BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The April 2021 issue of Hustler Magazine is available today on newsstands and online. Hungarian model Blue Angel is this month’s “Cover Honey” and she is featured in a 12-page centerfold spread.

The April issue also features pictorials of reigning XBIZ “Female Performer of the Year” Emily Willis, Lulu Chu, Blair Williams, Keisha Grey and others.

Other features include Joanna Angel and Stoya interviewing each other and starring in a pictorial; J.C. Chesler profiling the Sullen Art Collective; and a column by sexpert Dr. Emily Morse.

In one of his last Publisher’s Statements before passing, Larry Flynt reflected on how no politician is perfect and all have skeletons in their closets. “Politics is the art of compromise, which means all effective politicians are compromised to an extent,” the publisher wrote.

While Biden wasn’t Flynt’s favored Democratic candidate, Flynt noted the new president was off to “one hell of a start, and with the House and Senate behind him, we can expect greater things to come.”

For more information, visit Hustler online and on Twitter.

We all know the complaint, “I can’t compete with Amazon!” Of course, you can’t. You’re not Amazon and you’re not trying to be. You have displays, testers and educated staff to help the customer buy the right product for them, not the trial-and-error method of Amazon.

Below you’ll find tips to identify products and sellers on Amazon in order to validate your pricing and assure the customer.

Knowing how to read Amazon, beyond the price, is key to communicating to in-store shoppers.

We’ve all seen it. A customer approaches you with a cellphone and you see the Amazon logo and know what’s coming. They want the item for the same price or they want a discount because the item is less expensive elsewhere.

Rather than getting mad immediatel, you really should take a close  look at the item the customer is viewing: the seller, the shipper, the description and the price.

Identify the Parties.

Who is the seller and who is the shipper?

For example, there are independent sellers that use Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA). How can you tell? It is shipping from Amazon, but Amazon is not the seller. You can find out more info, including the seller’s business name and address, by clicking on the seller name.

Products can also be sold and shipped by Amazon, which means that Amazon bought the items from the manufacturer and is selling their inventory. These items are likely legitimate and their lower price may be possible. Don’t take it for granted though; look at the brands, too.

Now that you know who is selling and shipping, what about the products?

Is the product displayed really the same item that you’re selling? Here are some clues:

What is the brand shown? Is it Cloud 9 Novelties, Doc Johnson, Evolved Novelties? Those are valid brand names. What if it’s Cloud Nine, Dr Johnson, The Evolved? Those are not valid brand names and the item being sold is suspect.

What are the images? Are they showing the known packaging with a product that doesn’t match the description? Does the seller-provided description match the description you know? Any of these things give you an idea if the product is legitimate or not.

Know your manufacturers. Many prohibit third-party sellers. If you see an item you know is restricted, then it is a bad seller or fraudulent product.

What about the price?

What is the MSRP on the item? Is the Amazon price shown impossibly below that? Manufacturers often set a Minimum Advertised Price policy equal to MSRP. This is to aid retail stores from being undercut by online sellers.

There are several combinations of sellers, brands, text descriptions and other details that let you prove to the customer that the listing is a fake or the seller is “fly-by-night.” Here are some elements to watch out for: 

1.    Symbols mixed with text. This slows the Amazon bots down from finding and deleting them.

2.    Text that looks like nothing but search terms such as brand names that aren’t related to the item.

3.    Brand names that are incorrect, but the images match the real products.

4.    Brand names that are correct, but the image is not the real item.

5.    Sellers with a name and address that make no sense. They might have no real name, just letters strung together. The location is an offshore address.

6.    The seller just started business.

7.    The seller has no ratings or has poor ratings.

What can you do?

Let your customer know that the Amazon seller is not selling the same/actual product you carry. If you want to help the cause, report the listing to the manufacturer’s brand ambassador, your salesperson, or your distributor. Be sure to provide all of the detailed information — ASIN, item or seller. A link is helpful, too. When you can take the time to alert the brand owner, you help everyone.

