IN WHICH WE ARE INTERVIEWED BY SHORTANDSWEETNYC.COM

Why this site… at this time?

BateWorld is a really unique site, not just because it’s focused exclusively on masturbation, but because of the camaraderie and sense of purpose that BateWorld has in the lives of so many of our members. Masturbation is not a triviality to these men, and I fully agree. Our site offers acceptance and bonding for men of all kinds, and that’s the result of the members themselves who create a really friendly and supportive community.

It’s not a place where only the physically beautiful reign (though we have those too).  Men of all shapes, sizes, ages and sexual preferences are encouraged to display and express themselves openly on BateWorld through photos, videos, chat rooms, polls, blogs, forums and private cams. For many guys there’s a newfound freedom in being with other men who are sexually open, provocative and proudly masturbating. We get some excellent messages from members about how much our site has done for them. It’s a really important daily experience for some men. That means a lot to my business partner and me.

Men have so many negative reinforcements about masturbation in our culture, about their cocks and body image, about the value of sexuality and bating in their lives, but on BateWorld they’re bombarded with content that completely embraces, enhances, and celebrates the value and importance of cock pride. BateWorld is a safe oasis for men to get lost in cock-love online, fulfilling a male need for sexual exploration and brotherhood that is unique to this community. I was surprised at first that straight guys can be into that too, but I’m so proud that we have a site where there’s a universal respect and appreciation among all kinds of men. 

It’s been fascinating to watch this community forming online as we’ve grown over the last five years. I’ve learned so much from the guys on our site, and it’s convinced me of the importance of honest and open acceptance of masturbation and male sexual identity. It’s time to get past the old messages and embrace the fact that cock is a central part of our lives, and that’s a good thing.

Casually stroking cock or beating it at a mighty pace, the act of masturbation is an integral part of our identity as men, and essential to our physical and emotional health. Masturbation is where we mine our sexual psyche. It’s where we confront our desires and engage our secret fantasies. Cock is a powerful symbol in the male psyche, but historically we’ve been taught to treat it with loathing and disdain, to keep it covered, to shame our own bodies.

Bators are over that bullshit. Those messages create rifts in men’s spirits, and tensions between our primal needs and social derision. Bators have learned to accept our sexuality and even celebrate it. Nature’s given us the greatest gift we could have asked for, a toy that lasts a lifetime, that brightens every day it’s used, that offers unlimited realms of excitement, pleasure and adventure, and that costs nothing to operate. That’s not something worthy of derision, that’s worthy of our eternal respect and admiration for nature. The men of BateWorld really seem to get that.

We feel really fortunate to be part of a movement that’s happening all over the internet, where men are exposing themselves in all their natural glory, with pride in their bodies and their cocks. That’s what BateWorld is all about for me. Cock pride.

Is the future in sites like BateWorld, where specifically themed sexual visual material will almost always exist side-by-side with a social network as well? We do seem to all want to interact, have our say etc. when we log on these days.

I’m the last person to accurately predict where technology and culture are going. The pace of constant technological revision we find ourselves in is unprecedented, and I’d personally like to see it slow down a bit. It’s challenging to always stay on top of the wave. One thing that sites like BateWorld have to deal with is how we can best integrate the most current technology with the needs of our members. Integration between technology and community is our underlying purpose as a business.

But BateWorld is definitely more of a focused social networking site than many others out there, since we don’t allow content with oral or anal subjects, but I don’t think of us as limiting the focus to a niche audience. Our goal is actually to broaden acceptance for a subject that’s traditionally been restricted and taboo. 

We’ve established a space online for men to share masturbation together openly, and there’s a certain power in the anonymity aspect of creating an online identity that wouldn’t be acceptable for other venues. Being in charge of your identity is an essential element of making men on BateWorld feel safe and confident in themselves. Few members are known by their real names. Screen names and carefully edited visual evidence can help enable men to feel more confident in themselves, to let go and enjoy something that might otherwise cause some anxiety or regret.

What are some of the ways that you see technology influencing or enabling sexual expression today? 

Technology and sex have become permanently fused now. Our options for sharing the most intimate details of our lives online have really opened doors for us in Western culture. Digital technology offers new forms of sexual expression that have never before been possible. I see us living through a revolutionary period, and I think historians will recognize the importance of this era in reshaping our future cultures. 

