I delivered this speech on April 27, 2014 to accompany the induction of John Embry, founder of Drummer magazine, into the Leather Hall of Fame at Cleveland Leather Awareness Weekend (CLAW) held in Cleveland, Ohio. Good afternoon. Today we are inducting John Embry into the Leather Hall of Fame. And while Mr. Embry did many good things […]

Every so often I run across a great interview with someone representing some aspect of the kink, BDSM, leather, alternative sexualities, polyamory or some other segment of the world encompassed by this blog’s focus. I just ran across one. I think it’s important to promote such interviews because it presents an entire body of kinksters […]

Whenever a segment of society has to deal with any oppression or societal misunderstandings, as those who practice BDSM must sometimes endure, one of the tools that can be used to blunt such negative perceptions is serious academic research on the topic. I recently read about interesting study results regarding how BDSM experiences can lead […]

I am the new writer of the San Francisco Bay Area Reporter (often called the B.A.R.) leather column. The column has a long history in the local leather and kink scene and it’s read nationally and internationally as well. I’m honored to have been asked to take over this column from the previous writer who […]

This speech was delivered on January 26, 2014 as the Sunday brunch keynote address at the Southwest Leather Conference conference held in Phoenix, AZ. Here is a link to the audio recording of the speech on Leatherati. Good afternoon. For those of you I have not yet encountered in person this weekend, let me offer my […]

A few days ago when a friend posted on Facebook some of the drama that had developed in one of the clubs he belonged to and why he was resigning, I posted a response that ended up drawing quite a few follow up replies – some supportive and empathetic, some more or less neutral, and […]

This blog is dedicated in part to offering intelligent information, ideas and insights about the adventurous side of relationships. In order to explore that territory, the issue of jealousy is something that often needs to be acknowledged and confronted directly. For many people a large part of exploring adventurous relationship territory assumes some form of […]

A brilliant friend of mine, Steve Ganzell, recently posted something to his Facebook wall that I thought was so on target and well written that I asked him if I could replicate it here. It is one of the best and most important set of words I’ve read about the BDSM/kink scene in a long […]

One of the complaints I hear occasionally is that aspects of the BDSM, leather and kink scene are being co-opted by outsiders and the culture generally. The video below is a prime example of taking BDSM and fetish imagery and using it to sell a product, in this case men’s underwear. Personally, I like the […]

This is wonderful news! From the Leather Archives & Museum email announcement that was sent today: The Leather Archives & Museum (LA&M) announced today an OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) of the institution’s book and magazine collection has gone live. The OPAC can be found at: http://webopac.infovisionsoftware.com/leather/ The catalog contains bibliographic records for over 12,000 […]