outreach

Originally posted at Clarisse Thorn: Pro-Sex Outreach, Open-Minded Feminism

I’ve already written about S&M checklists and S&M safewords, and how both those things can set really great examples for everyone’s sex life — not just us BDSMers. This entry will be about journal-keeping!

Some BDSMers play with really, really strong power dynamics. A good example of this is couples who choose a “24/7 dynamic”: one partner is dominant and the other is submissive … all the time. I attended a workshop once with Sir Top and slave bonnie, two wise BDSM educators, where I learned that slave bonnie was only ever allowed to disobey orders of two kinds:

* Suicidal orders,
* Orders that would cause financial ruin.

The rest of the time, bonnie obeyed Top — all the rest of the time.

Obviously, relationships like this are totally cool with me as long as they are — say it with me, everyone — 100% consensual! Such relationships can also encourage the use of interesting communication tactics, because many of the usual tactics don’t feel right to the participants. For example, these relationships often take place between people who feel such a strong power dynamic that it would be almost impossible for the submissive to feel comfortable safewording — safewording can feel disconcertingly like a form of resistance.

Originally posted at Clarisse Thorn: Pro-Sex Outreach, Open-Minded Feminism

Everyone knows about BDSM safewords … or at least, everyone thinks they know about safewords. But one of the initial moments that really impressed me about my current boyfriend was when I asked him, many moons ago, if he knew what a safeword is. He paused, then answered, “I think I’m familiar with the idea, but I probably don’t know much more than a stereotype, so I’d like to hear you define it.” Humility and open-minded curiosity are so incredibly hot!

Righto. Hot boyfriend aside, I’m here to explain safewords and check-ins, and how those concepts can exemplify excellent sexual communication for everyone — not just S&Mers — in a world that doesn’t do a good job teaching anyone how to communicate sexually.

When two (or more) people have a BDSM encounter together, generally they set a safeword — a word that anyone can say at any time to stop the action. (Sometimes people don’t use safewords. This is their choice and I totally respect it. I would not recommend going without safewords for anyone who doesn’t know their partner extremely well, and I would be seriously sketched out by anyone who pressured a partner to go without safewords.)

When I give advice about setting safewords, I usually offer the following:

A) Some people like to say that it’s good to use a safeword that’s jolting, and is likely to make your partner feel totally unsexy. Isn’t there a “Family Guy” episode in which Lois & Peter’s safeword is “banana” or something?

(Posted at Clarisse Thorn: Pro-Sex Outreach, Open-Minded Feminism)

I’ve often written that the BDSM community encourages really excellent sexual communication, and I’ve been meaning to write further about specifics for … um … years. (Oops.) So I’m finally getting around to describing one of my personal favorite sexual communication tactics: checklists!

S&M checklists are long lists of different acts that sexual partners can use to discuss different acts and measure each others’ interest in those acts. Here is an excellent example. Each act on the checklist usually looks something like this:

FLOGGING — GIVING __________________ O O O O O
FLOGGING — RECEIVING ______________ O O O O O

Each partner rates each entry by filling out 1-5 bubbles, with 1 darkened bubble meaning “Not interested” and 5 bubbles meaning “I crave this!”

I think this concept is brilliant because:

As part of the Youth Pride Center (YPC) LGBTQ Youth of Color Development Workshop Series, Gender JUST Organizers Renisha Campbell, Eric Amaya, & Sam Finkelstein will be offering an:

Organizing 101 Training:
How to build power and develop leadership in your community through organizing!

• Do you want to develop a basic understanding of grassroots organizing?
• Do you have a hard time getting people to come out to meetings, actions, or events?
• Would you like to develop a better analysis of power?
• Are you looking for a deeper grasp of strategy?
• Do you want to understand direct-action?

Come to the Organizing 101 Training, as a part of YPC’s LGBTQ Youth of Color Development Workshop Series.

Presented by Gender JUST Organizers Renisha Campbell, Eric Amaya, & Sam Finkelstein

Tuesday, September 15th from 6 - 8pm
1525 E 55th St, Chicago
Free for members/$1 for non-members
MAKE SURE TO RSVP TO genderjust@gmail.com

*2 Credit Hours of Service Learning Available!

Training format will be based in participatory popular education, where we will work together to develop a shared understanding of organizing and its implications for our communities.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 24, 2009
Tel: (312) 545-6871
Email: course@genderjust.org

On July 23nd, 2009, members of Gender JUST’s Committee on Urban Resource Sustainability and Equity (COURSE) met with officials from the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) about concerns related to the equitability and transparency in funding for HIV/AIDS prevention services. “Our primary concern,” said Gender JUST member Ivan Gallardo, “is that those of us living on the South and West sides of the city have to take the bus to the Northside in order to receive services.”

Other concerns brought up in the meeting included the difficulty of attaining information about how to get involved in the planning process, a shortage of services for young people and transgender communities, and the lack of broad community involvement in these important funding decisions.

I was all set to dislike Daniel Bergner. As a member of the BDSM community and an advocate for greater societal acceptance of BDSM, I was unimpressed by the reviews of his new book, The Other Side of Desire. I get annoyed when I see media depictions that play into BDSM stereotypes or create other problems for the BDSM community image; it seemed to me that Bergner had written a book that did just that. At best, it sounded naïve — at worst, cynical and insensitive. I requested an interview with him, wondering whether we’d end up at each other’s throats … and then I read the book.

The Other Side of Desire is far more complex than I initially gave it credit for. There’s too much silence around alternative sexuality, and it breaks that silence — not by promoting an agenda, but with a plea for personal understanding. I found myself believing that Daniel Bergner really had done his best — not to put us deviants on display like animals in a zoo, but to give profiles of human beings thinking about human concerns. Still, there were gaps in the book that I found very troubling, and I wanted to see if he could defend them.

I arranged to meet Daniel at the Leather Archives and Museum, a museum devoted to leather / fetish / BDSM on Chicago’s north side. There, I found him looking over the Archives’ BDSM history timeline. As he greeted me, I was impressed by his measured speech and unexpectedly dark eyes. There was an openness to him — even, perhaps, a vulnerability — that didn’t come across in photographs. I could see how he’d gotten so many people to open up about their sexuality, and I warmed to him instantly.