Conversio Virium

TES meeting: BDSM Blunders

At TES‘s meeting this Tuesday, Goddess Tatsumi is going to discuss the important topic of how to deal with a scene gone wrong.

Join Goddess Tatsumi as she discusses what happens when it all goes off the rails for a moment. How to you get back on track and evaluate what, if any, damage has been done? What about trust issues? It happens to all of us eventually, so be prepared!

(Do you know of an event that you don’t see on our calendar and want to share? Please send it in!)

DSF meeting: Playing with Chronic Conditions

Kink is sometimes called a full-contact sport, what with all the hitting and stuff. So what do you do when you’re kinky and have a medical condition that requires special care? DomSubFriends invites a number of lifestyle BDSM‘ers with chronic conditions to discuss the issues they face at a panel discussion this Friday:

When negotiation goes beyond the scene to life and death choices about health care and treatment for cancer, diabetes, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and other sucky stuff. Whether you are a Top or bottom, a diagnosis for any illness that affects the way you look at life and do everything is life changing.

Come meet a panel of BDSM friends who are dealing with and living a life that is both challenging and fulfilling—most of the time. Listen to how they deal with lifestyle/BDSM issues as well as day to day concerns. This is not about becoming depressed, this is about becoming empowered to live the best life you can live. Information will include specific considerations for a variety of conditions, as well as treatment and resource options.

CV Meeting: Bondage 101 with Dov

Want to tie someone up but the ropes keep unraveling at their ankles? Worried about what to do if you tied a knot a little too well? Come to Bondage 101 and get the basics of beautiful and functional rope-work from our fabulous Shibari-loving Dov.

This will be a very hands-on workshop. If you have it, bring four lengths of 30-foot rope that is 4–8 milimeters in diameter and, of course, someone to tie up! If you don’t, there’s no need to fret. We’ll provide extra lengths of rope and there are sure to be at least a handful of eager bottoms around! ;)

TES meeting: Another bondage experience

Bondage isn’t always about ropes. TES‘s upcoming bondage meeting hosted by their bondage special interest group is pulling in the collective talents of Dov, Lolita, Boymeat, and Jason to provide an opportunity to explore all sorts of bondage toys:

Vet wrap, bondage tape, chains and cuffs, zip ties, pallet wrap and duck tape will all be on hand for experimentation in this evening devoted entirely to alternative media bondage. Lolita, Boymeat, Dov, and Jason will teaching and guiding individuals with specific techniques. No lecture, the meeting will be entirely practice oriented, so bring your chains, locks, wrap, or tape, or come ready to be bound!

BC Lecture: In the Heat of the Moment

The Barnard College Psychology Department is pleased to host the following lecture:

In the heat of the moment: The effects of mood and sexual
excitation/inhibition on sexual interest, arousal, and risk taking.

Erick Janssen, Ph.D.
Director of Education and Research Training
The Kinsey Institute

Interested students, staff and faculty are cordially invited to attend
this lecture.

Location: Sulzberger Tower North (Sulzberger Hall, 17^th floor), Barnard
College (117^th St. and Broadway).

CineKink @ Pioneer Theater: Pornology New York

Michele Capozzi’s award-winning documentary, Pornology New York is back by popular demand, taking us on a bitter-sweet tour of New York’s sexual underground. If you, like me, were born in the mid-eighties, this documentary is a must see.

A paean to the New York sexual underground, circa 1970-85, this engrossing documentary brings together four of its most colorful protagonists. Guide to the action is Michele Capozzi, urban explorer and self-titled pornologist, with an up-close introduction to Neville Chambers, founder of the infamous porn-producing Fuck Factory; Lenny Waller, long-time front-man of the meat-packing district’s now-defunct Hellfire Club and renowned pornstar/mistress/shaman, Porsche Lynn – for a look back in time, an assessment of where we are today…and one very wild farewell party.

[…]

“Pornology New York reinvents a time when anybody could go to Plato’s Retreat, the Hellfire, Mindshaft, The Vault, the Anvil, Le Trapeze and even Show World, to indulge in their dirtiest, wildest fantasies and fetishes.”
- Stephanie Sellars, New York Press

Book your tickets at CineKink’s Pioneer Theater web site in advance as last month’s showing was booked out. It’s only $6 for students ($10 full price), and you have to be 18 or older to attend.