If you are shown an item priced at MAP by a long-time seller with good ratings, it is likely a valid product and good seller, but you have an advantage: “The Amazon item is priced without me, my experience and my beautiful store. I’m here to help you make the best selection, make sure the product is working correctly, and I’ll be here after the sale. You can also take this baby home right now.”

Here are some more ways to encourage customers to shop in your store:

1.    “While this product is probably the real deal, you need to be careful with Amazon and pleasure products. There are many problematic and fraudulent sellers.”

2.    “If the price seems too good to be true, you may want to think twice about ordering it..”

3.    Unless the customer is using Prime, they might be paying for shipping. Shipping coupled with the price of the product isn’t far off from the in-store price. “At Amazon you’re paying for the product and the shipping. At my store, you don’t have to pay additional shipping.” 

4.    “They are shipping you a product from XYZ country. It may arrive in a few days or maybe six weeks.” 

5.    “Check the seller refund policy. You might find you have no recourse if it’s defective, never shows up, or you get a different product. You can complain, but that doesn’t mean you’ll receive  a full refund.”

Amazon sellers really don’t only sell bad items, and there are many legitimate sellers just like you who are trying to make a profit. They have their challenges to maintain Amazon seller standards and are victims of bad sellers, too.

Amazon customers can always file a complaint if the product isn’t what they ordered, or is broken or defective. Too many complaints will get the seller shut down. However, that doesn’t help the customer right now. You are the one that helps the customer right now.

Customers will show you good sellers with lower prices. That’s true of any business. How would you handle a customer that said, “The store down the street has this for $5 less?” You might say, “Yes, they do. We have differences, we aren’t a franchise of the store down the street, and we are not a catalog.” Or “They do. I can match their price today if you show me the item and price.” 

Be a trusted advisor. You aren’t trying to compete with Amazon. No one can compete with Amazon on price alone. You have an entirely different, customer-focused business. They are volume; you are about the lifetime value of your customers.

Customers use you as a showroom then buy from Amazon? No one can stop them, but you can discourage it. Be your most helpful self. You’re educating, recommending and upselling. You are not using an algorithm that may or may not show related products that people bought together. Plus, they get to take the item home today, not in three to five business days.

There are many strategies used by retail stores to maintain and increase customer engagement.

Store “dollars” have been popular because they work. For every $XX.xx the customer spends, they get $X.xx in Store Dollars.

Hosting events is another strategy. Try hosting funny or educational events like a beginner BDSM class, or a comedy night or fashion show.

As we all live in an Amazon world, whether it’s AWS Servers, Amazon Pay, Amazon sellers, and on and on. It is not possible to be all things to all consumers from your store. It is possible to market your differences! 

Ann Houlihan is the CEO of CNV.com, a provider of B2B and B2C ecommerce solutions.

LOS ANGELES — “Revenge Porn” — the heinous instance of harassment when someone distributes intimate photos or videos of a former romantic partner without their consent — is a topic that elicits universally negative reactions.

In a society increasingly polarized by political and social issues, we all seem to be in agreement that people who engage in this type of intrusive shaming should be stopped and punished.

And so several state legislatures in the U.S. have decided to tackle the issue by debating and passing a number of “revenge porn” laws, attempting to define the items in question and the manner of distribution in a number of slightly different ways.

Earlier this month, the Georgia Senate passed SB 78, an act drafted as a comprehensive overhaul of the way the state criminal justice system handles instances of “revenge porn.”

But the language of the new bill, currently being debated by the state’s House of Representatives, is a good example of why it is so tricky to attempt to legislate the production and distribution of sex content, even while attempting to outlaw a seemingly clear-cut, widely condemned practice such as “revenge porn.”

The problem is that legal, consensual pornography is such a controversial subject among mainstream politicians that there is little clear language on how to legislate the distinction between lawful sex content production and distribution, and their illegal counterparts.

Porn’s Carefully Negotiated Balance

Leaving aside the crucial issue that legal pornography exists in a carefully negotiated balance between free speech and definitions of “obscenity” and “pruriency,” whenever legislators — at the of federal or state levels — decide to carve out definitions of illegal sex content, they end up drafting language that could end up accidentally outlawing consensual content and, worse, leading to the prosecution of legitimate adult producers and models.

