Open and Kinky?

We just finished up another Leatherati Poll, this time on being open and kinky.

We asked "How open are you about your kink?" and got the following results:

It's about the breakout we expected to receive, although we expected that folks would be open to co-workers about their extra-curricular activities.

Sadly, it's obvious that many of us are still closeted about our kinky lifestyles and choose to live a big part of our lives in the shadows.  I purposely used the word "choose" because I believe it is a choice that we make.  I hear all the time that "I can't come out" or "I have to be discrete".  Probably the only thing we have to do in life, is to eventually die.  Every other action in our lives is a choice between consequences.  

The discussion about openess is one that waxes and wanes in our community.  Both sides have equaly strong opinions but polls show clearly that open dialogue and, more importantly, personal acquaintance with people who are different than ourselves greatly increases our acceptance.

Being kinky, like being gay, lesbian or bi-sexual, is a predominately invisible minority status.  We don't have to advertise that we're a big ole SM top unless we choose to.  The changes in the national acceptance of gays and lesbians serving in the military is an excellent corallary.  As the dialogue has become more open and more service members have come out, acceptance has grown significantly, even in traditionally conservative populations where you might expect strong resistance.  Take a look at this Gallup poll to see what I'm talking about:

Knowledge leads to acceptance in cases like this.  People discover that, regardless of what we do in the bedroom (or the dungeon), we still go to work, pay our taxes and love our families just l ike they do.  When we hide, we've abdicated the argument to the people against us.  And no, we will never convince everyone that the kinky sex we enjoy is perfectly normal.  We only have to convince the majority in order to get the laws on our side.  Plus you never know who among our co-workers or family is also hiding out!

To borrow a current phrase..."It does get better"