Pleasure Salon: September is for Sexual Freedom

September’s Pleasure Salon is dedicated to Sexual Freedom. From the public invitation:

Sexual Freedom is a human right, and our rights are in jeopardy. [...] We’ve decided to dedicate September’s Pleasure Salon to Sexual Freedom, highlighting our desire to build community and create a sex-positive world.

NCSF: Survey of Violence & Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities

From an email sent by NCSF today:

Stand Up and Be Counted!

Participate in the Survey of Violence & Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities

September 19, 2007 b New York, NY – Susan Wright and Larry Iannotti would like to announce the launch of the second national Survey of Violence & Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities, being conducted in cooperation with the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom. This survey includes all of the questions asked on NCSF‘s ground-breaking 1998 Violence & Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities survey, and includes new questions on personal, business, and Internet discrimination experienced by BDSM-leather-fetish practitioners.

The link to the survey is on NCSF‘s website: www.ncsfreedom.org

Please take a minute to fill out this anonymous survey even if you have not been a victim of violence or discrimination. Demographic data and information about participation in a variety of BDSM-leather-fetish activities are also being gathered. This survey will be distributed for one year, and the results will be
released in early 2009.

The results of this survey will be analyzed and compared to the 1998 survey, which found significant discrimination and violence occurring against BDSM-leather-fetish practitioners. The data may be used in court obscenity cases to prove that sexual minorities have been chilled on the Internet because of fear of prosecution. The survey also includes space for individuals to write about the discrimination they have faced, which will be helpful in illustrating the consequences of the negative stereotypes about BDSM-leather-fetish activities.

The survey is available on Survey Monkey (a secured survey hosting website that is used by the professional community) and can be accessed through the NCSF website: www.ncsfreedom.org.

Larry Iannotti, LCSW, is a professional social scientist and practicing therapist getting his doctoral degree through the City University of NY. Susan Wright is the Media Spokesperson for NCSF, and is accredited as a research assistant affiliated with CUNY.

TES meeting: Piercings with Mistress Harlequin

For their general interest meeting this Tuesday, TES invites Mistress Harlequin to give a presentation on (presumably temporary) play piercings.

An exciting meeting on the art of piercing. Please join us as Harlequinn demonstrates and discusses this somewhat edgy form of play. Safety, technique, and a whole lot more will be discussed!

This kind of play is one for which prerequisite knowledge of anatomy, technique, and safety are obvious so if you like the idea of playing with needles, this meeting is one not to be missed.

CV meeting: Story Time with Papa Bear

For all us youngun’s who missed pre-Giuliani New York, Conversio Virium is happy to present a talking tour of our city that never sleeps, with Leonard S. Waller. I first saw Lenny featured in the award-winning documentary Pornology NYC. He’s an activist, founding father of Bears International as well as the NY Strap & Paddle Association, and an oral historian who managed such notorious hangouts as the Manhole (1979–1985, 1993–2002), the Hellfire Club (1980–1985, 1993–2002), and the Vault (1987–1993), just to name a few.

What happened to these seedy, sexy bars? These meccas of kink culture?

Join us in 301 Hamilton to learn more. Milk and cookies provided.

Former CV President-of-Vice Bootblacks in Boston

Kyle, CV’s former President of Vice before yours truly, is participating in the Mr. Boston Leather contest as Judge’s boy.

[Kyle] is currently an associate brother in the New York boys of Leather, after being a full brother for a year and a half. From 2005-2006 he served as the Vice President for Conversio Virium, the BDSM discussion/education group of Columbia University. Kyle moved to Boston at the end of August and has started working as a bootblack at the Ramrod. While his primary D/s relationship is with Northeastern University’s School of Law, he still finds time to engage in extracurricular activities.

Just feast your eyes on all that sexy leather. If you’re going to be in the area, wish him luck from all of us here in New York!

Observer’s Fashion Reporter Doesn’t Get Fetish

In an Observer article published last week titled Adieu to The Noose I read yet another reminder of the questionable attitude mainstream news sources display when they report on things they clearly don’t understand.

Simon Doonan, egotistically calling himself “Scoop Doonan” in his article, writes about visiting The Noose before its final closing date, something CV blog readers will have recognized that we’ve touched on before:

“I’m here from The New York Observer,” I chirped, addressing the bloke behind the counter, adding, “I want to write about the closing of this important New York landmark.”