This is particularly true in the current era of constant content creation for online platforms and premium sites like OnlyFans, and of informal shoots that are then monetized, be it “content trades” or through the use of a romantic partner as a costar or co-producer.

Laws like the proposed Georgia statute could potentially generate issues for lawful porn producers, not because it was drafted with that intention, but because its language could open the door to criminalizing conflicts between estranged co-producers.

The uncertain wording of “revenge porn” laws like Georgia’s (most states have or are working on versions of it) should specifically serve as a wake-up call for models who have grown complacent about generating “paperwork” (including model releases, 2257s and distribution agreements) with informal partners.

The Language of Georgia’s ‘Revenge Porn’ Law

Take, for example, the definitions of the Georgia law, which has four sections:

The law penalizes a person who “knowing the content of a transmission or post, knowingly and without the consent of the depicted person: electronically transmits or posts, in one or more transmissions or posts, a photograph or video which depicts nudity or sexually explicit conduct of an adult, including a falsely created videographic or still image, when the transmission or post is harassment or causes financial loss to the depicted person and serves no legitimate purpose to the depicted person”

(Incidentally, the draft also turns SB 78 into one of the first instances of “deepfake law,” which it calls “a falsely created videographic or still image.” That wording, however, could also criminalize collages, memes or other lawful artworks, and it may still be sometime before legislators can come up with at definition of deepfake that would stand to close scrutiny.)

The language of the first two of the four parts of the law is already problematic, making the definition of criminal transmission either being “harassment” or “causing financial loss” and “serving no legitimate purpose” to the depicted person.

A Nightmare Scenario for a Content-Producing Model

Imagine this scenario: “A” is an OnlyFans model who consensually makes a sex video with her boyfriend “B” and posts it to the premium site. Some time later, A and B have a messy breakup, and B moves out and takes a job at a law firm. Time passes and someone at the firm finds the video and fires B.

According to a reading of the Georgia law, B could then go to the police and accuse A of “revenge porn,” because it caused him financial loss.

If A had her paperwork in order, she could prove that B gave his consent to appear in the video, and that he was also aware of how it would be distributed. However, if A did not have documentation, she could now face criminal liability and be forced to prove it through costly legal proceedings.

Sections Three and Four broadly define the places where the illegal distribution may take place as “a website, peer-to-peer file-sharing site, thumbnail  gallery, movie gallery post, linked list, live webcam, web page, or message board which advertises or promotes its service as showing, previewing, or distributing sexually explicit conduct.”

This is also interesting from a legal standpoint because the last part of the definition seems to offer a definition of “pornographic website” that seems novel and might run into a serious constitutional challenge, but not before someone actually gets charged.

An Industry Lawyer’s Perspective

XBIZ spoke to industry attorney Corey Silverstein, from Silverstein Legal, who marveled at the thoroughness of the Georgia bill.

“They really thought this out,” Silverstein said. “I have to say this is one the most all-encompassing of this kind of bill that I have seen yet.”

Silverstein also noted that the ambiguous language could potentially result in some messy prosecutions of people who “don’t do their homework” by having their paperwork in order.

“I’ve been saying for years,” the lawyer explained, “you have to prepare for the future for when something goes wrong. You have to get at the very least model releases for every piece of content you shoot and distribute — it’s not really an option not to.”

“This is true, I would say, especially if you shoot with your boyfriend or girlfriend,” he added. “This law would make whatever they define as ‘revenge porn’ into a one-to-10 year felony, a fine of $200,000, or both. People have to think about this. I see, all the time, disagreements about content between people who are in relationships today and then break up tomorrow.”

‘You Don’t Want to Be That Person’

Silverstein also encourages content producers to “take raw footage of the consent that you save and you don’t distribute it. Have all the models clearly state that they are doing this of their own free will, and also that they are aware that you will putting it online to make money.”

