I don't usually mention my vanilla life in this blog but this week I've experienced a rare cross over of worlds...
This week I've been attending “Erotic Screen and Sound: Culture, Media and Desire", a four-day interdisciplinary conference presented by the Griffith Centre for Cultural Research and the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane.
Here's what the website said in the lead up to the conference :
"The conference will draw together contemporary research and historical thinking on the erotic and associated discourses across the fields of the visual and sonic arts, film, television and media studies, literature, cultural sociology, cultural history, communications and journalism. We invite scholars and graduates from a range of disciplines to examine, explore, theorize, and historicize erotic moving images, sounds, visual arts, performances and texts.You'll find a link to the final program on Fetlife here. Yes, there's a link on Fet. I'll get to why in a moment.
"Few subjects are as simultaneously commonplace and controversial as the erotic. While sex, gender, identity and desire have been traditional mainstays of artistic, academic and public discourses, the erotic often continues to provoke fears, anxieties and resistances. Screen-based media, such as computers, telephones, games, advertising, television and cinema, multiply in contemporary urban space. Erotic imagery and sound are routine - the erotic invitation to the viewer, representations of erotic attraction between individuals, erotic innuendo in songs and sound bites - proliferating the banal everydayness of contemporary life and culture. Yet at the same time, the erotic remains a site of beguilement, the forbidden, transgression, fascination and mystery..."
It's been extremely interesting. Not all the sessions I've attended will interest readers here but here are the titles of sessions (in no particular order) that might:
- Rebecca Sheehan – Cynthia Plaster Caster’s ‘Rock Cocks’: Groupies, Rock Music, and the Paradoxes of Female Desire
- Stephanie Green – ‘Desiring Dexter"
- Carody Culver – Whores d'Oeuvres and Sparrow's Brains: Exoticising Food and Sex in Erotic Cookbooks
- Tiziana Ferrero-Regis – From Liberation to Appropriation: Corsets and Eroticism in Australian Film
- Jack Sargeant – The Ballardian Imagination, Taumaphilia and the Underground
Those readers who remember my post "Confronting the confronting" (about Ana Kokkinos’ film / poster for “The Book of Revelation” ) might have attended this one:
- Grady Hancock – The Feminine Erotic: Fetishistic Scopophilia and Erotic Sadism in Ana Kokkinos’ “The Book of Revelation”
And this was fun:
- Dani Barley – Heineken and Four Green Peas: Representations of Kink, Dominance and Masochism in “Secretary” and “Blue Velvet”
Room A: Special Panel Session Chair: Vic OgilvieSee what I mean about crossing worlds? People I play with were about to take the stage, but in a very unfamiliar role! One of those was MsRed (who is NOT a pro domme) who is Devilwoman on Fet and in this blog (I can feel some regular readers flinching at the memory of some of our scenes) who put the event page up on Fet. The conference delegates program had a bit more info:
“Perverse and Fetish Queer Play” presented by members of the local BDSM community
This panel is presented by five highly skilful leaders in the world of leather, fetish, bondage, discipline, sadomasochism and role relationships. Panel members will discuss and explore sex, sexuality, perverse play, alternative lifestyles and the gender binary. Speakers include: Steven Todd (BDSM master), Pierre Brand (Mr Leather ANZ), Vic Ogilvie (sexual health educator and BDSM performer), Ms Red (professional dominatrix) and Paige Phoenix (Transman and performer).
"This very diverse panel of people have been members of the BDSM community and lead alternative lifestyles for over a decade. They are considered highly skilled leathers in the world of leather, fetish, bondage, discipline, sadomasochism and role relationships. Their collective crafts include but are not restricted to: expert rope play, blood sports, impact play, water sports, role, torture play, BDSM scenes, fetish specilities, fire play, branding / scarification, suspension play and sex performances.That's a pretty tall order for an hour and a half, but you know, they didn't do badly. In fact, they did us proud.
"The aim of the panel is the explore sex, sexuality, perverse play, alternative lifestyles and the gender binary. The panel - a;; members of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Community - will provide delegates with an understanding of the LGBTIQ community and it's association to the BDSM community. It will discuss the many sub cultures including the Queer Leather Scene, men who have sex with men and the Sex on State / Bent events scene.
