"Sticks and stones can break my bones,
But words will never hurt me."

If only it were that simple. Did your mom teach you that one? Don’t worry, I’m not gonna diss your mother. Your mom did good. She was trying to show you that words only hurt when we allow them to hurt. Words only have power when we believe what they say. Words are symbols. Words are representations for reality. Words mean nothing without action. Your mom wanted you to understand that no word will ever hurt as much as a rock to the head.

Words alone are harmless. What is harmful is how some people attach significance and power to words. Money is power and we live in an age where everything is for sale, including words. Brand holders apply for copyrights to words. Culturally, certain words are forbidden in public situations. On the web, words signify real estate, advertising fodder, location indicators and financial assets. On the net, words have become more powerful than ever before.

"Money is power and we live in an age where everything is for sale, including words."

In our business ­the internet porn business- words drive our livelihoods. Our domains are words. The keywords we use in our META tags and on our pages determine how popular our sites will be. Words define us and categorize us from softcore, to hardcore, from straight to gay. If we use the right words, we thrive. If we use the wrong words, we crash and burn.

One word in particular is the cause of much distress. By itself, before the net, the word was what it was. Since the net, the word has come to characterize (disputably) the most popular and profitable niche in the cyber porn industry. The word is TEEN.

When one refers to a genre of porn which involves models over eighteen yet under twenty, the standard word is TEEN. While the origins of its implementation as the designator of an entire niche are unknown, there is no doubt as to its meaning, at least among adult webmasters. To us this word is a simple descriptor for a finite category of porn. Webmasters all over the planet make big bucks from TEEN content. To them that word symbolizes their purpose, their business model. To them the word TEEN is a good word.

To others that word isn’t good at all. To others the word TEEN is detestable when related to internet porn. To some that word should never be used on an adult website. There have always been adult site operators who banned the word but now the word is coming under the scrutiny of outside forces such as Visa and lawmakers.

While mandates from Visa are invariably always vague, rumblings among web pornographers indicate that the word TEEN is very bothersome to the association of banks, which embody the credit card company. They’ve definitely made it clear they don’t want us to use the word in conjunction with other words such as young, pre, little and lolita. As stated so far, Visa hasn’t officially banned the word for sites they process but things don’t bode well. What’s more worrisome is what lawmakers will do about the word.

Not long ago a webmaster was finally brought up on charges because he violated the new Truth in Domains Act. In case you don’t know, this piece of legislation was designed to protect children from exposure to offensive/pornographic content through misleading domain names. Ideally, the law was intended to make it illegal to use child-popular words in the names of adult web sites.

For example, a site named adviceforteens.com better not lead to a fisting page. Mind you, that guilty webmaster was a notorious cyber-squatter who redirected virtually anyone to his circle jerk trap. The Truth in Domains Act got him after years of fines and violations. Remember it wasn’t the violence that ended Al Capone. It was the taxes.

I’m not comparing anyone to Al Capone. What we do is legal. For the moment anyway. Nevertheless, I want you to think long and hard about the word TEEN. I want you to think about Visa and the Truth in Domains Act. I want you to consider how that word looks to all those other people who aren’t adult webmasters.

Ban it? Not me. CENSORSHIP is the only word I think should be banned. Still, if others throw rocks at your head and demand you remove the word, don’t say old Tit didn’t warn you.