“This is not just [advice] for the big studios. If you’re a pornographer — and if you make content, you are — it’s a huge difference from people who are not, who don’t make sex commercial sex content.”

These statutes, Silverstein concluded, even if well-intentioned, “are going to be leaving holes all over the place.”

“Then someone will get charged and they’re gonna be put in the position of having to prove consent. There are constitutional challenges that would be argued, of course, but in order to do that first someone has to get charged.”

“And you don’t want to be that person.”

Georgia Revenge Porn Law

SEATTLE — FeetFinder.com has launched a new subscription service as well as other features to enhance the experience of both buyers and sellers.

One of these new features allows buyers to subscribe to their favorite sellers to view all their content for a flat monthly fee set by the seller. Additionally, sellers are now able to decide if buyers need to be subscribers to message them and request a custom.

Other new features include faster and easier content uploads for models, a detailed description page that will allow sellers to link to their social media and customize their profiles, a merch store and increased image album uploads for “Premium” and “Featured Models.”

“We always want the best experience for buyers and sellers on our site. To improve their experience, most of the profits we make are put back into the site for new features and improve what we currently offer. We’re excited about the current rollout out, but even more excited about what we have planned to release over the next few weeks and months,” said FeetFinder owner Patrick.

To further explain these changes, FeetFinder has posted a new tutorial to their YouTube channel called “How to Buy and Sell Feet Content Online.”

To apply to be a Featured Model, email hello@feetfinder.com or DM the studio via Twitter.

To sign up, visit FeetFinder.com.

Follow FeetFinder on Twitter for updates.

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — “Model Madness,” described as “the ultimate tip war for cam models,” is ongoing and today marks the beginning of the third-round halfway point of the bracket-style event that has generated “record success” for those involved.

Co-hosts Brielle Day and Emily Bloom kicked off ‘Model Madness’ on March 1 with 64 models competing and have benefited from MyFreeCams (MFC) members being “extremely supportive tippers,” noted a rep.

“I’m extremely pleased with the success of ‘Model Madness,’ and we’re only halfway through the competition,” said Day. “Everything we set out to do is happening — the models are networking and making new friends, having extremely successful shows and they’re learning how to monetize and market themselves more effectively.”

“Emily has been a huge help assisting me and making the event a huge success,” Day added.

The rep also credited Charlesbot developer TheProgrammer for their able assistance.

“He created MFC’s only bot that helps count tokens, tracks tip wars, runs countdowns and timers, posts ads in the chatroom, and more,” the rep said. “For this competition, he created an update to the bot giving tip wars a built-in timer function. Models can now focus on the competition because they can auto-set a time to end each tip war and not have to end it and keep track of time manually.”

More information about “Model Madness: The Ultimate Tip War Tournament” can be found here. 

Follow Brielle Day and Emily Bloom on Twitter for updates.

LOS ANGELES — #SexTalkTuesday has announced that author Sophie Saint Thomas will serve as special guest moderator of tomorrow’s edition of the Twitter-based chat show centering on the topic of “sex magic.”

A journalist and author based in New York who originally hails from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Thomas is  known for writing about sex, drugs and glamour. Some of her books include “Finding Your Higher Self: Your Guide to Cannabis for Self-Care” and “The Little Book of CBD for Self-Care.” Her latest work is titled, “Sex Witch: Magickal Spells for Love, Lust and Self-Protection.”

Angie Rowntree, owner of Sssh.com and producer of #SexTalkTuesday said one thing is for sure about this week’s show: “You’re going to see topics addressed that we’ve never touched on before.”

“We’re going to look at questions like ‘How can witchcraft help us better understand gender?’ and ‘How can I cast spells with my orgasms,’” Rowntree added. “It’s going to be a fun and extremely compelling exploration of what I’m sure will be for many people a new realm of sexuality.”

In addition to the discussion, two signed copies of “Sex Witch” will be given away to randomly selected members of the audience.

To take part in Tuesday’s chat, follow the #SexTalkTuesday hashtag. Visit the show online and on Twitter for the latest updates.

Follow Sophie Saint Thomas online and on Twitter.