From a sexually political standpoint, we’re on the dividing line between the analog and digital world, between the repressive and restrictive moral codes and technologies of the past–with limited access to production, distribution and consumption of sexual imagery–and our current expressive and expansive sexual openness through digital, online, user-generated sexual content.

Men and women are exposing themselves online in numbers now that I would never have believed before digital cameras and the internet made it possible. I never would have believed so many guys were so proud of their cocks. Hallelujah! This is a cultural shift that suggests a very different future for men than we’ve known in the past. We have no precedent for this open and proud display of cock and ass from every average joe. 

But sex is losing its prurient taboos throughout our culture. Corporate entertainment providers like Netflix and HBO routinely offer content with nudity and nearly-explicit sex scenes. Even I was shocked (at first, then pleasantly surprised) when Allison Williams, fresh from her stint in Peter Pan, was getting her ass eaten in Girls. Can you imagine what would have happened to Mary Martin’s career had she done that in 1960? That’s a radical cultural shift in just 55 years. The biases of our old culture are disappearing and I couldn’t be happier about it. 

What it proves to me is that people are challenging and in some cases outright denouncing the messages of sexual shame that have been planted in our cultural histories. In the past, there’s been an almost universal agreement of disgust for the human body, of men’s cocks, sexual drive, and masturbation needs. Men are challenging those taboos and proudly displaying their cocks on all kinds of sites now, masturbating freely for all to see online, and I’m proud that BateWorld can help to contribute to this new sense of acceptance and celebration of a natural and vital male instinct. 

Let’s face it, nearly all online erotica is about masturbation. It’s about watching and whacking it, no matter what you’re watching. The end result is the same. Time spent enjoying the bate. But the nature of our masturbation extends beyond just physical boundaries, into male bonding relationships. Some temporary, some deep and long-lasting. BateWorld and other sites are proving venues for men to enjoy turning each other on and getting each other off, even when it’s through a webcam or chat screen.

Sexual pleasure can come in forms outside of our old, limited spheres of experience. There’s a genuine component of sexuality for the men on our site (myself included) that finds fulfillment in a communal sexual openness. It’s a brotherhood of men who are invested in, and in charge of, their masturbation–sharing the energy and excitement of it–together–linked by technology and love of cock. What a wonderful world.

What are some of the benefits and challenges of being Creative Director for BateWorld?

Making navigation easier, more intuitive, less intrusive is a goal of most interactivity designers (or should be), but on BateWorld it’s especially important because we want men to keep jacking their cocks. Having to use more than one hand, or fiddle with a cumbersome interface, is really a boner killer. My job as a visual designer is to keep finding new ways to streamline the site features and assist in the connections men are making on BateWorld. I can’t say we’re 100% there with that, but it’s a long process of fine tuning and we’ve definitely come a long way in five years. 

For us it’s been a constant series of upgrades, and we’re still only in BateWorld2.0. We’re about to initiate the first of many upgrades in a responsive design upgrade for our signin pages. It’s the first step in a site-wide upgrade. We’ve spent the first five years just attending to all the minute details. The next phase will involve updating and streamlining the interface to work well on all devices.

As Creative Director I’m not just in charge of visual design, it’s my job to find new and inventive features that will enhance the member’s experience. I have many on the drawing board, but it takes a long time to implement new things when there’s always some more important issue that our tech guys need to work on. 

I love being able to work with totally explicit imagery (though I’m limited solely to masturbation). For me the cock is an artful and vital element of our nature as men, and being able to work with it as a subject matter is exceptionally satisfying to me. I love knowing that men are finding pleasure through my work, and it’s fun finding ways to make it fun for others.

I’ve introduced a silly but fun little feature called the BateWorld Cum Counter, which is in no way an accurate representation of all the orgasms we’ve helped facilitate, but as a voluntary function gives us some idea of how much cum our bators have blasted into space. Since October 2012 there’ve been over 63,000 orgasms registered, averaging 2,250 per month, or 562.5 orgasms per week. That’s a lot of mangoo and good times spent with cock. I love that!

I feel really fortunate that I get to be part of BateWorld. I benefit from the site in many ways, but the most rewarding one for me is having the freedom to give a big, 24-hour-a-day party for men. The men on BateWorld have taught me so much, and they really inspire me. Bators are just very cool guys who’ve let go of hangups, men who enjoy accepting and embracing their sexual nature as men together.