London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
in 1996 and operationally based in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, that produces
transgender
A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth.
The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...
online adult entertainment. It established itself as one of the pioneer companies of online adult transgender entertainment with its website Grooby Girls, "the first transsexual pay site with original content". The company owns a number of transgender adult websites, produces its own DVD line, and has other interests in forums, blogs and social networking in the transsexual niche genre including the
Transgender Erotica Awards
The Transgender Erotica Awards, originally known as the Tranny Awards, are a group of movie awards presented annually in the United States recognizing performances and performers in the field of transgender pornography, with an emphasis on ero ...
.
Company history
Grooby traces its roots to websites started up in 1996 by Steven Grooby. The most prominent of them was his transgender site Shemale Yum which became an adult verification site and eventually a pay site. The term "shemale" is considered pejorative by the transgender community but Grooby says that at the time the site was named he didn't know any better and the site became too well branded to change the name. Other websites followed including Ladyboy-Ladyboy in 1998 which was the first website to go to
Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
to photograph
ladyboys
''Kathoey'' or ''katoey'' (, ; , , ; ; , ), commonly translated as ''ladyboys'' in English, is a term used by some people in Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand, whose identities in English may be best translated as transgender women in some cases ...
and a number of other sites featuring Brazilian, Black, Japanese and Canadian transgender women.
For a time, Grooby operated the official websites for
Joey Silvera
Joey Silvera (born December 20, 1951) is an American pornographic film director and former actor.
He has been involved in the pornographic industry since the early 1970s. A native of upstate New York, he first started performing in San Francisc ...
and
Gia Darling
The ''AVN'' (''Adult Video News'') Hall of Fame has honored people for their work in the adult entertainment industry since 1995.
In 2008, Grooby opened the SheMaleJapan.com website to focus on Japanese "newhalf" (ニューハーフ) transgender models. The concept for the website dated back to 2000 but it took eight years to find an appropriate producer in Japan. By late 2008 the company hosted 12 websites and employed 7 full-time employees at its Los Angeles headquarters and 25 people worldwide. Grooby Productions produces over 2000 photo/video sets a year for web-only release and about 10 DVD releases. In late 2009, the company relocated its offices from
Honolulu
Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...
to Los Angeles.
In August 2017, the company began a year-long project to change any of its products still using the term 'shemale' in their branding, with the flagship site 'Shemale Yum' being renamed as 'GroobyGirls.com' and 'Shemale.xxx' to 'Tgirls.xxx'. Marketing director Kristel Penn, was quoted as; "Grooby has been a longstanding ally of the LGBTQ community and we don’t take that responsibility lightly. I’m really excited for this rebrand, especially for our community. Whether you know our company personally or not, I believe people will see this change is a more accurate reflection of our company ethos."
By 2018 the company operates over 35 adult trans pay sites and has 50 DVD releases a year. October 2018 saw the release of trans adult performer, Domino Presley's directorial debut 'Domino Presley's House of Whores' as the first of a series, featuring Domino, Natalie Mars, Eddie Wood and the return of Jane Marie.
Transgender Erotica Awards
''Grooby'' hosts an annual event, the Transgender Erotica Awards (TEA), held each February/March in Los Angeles. A representation of transgender performers and producers in mainstream adult awards ceremonies, the annual event was created to recognize achievement in the transgender
adult industry
The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related se ...
. It began as a small online-only awards show, and has since grown into a well-attended event, honoring models and performers in 21 categories and attracting attention from outside of the trans community.
Awards and nominations
* 2010
XBIZ Award
XBIZ Awards, renamed as XMAs Awards from 2025 onwards, are given annually to honor "individuals, companies, performers and products that play an essential part in the growth and success of adult films". They have been described by XBIZ publisher ...
: GLBT Company of the Year
* 2012 XBIZ Award: Transsexual Studio of the Year (Won) XBIZ Award Winners ''
XBIZ
XBIZ is an American publisher of business news and business information for the sex industry founded in 1998 and based in Los Angeles.
In addition to its flagship "Xbiz.com" website, XBIZ publishes two monthly trade magazines, hosts winter and ...
'', January, 2012
* 2013 XBIZ Award: Specialty Affiliate Program of the Year - Groobybucks (Won)
* 2016
AVN Award
The AVN Awards are List of movie awards, film awards sponsored and presented by the American trade magazine ''AVN (magazine), AVN'' (''Adult Video News'') annually to honor achievements in the global Sex industry, adult entertainment industry. ...
: Best Transsexual Movie - The Transsexual Housewives of Hollywood
* 2016 AVN Award: Best Transsexual Sex Scene - The Transsexual Housewives of Hollywood
* 2017 XBIZ Award: Trans Studio of the Year (Won)
* 2017 XBIZ Award: Trans Release of the Year - Real Fucking Girls (Won)
* 2017 XBIZ Award: Trans Release of the Year - Tranny Vice
* 2017 XBIZ Award: Specialty Affiliate Program of the Year - Groobybucks
* 2017 XBIZ Award: Adult Site of the Year - Shemale Yum (Won)
* 2017 AVN Award: Best Marketing Campaign - Real Fucking Girls
* 2017 AVN Award: Best Soundtrack - Real Fucking Girls
* 2017 AVN Award: Best Soundtrack - Shemale Shenanigans
* 2017 AVN Award: Best Transsexual Movie - Real Fucking Girls (Won)
* 2017 AVN Award: Best Transsexual Movie - Shemale Shenanigans
* 2017 AVN Award: Best Transsexual Movie - Tranny Vice
* 2017 AVN Award: Best Transsexual Movie - Trans-Tastic Four
* 2017 AVN Award: Best Transsexual Sex Scene - Real Fucking Girls, Jane Starr & Amarna Miller
* 2017 AVN Award: Best Transsexual Sex Scene - Shemale Shenanigans, Kylie Maria & Christian XXX
* 2017 AVN Award: Best Transsexual Sex Scene - Tranny Vice, Domino Presley & Robert Axel
* 2017 AVN Award: Clever Title of the Year - Shemale Shenanigans
* 2018 AVN Award: Best Transsexual Movie - All My Mothers Lovers (won)
* 2018 Xbiz Award : Best Trans Studio - Grooby Productions (won)
* 2018 Xbiz Europa Award: Trans Movie of the Year - Euro-Tgirls (won)