Excerpts

Profile: Jane Duvall of Jane's Net Sex Guide

"Consumers have a right to protection, whether they're buying something as mundane as a toaster or as controversial as access to porn."

Those fighting words are from Jane Duvall, the Ralph Nader of online adult commerce. As the creator of Jane's Net Sex Guide, she champions consumers' rights by offering advice on how to avoid getting ripped off, exposing fraudulent business practices and investigating individual complaints against adult companies. She takes a full-service approach to her site, which contains categorized, annotated listings of thousands of adult sites, "from highbrow erotica to unabashed porn."

Jane and her partner Jim visit a thousand sites each month and review the best two hundred. They don't decide which sites to praise or pan based on artistic merit or subject matter, since that, says Jane, "is a matter of taste. We look for honesty. Does a site have advertising that attempts to mislead viewers? Does a site have a preview that promises much more than the inside delivers? Is a site so full of ads that you can't find the actual content? Any of those things will get a site a bad review." In order to get a positive review, sites need to be upfront about content and pricing. Jane also notes that originality earns high marks since most adult content online is fairly generic.

Jane's role as consumer advocate evolved out of her experience as a reviewer, which immersed her in the Web's world of adult commerce. "When I started, I was a 'Pollyanna' of sorts, not really realizing how many rip-offs there were in the adult world," says Jane. "Were it not for all the reviewing Jim and I do, we wouldn't see what is going on." She's dedicated to giving consumers, who spend much less time online than she does, the benefit of her perspective.

Asked what piece of advice she'd most like to impart to our readers, she replied, "There has been a lot of press about the security of credit card transactions on the Internet. The real hazard, though, is making sure you are sending your card to a reputable business." She offers these pointers: Make sure the company provides a telephone number; try to verify their address; and see if you can get references. "Don't think that from the look of the site, you can tell if someone is honest or not—you can't," says Jane.

If one woman taking on the online adult industry sounds a bit like David battling Goliath, it is—and Jane's slingshot gets results. Several sites have cleaned up their acts based on Jane's reviews, and educated consumers are starting to demand better service and greater accountability. Jane's site now features a "Customer Service Approved" listing of pay sites, which includes only those that adhere to a strict set of customer service guidelines. "It is our hope that accountability will prod more sites into working on the issue of building consumer confidence," explains Jane. "Sort of a Better Business Bureau model, but for the adult Web."

Where does such a fearless leader draw her inspiration? Not surprisingly, Jane cites other strong women like Janet Reno, Hillary Clinton and Susie Bright as role models. "But the ones who really inspire me to be vocal are people who are anti-sex, like the Andrea Dworkins of the world," says Jane. "I think being closed off to your sexuality creates far more social problems than pornography ever will. Once you open up inside and can deal with sexuality honestly, you're much more likely to be a happy and well-adjusted person."