10 September 2011
Birthday Treat
13 August 2011
Some thoughts on cultural shifts in leather
Leather is a culture, like any other culture, and I studied anthropology & sociology before I ever discovered psychology.
Cultures change. They adapt and grow.
Catholic mass is no longer commonly spoken in Latin, but in the native tongue of the worshippers, making it more accessible to Catholics of lower income & education.
Biker culture is no longer primarily the demense of those seeking to outrun 'the law' (no matter what you may think from watching certain stupid tv shows), and in fact now includes- and welcomes- such groups as "Bikers for Jesus" and does runs like JustLizzy's particular project, "Bikers for Babies".
Marital rape is no longer legal, and recognized as rape despite the marriage vow.
Gay bars are no longer illegal and Texas v Lawrence (finally!) struck down state sodomy laws by declaring them unconstitutional, and bath houses full of unprotected sex are no longer the most common method of getting laid for most gay men.
Guess what, everyone? Social norms change, even within subgroups and subcultures.
Yes, leather was once confined to bars and intensely vetted private parties and focused heavily on dirty, raunchy sex above all.
But leather culture is no more sacred than wider Southern American etiquette (I still write thank-you notes... but I don't have a reasonable expectation for you to), gay culture, biker culture, catholicism, etc etc etc and has changed right alongside all of those other cultures.
Is dirty, raunchy sex sill awesome? Hell yes.
Do you still have the right to vette your private parties and groups? Of course.
Are there still a ton of great leather bars around the country? Oh yeah.
But do all leatherfolks have sex as part of their leather? Nope. My sex is private, and sometimes it's even vanilla. Sorry.
Do I feel obligated to vette people for my TNG group because you used to have to? Nope. It's important to me- and the other group leaders- for us to be accessible as a safe place for young folks to learn about their kinks.
Are leather bars now the only way for folks to meet, cruise, learn, and get together? Nope. There's an amazing selection of dungeons, events, parties, munches, and gatherings in my city alone.
Does that frustrate and upset some people? Of course! Does the decline of 'hostess gifts', thank-you notes, and the understanding that one does not watch TV when one has a guest present upset me? You betcha!
But guess what? My culture is changing. Your culture is changing. OUR culture is changing. And all that we can do is to try and pass on the norms that are important to us and that benefit those around us, while appreciating and accepting the good parts of those changes.
Sorry, guys, but my sympathy for those upset about the changes in leather culture is pretty slim.
I've watched, in a short 20-some-odd years of actually paying attention, as traditions I hold sacred have disappeared from my peers' lives, and I've mourned that, but I've also had to rejoice at some of the changes that have come as well. (Um, gay marriage in NY- hell yes!)
....and you know what? The things that are important to me, I've kept doing, and in doing so kept those traditions alive. My friends may not usually send thank-you notes, for example, but after receiving a few from me, they often then send me one for something- and through that sending, discover how pleasant the practice is. Do I have to whinge about the fact that they don't usually? Nope. I just keep quietly going on about my life, upholding that which is important to me and showing by example that some of those old traditions are worth keeping.
08 July 2011
Subspace and consent
Overdue update
28 April 2011
21 April 2011
10 April 2011
A new-old change in direction
09 April 2011
Writer's Block
31 March 2011
Coffee-laced kisses
21 March 2011
Hot water and sisterhood
17 March 2011
03 March 2011
Rapine Dreams
01 March 2011
An evening's thought
I want the boys who are wounded, but not so that I can heal them.
I want the boys who are wounded, so that I can lick the bloody tears
from their skin.
28 February 2011
*squeeeeeeeeeeal*
Loss
Collaring
10 January 2011
Craving you
I thought I was past this craving. Thought I was past the point when your voice could wrap my gut in a knot and start a low fire of need in my groin. Thought I was past the point when the thought of you could squeeze my heart with a tight-knuckled fist and focus every instinct in my body on you like a hunting dog on point: Mine.
Your slut voice is back, that high, piping boy’s voice that makes me think about pressing a knife to your balls and keeping it that pretty soprano forever. Every word is calculated to reach deep into my body and call the predator from me, the rapist, to draw him out and into my eyes and my hands. I know you’re manipulating me, but is it really manipulation when I’m cooperating fully? When my words and your voice weave together in a cooperative manipulative descending spiral of predatory and helpless lust?
This is almost not rape, not when your pouty lips are half open in undisguised need and your every glance over your shoulder is an invitation. You know that I want you, and you want the brutality of my hands and the cruelty of my teeth on your skin, and you are drawing the quiescent predator back into me, back up through my hands and my eyes and my teeth and down into my cock until I use it like a weapon to pound into your body. She’s been so quiet, the predator inside of me, this past year; barely sniffing the air since your departure but now she has the scent of her favorite prey and I don’t know if I can keep us sane, keep us from crossing the line and ripping you open like the meat that the predator sees. There is too much fury and pain mixed with the desire and it is so blended now with the love that even that may not stop us from opening you.
It doesn’t matter now, though. I don’t really believe that I’ll ever have you back for keeps, never feel your body wrapped around mine a clinging liana vine boi, so I will have to take this opportunity that may be the last and means the consequences don’t matter… so I set my teeth in your throat and bite untilI taste blood.