SAN FRANCISCO — Sebastian Keys has been named the associate director of the Kink Men division, Kink.com announced on Monday.
The 23-year-old Keys says he was "totally vanilla" when he first showed up on the doorstep of Kink.com' Armory in 2009. Now, after numerous shoots and some personal revelations, Keys is stepping up. He will be associate director of Kink.com's NakedKombat site and, in doing so, has become Kink director Van Darkholme's right-hand man.
"Sebastian is one of the most dedicated men I've worked with," Darkholme said. "He's a natural."
Van Darkholme first met Keys when he hired him for a Bound Gods shoot in 2009. Keys didn't have any experience with BDSM at all. During one of the Bound Gods live shows, Darkholme gave Keys the slave number 316. Keys found the experience so impactful that afterward he went out and got number tattooed across his back. Since then, Keys has been a regular on Kink sets from MenonEdge.com to NakedKombat.com, and the former straight man says he now identifies as "queer."
The decision to take a more active role in Naked Kombat came naturally to Keys, who has three black belts and has been practicing martial arts for almost two decades. Keys says he's using his background to bring a rawness and authenticity to the shoots, which feature freestyle wrestling matches where the winner punishes the loser with harsh sex.
"I've learned is that it's hard to be a good director if you haven't experienced it yourself — not just as a star, but as a top and a bottom, as a dom and a sub," Keys said.
So far, the formula seems to be working. Coming off a yearlong hiatus, NakedKombat has brought back old members and gained many new fans, Kink Men reports.