“There’s nothing to say,” he replied, staring contemptuously at my Gucci safari jacket, floral-print Paul Smith shirt, Prada cotton boating slacks and slip-on espadrilles. “We’re closing on August 31st. The end.”

I was gobsmacked. This was the first time in my life I had ever met anyone who turned his/her nose up at a bit of press. Accustomed as he is to the sound-bite flinging, press-hungry fashion world, your reporter found himself at a loss. Maybe it would help build a rapport if I purchased an item or two. I began to rummage: A massive rubber butt-plug would make a lovely minimalist doorstop, but I was worried that the dog might chew on it. The black latex tank tops had a certain je ne sais quoi, but were strictly off limits for Scoop: As a devotee of Carole Jackson’s Color Me Beautiful system and a swatch-carrying “Autumn” the darkest I can go is chocolate brown.

I’m not the least bit surprised this reporter got the greeting he did, and from the article it doesn’t seem as though Mr. Doonan was actually that surprised either. The generous among us might be willing to smile and nod at his instincts, though as he says himself, the benefit of the doubt can be a hard thing to give in a culture so used to being vilified and ridiculed by members of the press.

This reporter does touch on a potentially engaging discussion when he asks readers to ponder the question Is it possible that the mainstreaming of the sadomasochistic aesthetic killed The Noose? However, like much of the rest of the article, this speculation seems to be one that misses the purpose of shops like The Noose.

I think it’s safe to say that most of the patrons of such mom-and-pop fetish stores don’t shop there just for the fashionable clothes. We might be able to buy leather cuffs and bondage belts from Urban Outfitters, but I have yet to see silicone insertables make a splash in fashion.

Furthermore, the mainstreaming of the sadomasochistic aesthetic is hardly new. What we know of today as punk, goth, and even grunge fashion has its heritage in the culture of leather bars from decades long since past. So every day when I walk in Union Square I see teenagers wearing their Urban Outfitters branded leather cuffs and I wonder if they realize that they’d be flagging top or bottom in another context. I wonder if “Scoop Doonan” would realize it, too.

(Via Lolita.)

TES party: Back to High School Party

Our friends at TES are throwing a party at Paddles:

Remember that feeling deep in the pit of your stomach when the weather got cooler, the days a bit shorter and the thought of returning to school loomed large in so many ways…? Well those days are back and the first bell just rang people! Please join your hosts August and Mike for the TES Back To High School Party! Freaks, Geeks, Jocks, Preps, Dead Heads, Goths…. Come as you were or always wanted to be! Enjoy the buffet at the TES “Cafeteria”, Redefine what being bad means when you ‘cut class’ for one of our special events and as always hang out with all the coolest kids in school at what promises to be a memorable and amazing TES party! Welcome back kiddies….

DSF meeting: Caning—Beyond the Basics

This Friday, DomSubFriends is hosting Mistress Coraline as she presents an intermediate to advanced class on caning.

You’ve learned the rules, now it’s time to get creative. We’ll talk about different kinds of canes, different positions to use, creative targets to hit, and roleplays to incorporate. We’ll also touch on how to make your own rattan canes. And best of all a super hot demo to top it all off.

Mistress Coraline, by the way, is a graduate college kinkster having been the president of NYU‘s (unfortunately now defunct) BDSM club, WHAP, for two years. Here’s a 2003 NYU News article about WHAP, in case you’re interested.

Also, regardless of what university your college ID says you go to, don’t forget about Boymeat‘s Caning 101 presentation this Monday at Conversio Virium!

Salon Convention: A Day of Neo-Victorian Celebration

Some of us have a thing for black leather and lace, while some of us enjoy ball gowns and formal teas (and even more of us enjoy all of these things). If these things sound like fun to you, be sure to check out SalonCon:

[W]e embrace the ideals of the Victorian era, but seek to bring them into a modern context. We do not seek to be Victorian era reconstructionsts. We seek to provide a space for artists, thinkers, and dreamers to express themselves as well as to give people a chance to experience things such as a fancy dress ball and a formal tea. These kinds of experiences are still often reserved for people with money and class privileges, so we are also attempting to even out the playing field.

Presale tickets for $20 ($15 for students!) will stop being sold this Friday, September 14^th.

Special thanks to Nicholas of Nicholas Leather for informing us about this event!

