Leatherati

Our Own Spaces

Loki Madmonk, co-founder of the Ourboros Leather Levi Club, submitted the following comments to add to the dialogue we've had recently about the closing of the SF Eagle and the challenge from Guy Baldwin in his LLC Keynote speech to take care of our own.  Good stuff...give it a read.

You guys, I have noticed a pattern here, and I hope you all have as well. The Spike is gone, Diamond Jim’s gone, Gateway Inn gone, The Outpost gone and countless Eagle Bars across the nation are gone or about to close their doors. It is time we take responsibility and take action or the only place we will have kink will be in our bedrooms by ourselves with a bottle of lotion with Righty (or lefty if you prefer). 

A lot of us complain about leather dying out and not having places to go and that the Pansexual and Heterosexual BDSM community has somehow ruined leather for us. First off nature, as well as kink, favors the diverse. Making friends and allies in the Hetero and Pansexual circles can reap major benefits, if the bitter queens can quit bitching long enough to realize them. 

Guy Baldwin NLA Houston Keynote Speech

Houston NLA Keynote

Kinky cybersapce has been humming with news about and reactions to another keynote speech delivered by Guy Baldwin.  

This keynote was delivered on April 17, 2011 at the 20th anniversary celebration of the Houston chapter of the NLA (National Leather Association), themed “Uncommon Integrity is Our Common Pursuit.” The event also marked the 25th anniversary of NLA-International.

In this speech Guy expands on a theme that he introduced in his Leather Leadership Conference keynote speech, specifically coming out of the kink closet as a way to be a fully integrated kink personality.

The full video, in 3 parts, and the transcript are now available on Leatherati.  Thanks to Mike Skiff at Third Rail Media for providing the video and for Guy Baldwin for permission to publish the speech.

Watch and read after the jump

Fetish Night 20th Anniversary

A Glam Gear Event To Warm The Soul!

Northland correspondent JJ Deogracias was on hand (and probably out of hand!) for one of Toronto's most beloved fetish events.

Picture it. Toronto. February 20th, 2010. On the stage of a former Baptist church, a woman in a corset sketched a picture of an almost naked woman tying herself up and suspending herself in a bondage geo dome. The same woman in a corset later sketched a picture of another woman flogging an almost naked man while he held onto another man in a kilt. A burlesque dancer pirouetted with a big balloon, popped her head into the balloon, got slowly consumed by that balloon, and then finally popped her way out of that balloon. Downstairs, in the dungeon, some wielded floggers, paddles, crops, or their own hands, and unleashed their percussive power onto those tied or held down onto a St. Andrew's cross, a whipping post, a spanking bench, or a bondage geo dome. Throughout the club, a sea of leather, rubber, corsets, fishnets, uniforms, goth, and drag ebbed and flowed and coursed and crashed on all three floors to the music rippling in the air, to the sights playing on stage or in the dungeon, or to the alcohol being sipped, suckled, and swigged.

Brits Getting Kinkier (woot!)

The United Kinkdom

A press release from Temptations Direct explains it all...

The downturn is making British people kinkier, according to one of the UK’s top online sex shops, Temptations Direct (http://www.temptationsdirect.co.uk ). With a focus on their purse as well as their pleasure, cash-strapped adults are swapping a night out in the pub for a sensational, BDSM-inspired night in the bedroom with handcuffs, clamps and restraints, turning this country into the United Kinkdom. 

Temptations Direct is one of the UK’s five largest online retailers of adult goods. During 2009, it witnessed the sales of fetish products growing significantly more than adult products in general. And, recently, sales of fetish goods ahead of Valentines Day 2010 more than doubled on sales in 2009. In particular, there was a sharp rise in demand for novelty fetish items such as furry handcuffs. 

News to Abuse: Divine Corsets - Sex Week at Yale - Bears and Bubbles

From OfficialWire.com

In addition to its edgy leather fashions, Stormy Leather has long been popular as the "go to" source for both leather and fabric corset designs. 

Now a leading manufacturer and retailer of distinctive, high-quality leather clothing, fetish gear and toys, on Friday, February 5th, the company unveiled the new "Merry Widow", a stunning cleavage-enhancing corset in black and plum silk satin with contrasting lace insets.  The style was the highlight of Stormy Leather's fashion show at the monthly Bondage Dinner held at The Supper Club in San Francisco, CA.

The fashion show was presented in conjunction with Stormy's sister brand, Syren Latex, which specializes in sexy rubber couture, and additionally featured handcrafted leather collars; cuffs; and other handcrafted fetish accessories from Stormy's parent company, BDSM giant The Stockroom.

SWAY to the Sex

Sex Week at Yale (SWAY) is a student-organized week of presentations,  parties, art and sex-ed  "designed to pique students’ interest and spark dialogue through creative, interactive, and innovative programming."

The schedule covers everything. Babeland (erotic toy retailer) is teaching "Lip Tricks: Blowjobs and Going Down" while across campus the Yale Political Union is hosting a "Resolved: Reject Hook-Up Culture" debate. Other presenters include Ohio-born BDSM starlet, web master and feminist gallery owner Madison Young leading a panel discussion on Sex, Gender & Pornography with Joanna Angel and Sasha Grey, as well as a series of lectures with safe-sex educators, clinical sexologists, publishers, biologists and anthropologists.

A new def for B,B & B

Bears and Bubbles is once again hosting their Bears, Beads and Bubbles party on Lundi Gras (that’s the Monday before Fat Tuesday for you newbies) on February 15 from 4-7 pm. The address is 2460 North Rampart, three blocks from the Phoenix Bar. Get out and bubble some bears!

