Overdue Update

….and another 3 weeks without a post. Where does the time go?

All of my writing energy is being eaten up by work (as in employment). Perhaps I just need to start staying late at the office once a week to write for myself, because I sure as hell am not motivated to turn on my laptop at home after a 9-hour day of writing and editing.

Anyway, here’s a brief update.

1. The Anarchist BDSM group–which we’re now calling “Anarkink”–is going really well. We’re having an informal potluck next week and are planning a flogger-making and -using skillshare on January 22. Most exciting, to me, is that we’re starting to talk about a fundraiser party to be held after the SF Anarchist Bookfair (March 14), to feature a spanking booth, shibari demos, and more. The money will then be used to secure a regular meeting space for us, so that we won’t have to worry about asking people to pay to attend meetings or workshops.
2. I joined FetLife and have totally been sucked in. If you’re on there, feel free to add me as a friend; my profile is here. Also, if you’re of the anarchist or anti-authoritarian persuasion, why not join the FetLife Anarchist BDSM group?
3. I just read about an interesting event being organized in New York called KinkForAll.
   

   KinkForAll is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people of the kink, queer, sex-positive and related communities to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, presentations, and interaction from all participants. [....] Attendees must give a talk or a presentation, help with one, or otherwise volunteer/contribute in some way to support the event. The people present at the event will select the demos or presentations they want to see.

   Doesn’t that sound intriguing? If you’re on the East Coast, you should check it out.

Hopefully, next week I’ll be back with a more thoughtful post…

DIY Vegan Flogger Workshop

A friend of a friend is teaching a workshop on how to make your own rope floggers. It’s geared toward vegans and vegetarians (that is, those of us who don’t like to use leather floggers), but is open to everyone. I’m really looking forward to this!

Note that no one will be turned away for lack of funds — please just donate what you can to help pay back the cost of renting the room. All genders and orientations welcome; trans-friendly space.

= = = = =

Flogging without leather – making and using rope floggers

Workshop led by Lee
Thursday Sept 4
7-10 PM, doors open at 6:30

In Oakland, at the Humanist Hall
390 27th St, between Broadway and Telegraph

http://humanisthall.net/DIRECTIONS.htm

wainskote@yahoo.com for questions and directions

The multi-tailed flogger is an amazing tool for S/m and sensation play. Used with intent and focus, the transmission of power, love, connection, and desire is for me more direct and easily achieved with this tool than any other.

But – classic floggers are leather. What if you don’t want animal products in your life, but do want the lovely and luscious sensation of well balanced, silky smooth thud or biting sting?

In this workshop, we will see how to design a rope flogger to emphasize sting or thud, and see a variety of easily made floggers based on rope, twine, tape, and readily available hardware. Each participant will make a rope flogger for hir own collection. We will discuss the basics of flogging technique and safety, and how to bring energy and intent to a flogging scene. There will be time for practice using your new floggers.

Materials will be supplied. We request a donation on a sliding scale, $10 – $25, to cover the cost of room and materials. No one turned away for lack of funds.

BIO: Lee has been making his own rope floggers and adding them to his toy bag for 3 years now. He is a trained scientist who found his spiritual home through the magic of BDSM and ordeal-path ritual. He identifies as a top-oriented switch, and finds that being on either side of the flogger is a powerful route to hot heart and sexual connection with his partners. Lee is active in the BDSM community, is in relationship with a top who sometimes switches and with a submissive who also loves flogging. Lee is a cadet in the Journeyman III Academy of California class of 2008.

Building an Alternative

On Friday night, I went to screwup, a trans/genderqueer BDSM group in San Francisco. Open to all genders, screwup is non-hierarchical and staunchly DIY in its philosophy; there’s no elected board, and workshops are put on by anyone who wants to do one. It’s all done on a volunteer basis, so workshops are free, with donations requested to cover the cost of renting a space.

Needless to say, I found all of this incredibly exciting and refreshing. I talked to one of the organizers at length about why screwup was formed—both as a response to BDSM spaces that didn’t really understand the specific needs of the trans community and as an alternative to a scene focused on traditional top-down power structures, for-profit workshops organized by “professionals” and “experts,” and expensive toys and fetish wear.

The topic of the evening was play piercing, something I felt was sort of beyond my reach without thorough training and instruction. I came away from the workshop realizing that it really, really wasn’t, and that there were probably a lot of things I’m currently afraid of trying that I could learn to do myself or with friends, with the appropriate safety measures and risk-awareness. At the end of the evening, we were encouraged to try piercing ourselves or others, and being too nervous to stick someone else, I did a simple piercing in my forearm. I was shocked: it was absurdly easy, and didn’t hurt a bit. (Obviously, having four or five of them probably would have started to hurt a lot more, not to mention having them inserted somewhere a bit more sensitive…)

But the point of this post isn’t really to talk about play piercing; the point is that there are people out there creating alternatives to the mainstream BDSM scene, that there are people who think that the best way to teach and learn techniques is through peer skill sharing and personal practice, not expensive classes and extensive training. It’s all very inspiring, and makes me more hopeful than ever that my friends and I can start something similar within the anarchist scene.