TES meeting: The Anatomy of a Scene

Over at TES‘s Novice Group, a long-running presentation called The Anatomy of a Scene is being presented.

Join us for one of our most popular meetings, a live BDSM scene with full analysis and commentary. We are excited to have the very beautiful & talented (and pretty darn evil), Pro & lifestyle Domme, Mistress Trish with us, as well as everyone’s favorite masochistic board member, Thrash. The meeting will start with our guests telling us a little about themselves and answering a few questions. When the scene itself starts, they will do their best to juggle “headspace” with “being coherent” and let you know what they are thinking while they are actually playing. Finally we’ll have an in depth Q&A with them, where they will be answering all of our questions about the scene we just watched. This one should be crowded so come down early!

Of course, it’s always important to keep in mind that what might feel “right” for one person might not feel the same way for somebody else, so I would suggest that this presentation be taken as an opportunity to view an example of a scene rather than be considered a dissection of what a scene “should be like.”

That said, who wouldn’t want to see Mistress Trish and Thrash play together?

Caning 101 with Boymeat

British colonels and bespectacled headmistresses delight in strict discipline; now you can too! Join us as Boymeat presents Caning 101, a fun, easy-to-follow beginners class on the joys of corporal punishment. Don’t “spare the rod”, embrace it!

Meet us in 301 Hamilton for a night of pink bottoms and stiff upper lips.

Update: Handout now available for download! So it’s taking a little bit of time, but we now have Boymeat’s 3-page handout all about sensual BDSM caning (PDF) right here for you to download.

DSF meeting: MaxWax Play with Mistress Didi

DomSubFriends has invited Mistress Didi to present her techniques for wax play. From her presentation description:

There are four segments to Mistress Didi’s MaxWax™ presentation:

1. Basic Anatomy gives a quick overview of the muscles, nerves and types of skin tissue where nerve endings can be manipulated to control the receiver’s sensations.
2. Preparation offers a variety of ways to tantalize and safely prepare the flesh to anticipate and receive hot wax and other sensations. Proper skin care before and after Wax Play is strongly emphasized and the strengthening of the body-mind connection is established.
3. Wax Facts explores the types of wax and candles available to consider temperature, burning quality, ease of use and clean-up.
4. Sensory Enhancement and Prolonging Play combines the skills taught in the workshop with a variety of tools and toys for greater enjoyment of MaxWax™ Techniques for both the giver and the receiver.

First CV meeting of Fall 2007 “Show and Tell”

Welcome back everyone! Join us for our first meeting of the year, in 301 Hamilton. Bring friends, artwork, toy bags, pervertibles, and kinky summer memories; whatever you feel comfortable sharing with the class.

There will be snacks, old friends, new friends, announcements of some things we have planned for the year, stories from a kinky summer past, recaps from Floating World, and an open forum for potential presenters to pose presentation ideas and much, much more. We hope to see you there as we have sorely missed all of you during our time away.

Please note: we have updated (and expanded) our location! This year, all weekly meetings will be held in 301 Hamilton.

Polyamorous-NYC meeting discusses polyamory and the law

Polyamorous-NYC‘s September meeting sounds like a really interesting one. Their topic, polyamory and the law, is sure to touch very close to home for a lot of people living alternative sexual lifestyles. From the Polyamorous-NYC calendar:

This month’s topic is Polyamory and the Law: Radical Sexuality, Arcane Politics, and the Activism of your Personal Choices with Diana Adams, Esq. In this historic moment of questioning possibilities for state-sanctioned same-sex relationships, we have an opportunity to also question mandated monogamy, and challenge it legally and socially. In this interactive presentation, Diana Adams, Esq. will discuss the controversial movement for legal and cultural recognition of polyamorous relationships. Learn how to protect your legal rights as a polyamorous partner, parent, or family, and how to make your personal choices have an activist impact and educate your community about positive polyamorous relationships. Diana Adams is a Brooklyn-based attorney with a family law and civil rights practice. She specializes in polyamory, kink, and alternative lifestyle-aware divorce and child custody/visitation litigation, as well as domestic violence victim advocacy. After graduating from Yale and Cornell Law School, she practiced welfare law reform for New York City and worked in legal services for women and families in poverty before starting her own innovative solo law practice. Ms. Adams speaks and writes frequently on feminism, sexuality, and family law, and is actively involved in the New York City polyamory and sex workers rights communities.