Out Of Whole Cloth

The author of this article asked to remain anonymous.  He is a contest producer who has been around the community for more than 25 years and has some strong opinions about the state of affairs. 

Remember the old 6 Million Dollar Man series?  "We can rebuild him...we have the technology."  That line has been a late night comedy staple for decades and unfortunately it's become a sad but true battle cry in the titleholder community.

I can't tell you how many contests I've been to in recent years where the winner literally put on his first leather in the weeks before the contest.  Or worse borrowed them on the way to the stage.

How does that possibly serve the leather community?

Mind you, I'm not saying that youth and new ideas are threatening our community.   Threatening TO members in our community yes, but ultimately we need to evolve and usher the youngsters in to leadership positions or we're doomed.

What I'm decrying is this notion that we can create titleholders our of whole cloth.  Not just that we CAN but that we SHOULD.  That somehow creating a leather image equals the real thing.  It's rampant in our titleholder communities in case you haven't been paying attention.  

Here's how it works.  Producers are having a harder and harder time filling the stage with contestants.  Probably because we have too many contests and we have a nasty habit of eating our own which has an equally nasty habit of becoming public knowledge.  So like any good organization we sacrifice the youngest, most idealistic and most maleable to our own success. If we can lure them close enough to us we snatch them, throw some leather on them, make them memorize some names and buzz phrases and off they go.

Of course we're not stupid producers so we pick guys who "profile" well. Meaning they look good in their leathers and they can articulate back to the judges the leather community drivel we stuffed them full of two days before the contest.

When they win we turn them loose on the world and label them leaders and the guy who entered the contest who has actually been in the community for 15 years but doesn't pull it off on stage as well turns his back on the titleholder scene and we lost the real leader.

Not to say that there haven't been some impressive newbies who have won titles.  There have been and I fully abase myself in gratitude for all they have done.  They unfortunately are the exception and not the norm.  Even as impressive as they are, were they really, really ready to lead our community?  Wouldn't we all be better served if we mentored leaders instead of manufacturing them?   

Like corporate America we're all about short term gain.  Nobody really has the time or inclination to lay the proper foundation which only comes with time in and service to the community.  We reward the new and the hot as if they were the latest corporate earnings reports and just made us rich.  Which in a way they do, if we produce a successful titleholder, we reap the rewards in ego and fame.

Unfortunately, like the bolstered earnings report, we're building for short term and not for the long haul.  We should build the man first and the image will follow.

Easy to say.  Hard to do.

Comments

[Brian Lord]

This article touches on one of several aspects which are relevant to why contests are seeing a diminishing return. Now please know that the following are my thoughts, and are not meant in anyway to diminish title holders, past or present, whom I personally number among my closest friends and have the utmost respect for both as people and community leaders. They are, I believe, not the norm of their time and certainly not for the most part of the current time.

I believe that while some view the contests as traditions which should be held onto others see them as events which have outlived their time. I also think that each person's perspective on this issue depends upon how they connect to them.
Past contestants and title holders have a rightful attachment to good times, and contest owners have vested interests in seeing them perpetuated. Depending upon where you fall in the community at large, that is whether you are gay, lesbian, or straight also shades your view; with gays and lesbians having a historical connection to contests, while straights have much less connection.

From my personal perspective I agree that it seems to be more and more difficult to get people to run for contests as is evident from the diminishing amount of contestants. Now whether that is due to burning people out on contests or as I believe people simply moving away from them as a natural course of community change remains to be seen.

I believe that these contests simply don't feed the community in a meaningful way; I know that they don't feed me. Please don't misunderstand me; I too have many good friends who are past title holders and contest owners as well but beyond the context of social events (where I can see people that I don't normally run into) the contests are not that beneficial. While I enjoy helping my friends put on their events, I would be equally as happy at any social eventwith said friends and others in the community.

I also see that contests have become incredibly inefficient; the input far exceeds what benefit the community sees in meaningful results. (My personal opinion)

I don't believe that the community needs representatives of the community in the form of title holders; the internet has redefined what is needed, and I believe that is people who truly do understand the community as a whole and represent it through their actions every day in every way. I believe that instead of revisiting title contests, we need to find a way to instill an interest in becoming, as well as engendering a path to become, what the elders of this community believe to be important elements of personal growth; integrity, honor, and respect, and the strength of character to stand up for what is correct. I believe what we need is standard bearers who through their personal strength exhibit those personal attributes in every thing they do in the community. We need communities full of these people, not an occasional title holder. If we can figure out how to get there, I will enthusiastically support whatever gets us down that path.

[AL SMITH]

Last month I participated in my first contest. Being a contestant requires its own skill set. I'm not sure about the interview portion of the contest which was heavily weighted. On stage the other guy hemmed & hawed his way thru an answer. The audience roared to my answer. After the contest I spent the next week rejoicing that he won. I got my life back. I get to be me and don't have to live up to other people's expectations.

[Hobbit Joost]

When I am asked to judge a contest I respect the system of scoring that the producers have in place. I don’t skew my score up or down depending on who I think should or should not win as compared to another qualified contestant, or disregard a category because I question it’s validity.

One of my major frustrations in scoring contestants is in how I am expected to score. The categories in the contests are typically such that a huge portion of the score is based upon how the contestant looks on stage. There was one rather important contest in particular that I judged last year that had the greater percentage of the total score based upon the following look-sist categories; formal leather image, physique, and bar wear. The only two non-looks categories were interview and speech, however when all totaled together, the number of points possible to award for appearance came to more than half of the total score. So it was no surprise that the older, more experienced leatherman lost to a younger better looking contestant.

Do we really need to have points awarded to contestants for formal leather image, bar wear and physique? Why not make adjustments to how the contestants are scored so that more weight is put on how the do in their speech, interview, social interaction and other categories that judge on who the contestant is rather than how they look?

I certainly don’t have the answer to all of the issues arising from our current titleholder/contest system. But I do think that many contests need to take a hard look at how they are scored, what the points are based on, and then make changes to improve the ability of the judges to use the point system to make a good selection of who should be awarded the title.

[Alex Lindsay]

It does frustrate me that we seem to have this need to _find_ contestants. If guys aren't dying to be contestants (and a huge prize package shouldn't be the only reason to run), then perhaps it's time to try something different.

I completely agree that if making contestants out of newbies is the way we're bringing guys into the community, we're doing a very good job of guaranteeing our community's demise.

Wouldn't it make more sense for us to find the guys that we thing could be leaders down the line, engage them, offer them friendship, offer them brotherhood, offer them the intensity of our sexuality, offer them our gear, offer them their gear, help them grow to love our community, participate in our community, and then say...'now...are you ready for the next step'?

This topic will certainly not grow cold any time soon.

Cheers,
Alex