be regularly > accessible to minors. Since the ruling, several replacement bills have > begun making their way through the legislative process. > > The issue of pornographic material on the Internet raises tempers on > both sides. > > "It's a tough issue, because it's a free speech issue," said Steven > Carr, general manager for Clearsail Communications, a Houston-based > Internet service provider > that filters out pornographic Web sites and news groups on behalf of > its customers. > > But Carr, like many who oppose pornography on the Web, said its open > availability is just morally wrong. > > The Web is where the money is made, but it is Usenet where most of the > amateurs begin. Much like Wifey and Hubby, it is usually through an > expression of > exhibitionism that generates positive feedback. > > Wifey, who happily admits to an exhibitionist streak, wasn't upset > when Hubby first posted those topless Polaroids. And she was > particularly gratified at the > e-mail that poured in from people wanting more. > > "We were getting 100 to 200 e-mails every day," said Hubby. "It became > a kind of game for us -- let's try to guess how many e-mails we have > today." > > Hubby and Wifey gladly obliged and gave the regulars in the Usenet > news groups what they wanted -- extremely explicit photos of the > couple having sex, > including still pictures from a high-quality video camera. > > Last September, the couple began offering to sell videotapes, and > orders began pouring in. > > "Our main issue right now is time," said Hubby. "It takes a lot of > time to process all these orders, box up the videos and take them to > the post office." > > But it's worth it financially -- enough that the couple has paid an > experienced Web site design firm to create Wifey's World, which will > be used to sell their > videos in the near future. > > "With the Web site, we can take credit cards -- that should cut back > on the amount of time we have to spend processing orders," he said. > > The couple speculate that one of the reasons their pictures and videos > are so popular is that "people are turned on by the fact that we are > monogamous," Wifey > said. "I'm madly in love with my husband, and it shows." > > Danni Ashe, former topless dancer and soft-core porn film star, was > one of the first professionals to launch a sex Web site back in 1995. > Danni's Hard Drive has > grown dramatically from the days when she was designing the site > herself. > > "Today, I have 17 employees," she said. "We made $3 million last > year." > > Although most of Ashe's site is devoted to professional models, she > recently started an area to tap into the demand for amateur images. An > area on her site called > "Naughty Newbies" features amateurs who've sent Ashe pictures of > themselves. > > Another popular venue for online exhibitionists are Web-cams -- live > video cameras that show either the intimate details of someone's life > or planned strip shows. > > Billy DaMota, a Hollywood casting director, maintains a > tongue-in-cheek directory on the Web of sites that feature women who > take their clothes off in front of a > Web-cam and charge money for it. Customers pay a monthly fee to have > access to the cams, enticed by a free area up front that shows past > scenes. > > DaMota said his listing began as a parody of another site, but he soon > began getting requests from women who wanted him to include them on > his pages. This is > despite the fact that DaMota obviously doesn't think much of the women > who do it. > > "This is the online equivalent of women who don't want to be bothered > getting a mundane job, like being a secretary or waiting tables, and > instead get a job as a > stripper," he said. "That's what these are -- online strippers." > > DaMota said there are now businesses that set up shop and hire a > stable of women to pose for Web-cams. "They take half the girls' > money," he said, "just like > pimps." > > For many amateurs who want to show off, the Internet is a kind of safe > underground where they can do so without being seen by the mainstream > -- including > their relatives, friends and neighbors. > > A Maine man who goes by the online name of F1guru began posting > pictures of his girlfriend Tobi late last year. The first shots were > "very plain -- bathing suits > and workout stuff," he said. > > "Tobi didn't know about it, but soon found out," F1guru said in an > e-mail interview. "She was positive, but apprehensive at the same > time. I convinced her to let > me post a topless picture after getting a lot of mail asking for > more." > > Tobi became an online sensation, with Usenet regulars clamoring for > more. The couple set up a Web site earlier this year, charging > visitors $14.95 a month. > > "In two months, we made a couple thousand dollars," he said. "We got > about 3,200 hits a day." Hits represent people viewing their Web site. > > But then, a boyfriend of Tobi's cousin spotted her pictures on Usenet. > Her cousin then told the rest of Tobi's family, who accused F1guru of > taking advantage of > her. > > "The cousin decided she needed to tell everybody," F1guru said, "and > said that Tobi was being mistreated and that graphic images of her > were being displayed > for profit." > > After her family confronted her, Tobi asked that the site be taken > down. > > Hubby and Wifey keep their Internet activities away from their young > children. And Wifey worries that her very religious parents will find > out. If that happens, > she said, her days of flaunting it on the Net will likely be over. > > "That's what bothers me about this -- the children," said Carr of > Clearsail Communications. "What if her children find out? What if > she's in the grocery store one > day with her kids and someone recognizes her and says, `Hey, I know > you!' "
--
Don't go lookin' for snakes you might find them. ...Metallica