Find Sssh.com on Twitter and XBIZ.tv and direct inquiries to Rowntree at editor@sssh.com.

Mar 15, 2021 1:20 PM PDT

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. —  Ricky Greenwood is the latest guest on “Love Her Podcast” and becomes one of the few male guests the show has featured, as well as the first director.

Comedian and host Nicole Aimee Schreiber refers to Greenwood as “one of the funniest and most likable guys in the adult film industry.”

Greenwood, twice-crowned XBIZ “Trans Director of the Year,” offers listeners “interesting insights into the adult industry, including realistic dirty talk in porn, top companies treating their talent well and how he runs his sets,” a rep explained. “Green also discusses writing stories people like, making films that are a higher level of art, taking porn where it hasn’t been by bringing gay performers into straight productions and the difference between older and younger porn consumers.”

This episode can be found for free on YouTube.

“Nicole really knows how to have a good time and asked some really great questions. This was a lot of fun, and I hope their audience enjoys it and gets some real insight into the adult industry and how I make my films,” Greenwood said.

Follow Ricky Greenwood, Nicole Aimee Schreiber and “Love Her Podcast” on Twitter for updates.

Mar 15, 2021 12:51 PM PDT

TAMPA, Fla. — Prolific content creator Roxie Rae has released a new batch of fetish clips featuring performances by Chanel, Nika Venom, Honey Dew, Rennadel Ryder, Stefania Mafra and Kitty Quinn.

Two new clips are available from Roxie Rae Fetish: one is a solo and the other is an all-girl SPH clip. In the solo piece, Chanel makes her studio debut popping balloons and can be found here.

The all-girl clip centers on Venom and Honey Dew finishing up a workout and berating the viewer. “They are finished at the gym, but they aren’t finished with you,” a rep said. “They saw you watching, but when you reveal the lack of your package, they can’t wait to humiliate you.” The clip can be found here.

Venom also appears in a nine-minute JOI clip for The Foot Fantasy; the fourth new clip this week features Mafra and Ryder having a wedgie battle for Best Wedgies.  

The week’s final new clip stars Quinn for Karate Domination. In this clip, a rep said, “You’ll help Kitty earn her orange belt, as she takes you down and commands you with JOI.”

Visit Roxie Rae online and on Twitter and her new Instagram account for additional details.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — XR Brands has introduced a pair of “ultra-realistic” additions to its line of NextGen Love Dolls, the Fantasy Love Doll Waist Down with Stand and the Tall Fantasy Love Doll Waist Down with Stand.

A rep described the items as “light, easy to maneuver, cost-effective dolls to accommodate shoppers’ budgets and preferences.” Both are “easier to store, easier to position and cost 75% less than a full-size love doll.”

The Fantasy Love Doll Waist Down with Stand features “shapely legs and a perky booty as well as separate anal and vaginal openings, each with its own internal texture for peak stimulation,” the rep explained. “Made with premium TPE flesh and a stainless-steel skeleton, it offers a combination of exterior softness and internal durability for a lifelike weight and feel.”

The Fantasy Love Doll Waist Down measurements are: height 31 inches; waist 19 inches; hips 30 inches; crotch-to-ground 24 inches; vaginal depth of seven inches; and an anal depth of seven inches. The MSRP is $549.95

Meanwhile, the Tall Fantasy Love Doll Waist Down with Stand includes “long shapely legs and a curvaceous booty,” continued the rep, as well as separate anal and vaginal openings, each with its own internal texture, premium TPE flesh and a stainless-steel skeleton.

The Fantasy Love Doll Waist Down measurements are: height 43 inches; waist 23 inches; hips 39 inches; crotch-to-ground 29 inches; vaginal depth of seven inches; and anal depth of seven inches. The MSRP is $1,119.95.

Both items are manufactured in the United States and include stands for easy propping and positioning.

“NextGen Love Dolls offer a realistic experience that’s more accessible for both adult stores to stock and adult shoppers to take home,” XR Brands President Rebecca Weinberg said. “They look and feel great and with add-ons like outfits and shoes, consumers can construct the exact fantasy they want. The Better Half dolls are exciting because they make the realistic NextGen experience more affordable than ever, and because of their lighter weight, they’re easier to ship and much easier to use.”