News to Abuse - LLC Speakers Announced - ThorneDirect.com - 15 Association Anniversary

Gettin' ready for LLC XIV

The Leather Leadership Conference XIV, set for April 9 - 11 in Detroit, is pleased and excited to announce the speakers for the Annual Conference.

Kicking the weekend off Friday evening will be keynote speaker Rudy Serra.  Rudy is an attorney, published author, and award winning advocate for a wide variety of civil rights efforts.

Saturday morning's speaker is Andrea Zanin (a.k.a. Sex Geek).  Andrea is an avid supporter of the leather community, co-organizing An Unholy Harvest and supporting her activities as she researches leatherdyke history in her studies at Concordia University.

Goddess Lakshimi will be the endnote speaker. With dual citizenship, the Goddess Lakshimi has served her community with unfailing dedication, bringing safety awareness, community involvement and alternative lifestyle education to the forefront in multiple communities. 

A more complete biography for all three speakers is available on the LLC website

Fetish erotica has a new home at ThorneDirect.com

Thornedirect launches online Directory of Fetish Erotica

A new online directory has been launched catering to fans of Fetish Erotica

ThorneDirect.com is a hot, new blog-like web directory covering all facets of the fetish lifestyle. From Leather to Latex, Crossdressing to Female Domination, nothing is taboo for the managers of this site.

The new site will include news, links, photos and videos as well as auctions and adult classifieds.  

Check it out!  NSFW link by the way.

Pervs gott eat too! 

The SF-basd 15 Association's 30th Anniversary Reception and Dinner will be held at the JW Marriott Union Square (formerly the Pan Pacific) Friday, February 26, 2010! 

This will be a fantastic opportunity to meet the men behind the kink and find out more about the 15 Association.

Details on the org's website

Poll Results - Integrated Play Spaces

Laissez Faire seems to be the mode du jour, but is it really?

Our leather/kink community is growing up...and having some growing pains to contend with.  One of the most interesting discussions we get in to is the issue of inclusiveness.  And believe me there are lots of thorny discussions which go way beyond simple black/white gender issues.  Were talking about multi-sexual, multi-gender, multi-indentified kinksters here and if there's one thing we excel at, it's not fitting in!

We laser focused on one question for our December poll - What is your opinion of integrated play spaces? - with four possible answers.  Yes, it's simplistic considering the complex makeup of our communities, but we had to start somewhere!.  Here's a look at the results:

6.1% Play spaces should always be inclusive of all genders and all sexualities

59.2% Every group should choose what works best for their members

6.1% Play spaces should be gender and sexuality inclusive but should have separate areas

28.6% Play spaces should remain segregated: men-only, women-only, gay-only, het-only, etc.

Holiday Gift Giving

It's that time of year again

We prefer to save our holiday cash for something extravagant for ourselves (bondage furniture - new Wescos) but if you must share the cheer or bribe the hubby, here are some of our faves:

Nothing says "aaaaarrrrrr" to your favorite mate than a good pirate shirt! 

It's got plenty of room to move in, or hide a big potluck dinner.  It's white so the dungeon monitor can always find your pervy pirate in order to point out his impeccable flogging technique to the admiring newbies.  And best of all he can wear it to the Renaissance Faire so it gets double duty. 

Recommended only for those comfortable with "advanced lifestyle" choices.

Early Bird offers for SouthEast LeatherFest

Save for six weeks with some great Early Bird offers.

SouthEast LeatherFest is happening in Atlanta, GA from June 10-13, 2010  To celebrate their 15th anniversary SELF is offering packets starting at the early bird price of $105 which includes:

• 65+ workshops, over three full days including all day Friday with Special Interest Group Meetings
• 3 different hands-on intensives Sadistic Bondage, Black Out!, and Piercing Like a Pro   (space is limited with a $5 fee to reserve your spot)
• Triple the Dungeon parties from last year (that’s 6!) with men and women's only hosted play parties!
• Viola Johnson's Leather Library, Vendor Fair, Thursday Night Meet &Greet, and more!

News to Abuse: Puppy Play - Safer Kinky Sex - Boy Heart

Good search....who's a good search?

Part of what I like to do for jollies is to search for random phrases and see what comes up (which is probably healthier that Googling your own name).  I spent this past weekend with some pups at Mr International Rubber so naturally I had puppies on the brain.  My Google search popped up the following:

  Yes, everyone always wants to hold and play with the puppy.  Thank you Google!

By the way, I also got this rather portentious return on a mistaken URL entry:

BDSM - Making it safer

We're always on the prowl for new sources of information on BDSM practices, especially ones which clarify kink rather than obscure it behind layers of protocol.  We definitely resonate more with Risk Aware Consensual Kink (RACK) and Smart Sex rather than the sometimes too-rigid Safe, Sane and Consensual.

Here is a great primer on safer BDSM produced by our friends at the AIDS Committee of Toronto.  The downloadable booklet contains practical guidelines and advice on the prevention of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis C (HCV), and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) within bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadomasochism (BDSM) play. It's an introduction to safer BDSM play and is designed to provide you with information to help reduce your risks.

The booklet is definitely NSFW so download and read in an appropriate environment.

What does it mean to be a boy?

Ask 10 people and you'll get 10 definitions for "boy".  In fact, is it "boy" or "Boy" or "boi".  As our community evolves so do our notions of relationships and the protocols that guide them.

I ran across this 2006 interview with boy joe and Don Gherkis winners of the U.S. boy and U.S. Daddy competition in 2006.  It's one opinion, albeit an interesting one, and brings up some excellent issues.