Conversio Virium

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.

(Do you know of a news item that you don’t see mentioned in our archives and want to share? Please send it in! Or even better, send us your own opinions.)

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.)

Sensationalized Village Voice article makes front page thanks to BDSM

There are always BDSM topics being covered in the news. In most instances, these stories make it to the “freaks-and-geeks” section of your local newscast and usually don’t get more than 30 seconds of air time or a little corner on the bottom of a page buried in the middle of the newspaper.

Not so in the Village Voice, however, when this week’s cover story is all about how the now-defunct Vault club closed.

Anthony Marini was the manager at the Vault, the old S&M club in the meat-packing district on the western edge of Greenwich Village, during its heyday in the 1990s.

As such, he never lacked for entertainment.

[…]

Marini was there right up until the day when the State of New York stepped in and spoiled all the fun by condemning the property.

The article, titled The State Pays for Sex: How a mob-run S&M club put your tax dollars to work, comes to the the anti-climactic realization that instead of dragging out a court battle with the Vault owners, city officials paid them the appraised value of their club totaling about $1.8 million as judged by the Vault’s own appraisers. Even the article itself says there was nothing wrong with anything that happened there. Not with the alleged unsafe sex accusations, or the re-appraisal:

Mayor Giuliani had already tried to shut the place down for unsafe sex practices; club lawyers beat him in court.

[…]

Asked to review the case, state transportation department officials say that regardless of the kinky nature of the business, the payments reflected prudent decision making.

“The operators exercised their rights under the law and sought a ruling from the courts on initial payments they had received,” says transportation department spokeswoman Jennifer Post. “After subsequent talks with the parties, a settlement was reached which involved additional moneys.”

State officials noted that the Vault payments were just a small part of the $104 million that was spent to acquire properties for the West Street project—a task that required condemnation of some two dozen properties in a three-and-a-half-block stretch.

So after all that, why did this rather mundane article make the front page of the Village Voice? Well, for the kinky sex, of course! Everyone likes to ogle the “kinky freaks”, but I think this is pathetically adolescent behavior coming from adults—not to mention the Village Voice, which is a newspaper that should know better.

Single Men in Scene Spaces: How do you feel about “wankers”?

In a rare moment of leisure, I sat down to catch up on my reading this morning. Tristan Taormino, who some of you may remember from my countless outbreaks of praise, as well as Sexhibition a few weeks ago, wrote a thoughtful article in the Village Voice addressing an issue I have had mixed feelings about: the treatment and exclusion of single men in public scene and sex spaces.

If you have a moment, check out the article and share with us your feelings. Do you agree that it is a problem that single men are treated with suspicion because it puts a limit on the sexual freedom we promote, or on the other hand, is it a necessary evil which must be tolerated in order for others to feel comfortable in these public spaces?

If CV were to organize a club event, this is an issue that would have to be settled, and I have heard strong feelings on both sides of this argument. Feel free to comment here with your thoughts.

House of Pain - NY Post “Expose”

This article covers the arrest of a pro-dom in Westchester.

“House of Pain”

Court Decides S&M Not Consensual

Reason Magazine has a new article today headlined Court Decides S&M Not Consensual:

An interesting case exploring the limits of how much a typical jury can be expected to understand some of the curious emotional realities of the sexual worlds of bondage and sadomasochism has come to an end…

You can discuss the linked article here or at the site posted.