When asked about the injury, Acworth points out, "The zapper in question takes two AA 1.5 volt batteries, so there is a limit to the charge it can deliver. However, there is no question this was an upsetting incident for Eden and we have since removed the zapper."
Upon mentioning the burn to her supervisors, Alexander says she was called into a meeting in which she was asked to admit to throwing the zapper against the wall and thereby causing the misfire. She denies throwing the zapper, but claims, "They told me that there was no actual workers' comp claim, that I am never, ever to even utter the words 'workers' comp,' that I'm never to tell anybody that there was a workers' comp meeting. However, since I'd been such a good model and an example employee, they are going to give me the difference back for all of my cam shows since the commission system started. It's not workers' comp; it's a reward. It's a bonus for being an excellent employee. And they made it very clear that I could go with their version and take the money, which was not very much money, or I could just go with no money — I could just leave."
Mike Koozmin
Kate Conger
Eden Alexander and her partner Sebastian Keys have had mixed experiences working for Kink.
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Acworth vehemently denies her account of the meeting. "In case of injury," he says, "there is no way an employee would tell a model that she was not entitled to workers' comp, and there is no way our HR department would refuse workers' comp to anyone with an injury. That's just not how we operate."
In response, Alexander produced a bank statement with an image of the check she was given after the meeting. It is paid from the cam department's account, in the amount of $745.07. The memo line reads "residual for May 2012." The check is handwritten — not a typical payroll check.
Avatari says she was never offered workers' comp for injuries sustained during the virginity shoot. "It took me months to heal after I lost my virginity," she claims. "I had to have vaginal reconstructive surgery. There was no compensation for that. Honestly, I was lucky I had insurance at the time."
Avatari says the shoot was plagued with problems — she could not be fully penetrated at first, she claims, and the male model performing with her switched directly from anal to vaginal contact without taking proper measures to cleanse himself in between. She eventually stopped the shoot because "I was in a lot of pain," but took a break to collect herself and then completed the scene. Afterwards, she explains, "They had a doctor inspect me right after to make sure I didn't need stitches, but after that there was no more aftercare."
After she healed, Avatari claims she tried to work with Kink again, but says they wouldn't hire her. "My porn career has been shattered completely," she explains.
Alexander was able to return to Kink after her injury. Her goal, she says, was to be cast on The Upper Floor, another of Kink's websites, and thereby escape the toxic cam department. She claims to have often performed for free on The Upper Floor, and that when she was asked to represent Kink at the Folsom Street Fair last fall she thought her chance at a casting had finally arrived.
On stage at the fair, she estimates that she was caned and whipped for 35 minutes. "I've never received a beating like that before in my life," Alexander says. "I have permanent scars up and down the backs of my thighs. It was all things that I had consented to, but I didn't know quite the brutality of what was about to happen to me until I was in it."
Of this incident, Acworth says, "There was never any mention of work on The Upper Floor on this occasion," adding that "following the scene, Eden gave no feedback to the effect that she was upset by the markings."
But according to his own shooting rules, she shouldn't have to say anything. The rules read, "Models must be informed about the possibility of being marked prior to the shoot, and they must explicitly agree to being marked in a way that lasts more than a few hours. ... Heavier marking beneath the skin, including blue/purple bruising, should not be substantial, even if the model consents." If these rules had been followed, Alexander should never have sustained permanent scars on her body. Acworth says the shooting rules were not in effect at the fair, even though Alexander was filmed and footage was posted BehindKink.com, a Kink site devoted to promoting the company. "Since Folsom Street Fair is very much a BDSM practitioners event, and because no shoot was shot at the fair for the purposes of publication on our paid sites, the shooting rules were not in effect for it."
However, Alexander's experiences aren't representative of every model at the company. Sebastian Keys (who is Alexander's partner) and others say they've always received ethical treatment while performing. Coral Aorta holds that pushing boundaries isn't necessarily a bad thing. "I've always felt that my limits were tested, but not in a way that I didn't like," she says. "It's more been in a way that I've grown and learned what my body can take." Aorta also described an instance in which she had tried to push through bondage scenes while her hand was numb, but the director stepped in to stop the shoot.
