A Thread for Leatherfolk

[Etoile]

[tr][td]I know we have a few leather types around here. Let's have a thread for ourselves!

I'm not a leather fetishist myself but I am definitely involved in the DC/Baltimore leather community at large.

Just to prompt some chatter...what are your specific interests? (Feel free to answer by telling how you flag!) What's your most prized leather possession? How involved are you in whatever local leather community you may have?[/td][td]http://www.thezclub.com/flag-leather.JPG[/td][/tr]

 

[Netzach]

I used to be much more involved in my Leather community at the outset of my SM career. I flagged primarily grey and hunter, right pocket. The falling off has less to do with any dislike of the idea of Leather but with the realization that I don't have the time and energy to dedicate to my club that I'd hoped, and also a bit of disillusionment at the politics and disogranization that often rein within any subcultural organization.

My prized leather posesssion is my most recent, my cover. Having no one around to determine I earned it, I gave it to myself when I took on my slave, officially. Sad, but so it goes.

Being in a club was an excellent thing, though, exposed me to some great people and some very challenging and interesting play. It was a very productive and safe way for me to bottom and learn, also.

 

[Etoile]

I think perhaps a cover is a bit like a name sign in ASL. The general rule on those is that only a culturally Deaf person should give a hearing signer their name sign. This is mainly because name signs have rules known mostly to deaf persons; new hearing signers are likely to choose inaappropriate name signs because they aren't aware of how name signs work. There are exceptions, though. Hearing people occasionally choose their own name sign, because they are qualified to or out of necessity or something like that. If your situation warranted getting your own cover, then I think it's appropriate for you to have done so.

That said, though, the leather community is one of the most protocol-driven groups I have encountered. I work with the military, so I know they are just as strict, but an outsider would probably see the protocol and structure of the leather community as over the top.

I guess I forgot to mention how I flag - or how I would if I ever did! (Which isn't totally ruled out as a possibility at some point in my lifetime...just not now.) On the right: gray, yellow, hunter green, houndstooth, mustard. On the left: lavender. Both sides: red.

 

[Netzach]

That was another issue, the protocols are a huge turnoff to my boy, though he likes the people. The protocols in my area are very ill-enforced too, the people who know them assume that no one else wants to know them or follow them, I personally have an interest in knowing them, but not necessarily a vested interest in incorporating them into my own life and play. For M they just kill the erotic vibe, and the more time I spend among people who are less protocol driven the more I realize that I value that protocol in the abstract, less what it is and more what it stands for, the values that drive it.

So it bothers me that the gesture of getting my own cover is a kind of self-appointment as an example. However it does not bother me in that I know, internally, that I arrived at a milestone and was equipped for the challenge as a Top.

 

[bridgeburner]

I am not a leatherfolk, nor do I play one on TV, but I did recently attend an actual Leather Event kind of by accident. I mean, I knew it was a Leather Street Fair hosted by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, but I went because a friend of mine was the opening act for Nina Hagen. Also, the company my brother works for had a vendor booth at the fair and I'd get to hang with him some.

So, first let me say that I've never seen so many pairs of ass-less chaps in my life. I was also the only female present other than some of the vendors for almost three hours. Later on there were more women but that was mainly due to non-leather folk showing up for the Nina Hagen performance.

I know little to nothing about any of the protocol. I understand the concept of flags but have no idea which side or colors mean what. I did get some odd looks because of my hat --- Red Army visored cap with star intact --- but that was a fluke too. I like the hat. It looks good on me. God only knows if it means something and I was sending out messages.

So I pretty much wandered around with my camera collecting photos and email addresses to send copies to folks who were kind enough to pose. I went as a sympathetic and curious tourist and I felt more comfortable there than I have ever felt attending even daytime seminars at the local het BDSM club.

I was surprised at the lack of crossover, honestly. I mean, I've seen some really gorgeous tools displayed by vendors at the het seminars but not a single one of them was at this street fair. I really didn't quite get it.

What did resonate with me was the fluidity of perception. I'm sure there are some hard and fast rules within the Leather community and some people are more inclined to impose them than others, but there was something just so comfortable and appealing about this group. Made me wish I was a gay man, honestly, if only to have had better access to the community.

Okay, I'm babbling, but consider me a little brain-cup waiting eagerly to be filled.


-B