What is Cherrystems?

At the bare bones level, we're a website of nude photography, as you may have been able to gather. We feature photos of women and/or men in various states of undress in sets, each containing around 35-70 photographs.

We feel a responsibility to our communities, which is where our not-for-profit concept came from. Sex is something people do not talk about enough. It can be all kinds of things - fun, liberating, terrifying, dangerous, fast, slow, and everything in between. The bodies involved can also be any number of things. Self esteem issues, STIs, unwanted pregnancy, rape, molestation, and more can occur when people do not arm themselves with the information that they could. We will be donating profits to organizations that provide counselling in the areas of self esteem, eating disorders, unplanned pregnancies (pro choice organizations), suicide prevention and crisis counselling, STI/AIDS testing, and more. These centres create healthy communities and healthy people, and they deserve our help.

Cherrystems.com came out of the head of one Kate Sinclaire. Unsatisfied with other sources of naked people on the internet, she set out to create something that she really believed in. A community for people who really believe that sexy is a word with a million interpretations, and a place where people could just be exactly as sexy as they want to be. Sounds like the kind of place a lot of people would like to hang out, no?

We're Canadian! Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with photographers all across this vast land from Vancouver to Halifax. The company is run by owner Kate, with help from some lovely people. They are all thanked down at the bottom of this page.

At Cherrystems, we aim to include. We're a diverse society as a whole, so why should our erotica be anything less? While we do operate on a "less is more" philosophy, we also feature sets that range from simple classic beauty to bondage and gas masks. Welcome to diversity - it's right out your front door.

Another driving force of Cherrystems is based in the respect awarded to those that choose to work in the sex industry. We are women and men from any walk of life, and we do take ourselves seriously. We all have careers outside of this website and carry on relatively normal lives. We're husbands and wives, girlfriends and boyfriends, workers, friends, brothers and sisters, grandchildren, and everything else that most people can call themselves.

What's terribly backwards is that society, through popular culture, highly encourages the over-sexualization of the human body, yet people who choose to be openly sexual themselves are often seen as morally inferior. We've all seen scandals involving female politicians or in high-standing positions and their steamy love lives. Unfortunately, being happy with your body and your sexuality does not imply ignorance. There is often a lot of negative language used to describe people that choose to be outwardly sensual or sexual, and rarely much positive.

Still, the sex industry is the oldest and (we feel) grandest one out there. It's time to reclaim ground and earn some respect for the people that are in this line of work. Starting here, who knows were we could go.

But back to the website itself...

The name Cherrystems itself was the creation of a lovely girl named Robyn. She's around, you'll probably e-meet her.

Who is Cherrystems?

Cherrystems.com is really the sum of the work of every single person that has helped along the way. We are all volunteers, never having received a dime from the project. Someday, that may change. Let's be honest - if this gets to full-time work territory, some of us may have to quit our day jobs. But the point remains that these awesome people have brought you all of this from absolutely nothing but their own skill and personal time.

Of course Cherrystems is also made up of the models, photographers, and artists who create the photos, but here's a look at those people that keep things going behind the scenes. If you have a special skill that you'd like to offer us, don't hesitate to drop us a line! We can always use more hands on deck!

Kate - Owner, manager, model, gopher, friend, and confidante. I'm the "boss" around here, though everyone who works with me can attest to the fact that I don't like to pull the "boss" routine unless I have to. I came up with the idea for Cherrystems way back in 2006 (yeah, waaaay back), and through years of falling on my face and learning how to actually run a business, I've surfaced on the other side. The other side being, of course, a complete, launched website.

I'm a 25 year old woman with a bachelor of arts in sociology from the University of Manitoba. You may ask how I've managed to end up doing what I do. To give some back end to the story, I was actually anti-porn until the age of 20. I was of the opinion that my significant other was going to leave me for the naked people he was looking at online, and that these people were lacking some kind of moral fibre. I realized slowly that this was not only not true, but that I also enjoyed looking at porn. It made me love my partner no less, and I formed no obsessions with any actor or model. Hm. Interesting hypocritical dilemma.

I began to immerse myself in literature and studies at university based around the adult industry. The more I learned about it, the more I realized that sex work is work, and that it was the kind of work that I not only could see myself doing, but that I wanted to do. The next step was forming the idea, getting the support, and going ahead.

I'm a super easy-going person. I'm all about equality. I love Kurt Vonnegut and collecting records. Drop me a line at kate@cherrystems.com if you'd like!

Aaron - Programmer, helper, lover and fighter. Computer geek from a young age, Aaron stepped in to this task when it was half-standing. The former site hardly worked, was unsafe, and was threatening to bring the project to the scrap heap. Thankfully, Aaron stepped in with his badass php skillz and breathed new life into the whole thing. If you have any issues with the functionality of the site, this guy is the one you'll be talking to. Also, if you're looking to have some site work done for yourself, be sure to drop him a line.

Aaron graduated from the University of Manitoba's Computer Science program in 2007, and from the college of being a sexy human being in 1982.

Chad - Designer Extraordinaire, man of many talents. Chad is the design bomb. He has designed this whole site's layout, as well as our advertisements. He graduated from Red River College, and has lent his talents to some big names. If you're looking to have some design work done, contact him by visiting his website at www.livemediastudios.net.

Mission

Our mission is to give models of all orientations, genders, colours, backgrounds, and persuasions a place to get to know each other and to belong, and to give back to the communities that shaped us.

We also aim to reshape society's definition of what someone in the adult industry is. We are not (necessarily) sluts, immoral, unloved, attention-seeking people. For some of us, one of those may be part of our personality - and that's not a bad thing. People who don't model are often those things as well. The point is, it doesn't take a certain kind of person to love being naked. We're here to show you the diversity.

Thanks!

This could go on for years, but here are the people and groups that I would like to thank for all of their support and love. Thanks first of all to all of the models and photographers, specifically Andrea, Casey, Bailey, and Arachnia on the model side, as you've all been around from the start; Dayna, Brynna, and Ian on the photographer side. Also thanks to the anonymous photographer team on the site for all the help you gave us right off the hop.

Thanks to Nicole for all your help with hair and makeup.

Thanks to Cory and Sarah, Aqua Books, Dave at the Albert, and to everyone's house that we have taken over with equipment. Thanks also to those who have lent us items to be used in sets such as records, furniture, clothing, accessories, animals, and everything in between.

Also thanks to: BUST magazine, Winnipeg Roller Derby League, Brandon Roller Derby League, The Winnipeg Free Press.

And to those that have seen me (Kate) through the whole way: Lisa, Chris, Dale, Angie, my parents, and every single kind person that has had words of encouragement for me. It keeps me going everyday! Also, a huge personal thank you goes out to Aaron for picking up the site and putting in countless hours to make sure it was safe and secure. You're likely reading this now because you have to be the one to put all the copy into this page that I made, so hi Aaron! I love you and shit.

Last but not least, thank you to all the members of Cherrystems.com! While we could keep taking pictures and putting them up without an audience, we certainly do appreciate that you've been awesome enough to pay some cash for quality, fairly made smut. :)

Links

We'll be filling this section up real soon with banners of websites we like, people who have helped us, and good ol' linkbacks. If you'd like to get in on the fun, email your banner to kate@cherrystems.com and we'll chat.