"This thought provoking discussion will examine how we develop as sexual beings, why and what constrains our sexual expression. We will explore the impact of societal gender roles on sexual practice along with societal oppressions of natural sexual perversions. Further, the panel will discuss the rationale underpinning BDSM play, the therapeutics and healing of sexual release through perverse play, the relationship between feminism and BDSM and the positive impact on health, mental health, body image and self confidence"
Another kinky friend of mine diamondlight turned up for the BDSM session and we sat together up the back, so we could check out how the vanilla delegates were responding. The first thing we noted was the crowd - there were two other sessions running with some bloody good papers being presented, but most of the conference delegates were here with us. Being a conference convener I noted the Erotics conference convener noting this too LOL. But it's always worth noting when a risky event scores a positive response.
That same person introduced the panel, admitting to it "being exciting" to have the panel members present and reminding delegates that while "we" research and study other ways of [I missed the term], "some people actually live them". She meant well, was genuinely excited by the panel and had obviously gone to some trouble to organize it.
But without meaning to be, she was - and I hate saying it - just a little patronizing. I looked down at my friend and her friends on the platform. The convener's words had turned off my kinky eyes and turned on my vanilla delegate eyes ... now, under the lights, the speakers looked like brightly colored and textured unusual specimens in a zoo.
They certainly fitted several specific BDSM stereotypes - you could tick off your leather Master, your leather dyke etc. And several of them made important and extremely valid points regarding pre and post visual impression / judgments of the delegates observing them.
However the term "stereotype" was never used. Perhaps it needed to be. You can talk about media misrepresentations of BDSM all you like (and I totally agree) and yet if you are talking in an environment (like this conference) where the audience may not be familiar with BDSM stereotypes, then the point of your argument may be lost.
But this is a minor quibble about a panel described by one Fetlife member (who I didn't know at the time but who dropped me a line later about being at the conference) as "excellent". Everyone on the panel was articulate, interesting and had very interesting things to say. An incredible amount of issues were raised, and personal stories and validations were equally important.
At the end amongst other questions, a member of the audience thanked the panel, commended the conveners for organizer the panel and asked whether any further collaborations between the BDSM scene and the Griffith Centre for Cultural Research (who convened the conference). While this was discussed in very general terms, it did seem that some of the audience had picked up the speakers' validation of the more positive points of their original brief re:
"the rationale underpinning BDSM play, the therapeutics and healing of sexual release through perverse play, the relationship between feminism and BDSM and the positive impact on health, mental health, body image and self confidence"These aspects of BDSM were obviously very new to the audience and they were interested in further discussion. However it made me think that this aspect could provide a focused way of bridging the divide between the mainstream and the BDSM community.
Attempts to bridge that divide have been tried before. Most are initiated by the BDSM community, who are the ones most concerned with getting their concerns across. We are the ones who want validation from the mainstream, when to be honest the mainstream prefers to hold on to their misconceptions about all things kinky, and ignore our existence if possible. If you truly want to challenge those misconceptions you have to think outside the box and come up with a new way to educate or raise interest.
One example of this was Toronto's Northbound Leather's "Vanilla? party" in October last year. This title of the article below about the event - "The new normal Northbound Leather’s “Vanilla?” event blurs the lines" - shows the event was successful in it's challenge:
‘Vanilla’ is a BDSM term which means non-kinky; everything that’s mainstream we consider vanilla,” says Carolyn Kelly, the producer of Northbound Leather’s yearly party, which is happening this Saturday at the Sound Academy. This year’s theme: “Vanilla?” The event includes a fetish-wear fashion show, a dungeon and dancing. Calling it “Vanilla?” is, according to Kelly, “about questioning the defining line between the mainstream and the kink community.”This is such a well written piece and a classic example of a BDSM community reassuring the mainstream, on so many levels. The owner of Northbound Leather confirms his store's right to a place within his city's vanilla history and sets the store up as vanilla friendly ("people aren’t as nervous. ... On an earlier visit, I saw a mom buying her teenage son a leather jacket...") while also confirming that "kink has already infiltrated the mainstream".
The same blurry line is found in the history of Northbound Leather: the store is operated by George Giaouris, whose father transformed the family leather business after catching onto kink from “a gay leatherman” colleague, and whose kids work there on school breaks.... In addition to the annual fetish-fashion show, Northbound has hosted a monthly fetish night for 20 years, establishing itself as an axis of Toronto’s leather, fetish, LGBTQ and BDSM communities...
"As “Vanilla?” suggests, the evolution is edging closer toward the mainstream. Of the title, Giaouris says “Vanilla’s a complex spice. We’re alluding to the fact that it can be difficult; people aren’t always aware of their proclivities.” He adds, “What has changed is the comfort level. People aren’t as nervous.” ... On an earlier visit, I saw a mom buying her teenage son a leather jacket...