“We’re thrilled about the growth of the NextGen line — these love dolls turn users’ fantasies into reality,” Weinberg added.

For more information, visit the company online and email info@xrbrands.com.

SAN DIEGO — In an unusual ruling supporting a lawsuit sponsored by NCOSE (aka, Morality in Media) attempting to link adult industry studios to “human trafficking,” a California judge both ruled that, although the contracts signed by a former performer were valid, the arbitration agreements that were part of them should be disregarded and the lawsuit should move forward.

On Thursday, Senior U.S. District Judge Michael Anello, denied a motion by porn studios to implement the arbitration clauses in the contracts signed by a Jane Doe for scenes they had distributed.

According to the complaint she filed aided by anti-porn lobby NCOSE, the Jane Doe briefly worked in the adult industry around 2009-2010. At the time, she alleges, she was represented by someone named Cissy Steele (aka, Cissy Gerald), a person claiming to be an adult modeling agent.

The Jane Doe claims that her relationship with Steele, who is cited a main co-defendant, would fall under the definition of “human trafficking.”

But the complaint also names a number of adult studios and sites active a decade ago — Diabolic, Black Ice, Zero Tolerance, Third Degree, Elegant Angel, KNPB Media, Tubexxxone.com, Wreal, AV Entertainment, Asexbox.com and Excalibur Films — as co-defendants on the basis that they distributed scenes allegedly featuring the Jane Doe.

That lawsuit — which was promoted worldwide by NCOSE as a landmark moment in the anti-porn crusade they have been waging since the early 1960s — alleges that the studios “were instrumental in knowingly aiding, abetting, facilitating, and participating in Steele’s sex trafficking scheme, while knowing, or in reckless disregard of the fact, that she would use means of force, fraud, and/or coercion to force Jane Doe into engaging in commercial sex acts in violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (‘TVPRA’).”

A Campaign Driven by NCOSE (aka Morality in Media)

On September 25, 2020, NCOSE issued a press statement titled “NCOSE Law Center Files First Ever Anti-Trafficking Lawsuit Against Pornography Producers on Behalf of Survivor.” The propaganda item was picked up without questions by mainstream outlets and also disseminated by NCOSE’s fellow War on Porn advocacy groups.

Judge Anello’s decision on Thursday allowing the NCOSE-promoted action to proceed without moderation, was considered highly peculiar in legal circles.

Even though he found the arbitration agreements “were valid,”  reported legal news site Courthouse News, “a federal judge Thursday nonetheless declined to enforce the agreements to avoid potential conflicting court rulings in a novel Trafficking Victims Protection Act case.”

Diabolic Video Productions, Black Ice, Zero Tolerance Entertainment and Third Degree Films claim the performer agreements signed by Doe are valid.

Doe claims she was forced by Steele to appear on the videos and surrender her earnings to the agent.

Visual Editorializing

Judge Anello’s denial of the adult studios’ motion to compel arbitration in the case, Courthouse News continued, “paves the way for Doe’s federal anti-trafficking lawsuit, touted by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center as the first filed against a pornography producer and online pornography website on behalf of a survivor, to go to trial.”

Courthouse News, however, chose to contradict their own report of the peculiar decision by visually editorializing with a stock black and white photo of the lower half of an anonymous barefoot woman grabbing her legs, unsubtly emphasizing the “human trafficking” angle pushed by NCOSE.

The Defense Speaks

XBIZ spoke to the studios’ attorney, Jonathan Brown, from noted industry firm Lipsitz Green Scime Cambria of Buffalo, New York, who said that while they are “disappointed in the decision, it is important to note that the motion had nothing to do with the merits of the case.”

“Our clients had nothing to do with the alleged sex trafficking that occurred over a decade ago, and we look forward to all of the facts coming out,” Brown added.

Main Image: Senior U.S. District Judge Michael Anello (Source: Southern District California)