"There is, of course, still a great deal of stigma, having to do with fear and homophobia and misinformation, and that ever-shifting line of what “fetish” means. ... While Giaouris’ shop does cater to “the bleeding edge,” offering basically anything that his customers need in their sex lives provided it’s legal, he emphasizes that “We’re attempting to say, ‘Hey, you’re OK.’” ...
"During the event, clips from mainstream TV shows featuring unintended kink will run. In Kelly’s view, kink has already infiltrated the mainstream, for instance, she points to a scene from Two and a Half Men where “One guy walks into the bedroom, where his brother is lying tied to the bed in stockings and a garter belt and a negligee thing.” “A nice, normal couple will use a bathrobe sash to tie each other up, or a husband’s tie to playfully tie each other to the bed. In the kink community, that’s bondage.”..
What about mainstream approaches to the BDSM community?
Probably one of the most popular / successful examples was Sydney's Powerhouse Museum's two Dark Science nights in 2009. The Ultimo Science Festival is presented by the Powerhouse Museum, the ABC, the University of Technology, Sydney and TAFE NSW and supported by the Australian Government and the City of Sydney. In 2009 as part of the festival the Powerhouse Museum produced "a spectacle of side show science and (almost) R-rated research". The official blurb read:
You'll find photos and info about the two nights here, here and here. An ABC blogger reported:"Dark Science are two nights of adults only science – Experiment on yourself, your friends and total strangers. ABC’s Natasha Mitchell asks the hard questions.
Flesh” will use suspension artists, tattooing, performers and scientists to lead you on a discussion of just what the human body might be capable of. But its more than discussion – it’s about experimenting. Experiment with yourself, your friends and total strangers to challenge what you believe about your own flesh.
This live event looks at the biology of skin and muscles, particularly in relation to pain. You will never think about your body the same again. Suspension artists from Polymorph and tattooists from Bondi Ink Ply their trade in front of you. Pain and burns researchers, perception psychologists and skin specialists, will reveal the mysteries of scars, burns, pain and perception.
How can a hook through a piece of fragile skin carry a person’s weight? A live suspension will be followed with an opportunity for brave volunteers to have a hook inserted – or even a steel skewer pushed through their cheek. On stage, a burn victim and a scarification enthusiast discuss skin, scars and self-image. What do their scars mean to them?
“Psyche” looks into your mind and confront your fears, be it spiders, snakes, bugs, death or needles. Psychologists will help you understand exactly what these things are and how they make you… well… YOU.
This live event looks at the mental aspects of fear and pain. Suspension artists will demonstrate how hooks pushed through their skin can carry the entire weight of the body. A Bondi Ink tattooist will tattoo a willing subject while the audience can participate with spiders, coffins and ropes to get them thinking about fear. At what point, does the process of pain become pleasure? An event guaranteed to challenge the way you think"
Note that comment "it was fairly wild for a science event (just as it should be)". I think that's indicative of where the particular cross over occurred with Dark Science - between science (usually a vanilla topic and rarely juxtaposed with BDSM) and the local Sydney alternative / BDSM scene (who provided some of the performers as well as some of the audience)."Last night, the first of two DARK SCIENCE Nights, was all about the skin you're in...the fruits and labours of the FLESH...how we manage it, damage it, heal it, decorate it, penetrate it, and even how we might transcend it (in an illusory fashion).
The crowd at the Powerhouse was treated to the incredible talents of body modification and supension artists Ben McC-D (he had the hooks put in and went flying - in body and spirit), with Rob Valenti, Bernadette Knight and Dave Valenti of Polymorph Studios; Megsie and fellow tattooists from Bondi Ink; the insights of Dr Stephen Schumack from the Australasian College of Dermatologists; pain researcher and clinician Dr Lorimer Moseley was delivering the electric shocks; psychologist and perception researcher Tatjana Seizova-Cajic and her PhD student gave people the willies with the rubber hand illusion; and psychologist and performance artist Michaela Davies pulled out her electric muscular stimulation device and...well....got people stimulated I hope. Sydney's DJ Gemma was on the decks (you might have let loose at her incredible Arab beats event, Club Arak. She tells me the night is now called Ya Leil).
It was fairly wild for a science event (just as it should be), and the adults-only audience looked gorgeous (a beautiful cacaphony of body modifiers and tweekers, nerds, nerdy body modifiers, goths, and everyone besides, all equally category-less and hopefully happily immersed in the interesting spectacle, science and bar offerings of the evening)
The event was extremely popular, as this quote from a post by Tyler Broyles, a vanilla blogger on the 10 Days of Science blog reveals:
Tyler Broyles continues:"Hooks, tattoos, blood, electrocutions, muscle control and phantom limbs? Oh – and did I mention pain?
About a quarter of the queue entering 'Dark Science: Flesh' last night. . Image: Mat McCosker's iPhone
"These are the reasons we are in a long looping queue for entry to the Powerhouse Museum. Pain is fascinating and a night where the science behind the agony is de-mystified is too good to miss.
"A Powerhouse rep is working her way down the queue, getting people to sign release forms. Wait, release forms? I’m sure it’s a legal thing — but it’s also a good way to raise anticipation levels! We sign our release forms and shuffle into the crowded foyer. Host Natasha Mitchell announces the first suspension will happen in 20 minutes. Right into the action!"
"suspension artist Ben – in a leather cap & leather undies – tells the crowd they will either be “repulsed” or “attracted” by the sight. Well? Attraction or repulsion folks?Here's what they were watching:
"Note - the observer behind is on the first floor of the PhM, while most of the crowd are below in the foyer. “These reactions come from the same place,” he says.
"He tells us he’s about to enter “a quiet place” of mental focus. Then, he lies facedown and two be-masked “inserters” from Polymorph descend upon him and begin to thread thick metal barbs and hooks into his calves, lower and upper back. “Gross! Ouch!” Is my first reaction …
"but this is science right?
"Tonight we’re thinking past these instinctive reactions towards what is happening and why. (Where’s the blood?). The team are in great spirits, including Ben who will shortly be suspended by his flesh from the ceiling. (Where’s the blood?)."
Let's stop and think about what's happening here for a moment. Flesh suspension is serious edge play and not the personal cup of tea of many kinksters. So it's quite extraordinary to see it being included in the Dark Science program and to see how well nice vanilla blokes like Tyler are handling their direct experience of it.
But hang on. OF COURSE flesh suspension should be included in the program. It's completely relevant to what Dark Science is all about:
"This live event looks at the biology of skin and muscles, particularly in relation to pain. You will never think about your body the same again"And this text - this formal museum written and approved description of what Dark Science is about - gives the vanillas attending permission to alter the way they perceive flesh suspension. Here's Tyler Broyles again:
“Gross! Ouch!” Is my first reaction … but this is science right? Tonight we’re thinking past these instinctive reactions towards what is happening and why. (Where’s the blood?)Exactly. The event was presented to vanillas in a manner that transcended their usual concerns about BDSM. As Dark Science host Natasha Mitchell notes in her own posts about the events:
"We're pushing the limits of fear, pain, pleasure and phobias in interesting ways...So now vanillas are sharing stories with kinksters, interesting....
"Although I didn't manage to keep in the interview with the self confessed sadist from San Francisco who had some thoughts to offer spontaneously from the audience on the night! And then there were all the women in the crowd who I got to share their painful birth stories on the spot ..
Was Dark Science popular? Absolutely. Has the Powerhouse Museum scheduled it again? No. But on the other hand it's not the kind of event you could schedule every year.
Then again, why not?
I think organizers achieved something rare with Dark Science. They not only revitalized how people perceived science (no longer boring ... exciting enough for a reviewer to note "it was fairly wild for a science event (just as it should be)") they also presented hardcore BDSM within a safe, scientifically ratified environment that made it acceptable for vanilla audiences to enjoy, make jokes, and potentially further explore:
"this is science right? Tonight we’re thinking past these instinctive reactions towards what is happening and why. (Where’s the blood?)"
Comparing a major event like Dark Science with something like the BDSM panel at the “Erotic Screen and Sound: Culture, Media and Desire" conference. may seem silly. But that panel - and the conference conveners who thought outside the usual academic box when creating their conference program - is a great first step for Brisbane.
The conference conveners took a risk putting the panel on their mainstream academic program, and that risk paid off (large amount of delegates attending / good audience participation in the questions afterwards etc.). Now it's time for both the local BDSM scene and Griffith University to consider further collaborations that challenge the mainstream, transcending vanilla pre / misconceptions while remaining honest to the scene's own integrity.
Thanks:
Photos:
Powerhouse Museum queue - Mat McCosker
(reproduced on Tyler Broyles post)
"The Book of Revelation" (official site)
Powerhouse Museum queue - Mat McCosker
(reproduced on Tyler Broyles post)
"The Book of Revelation" (official site)
