I see that there is a huge uproar in our community about the upcoming movie. When the books were release So many people come into my classes at the Lair that had read the books. I saw it taper down a bit but if this movie is a success in the vanilla world we will have more and people joining our community.
Some would think that we are not ready for this as a community as more and more people are coming into the life choice without really know what this thing we call BDSM is all about. I have taught thousands of newbies that have been brought in by the book and the movie they are going to come at records numbers.
It is up the season educators, teachers and players to educate the masses that are coming into the life style. We are not about fashion, how hard you can fling a flogger or how many slaves you own. It’s about honor and respect and integrity and how to keep a sub, slave or bottom safe. It’s about never harming the mind, body or soul and yes I will hurt you but never harm you in any way.
Community Leaders need to come together and work with each other to build a strong community of support. We will have many people coming in and yes Fetlife will in-cress in the amount of people joining but will this be good for our real time community? Only time will tell….
Hollywood is taking notice and BDSM is going to be the new hot topic to make TV series and movies much like the vampire did to TV and films.
Are we ready for this? I think we are as we have many educators, teachers and community leaders that are looking at how we can educate the new influx of people coming in. I see it on Facebook, Twitter, Fetlife and yes. I have written about it on TSRnetwork.com.
We as a community need to come together and support each other and reach out to newbies and talk to them about safety, protocol and how this all really work before we are inundated with movie viewers that want to beat their girlfriend or boyfriends and make sure no harm comes to them.
We are no longer hidden in a closet and are wide open for the world to see as the world will be looking at in a microscope and watching. How to deal with this simple. Embrace this as it’s going to happen and reach out to new comers and remember we were all newbies once long ago….
We survived the Story of O and the Secretary and we will survived Fifty Shades of Grey and we will more and more movies and TV series being creative that highlights our life choice. I try to look at the positive side of it we no longer have to hide in the closet and we are now of a less taboo and more expected in the vanilla world.
The humanizing of BDSM started with the fashion industry, then Goth Clubs, books and now movies. As I have coined the phrase at Dom Con a few years ago to a group of 8 vanilla people when they asked what was Dom Con about. I looked in the gentleman’s eyes and said ” There is not a street in United States that someone is not being tied to a bed, blindfolded and spanked, we are not much different that then the vanilla world”. He got it and smiled and understood as it hit a core with him.
We still have to live in the vanilla world and still have to have common sense when we are out in the vanilla world. As we sit in the movie theater and watch Fifty Shades of Grey and they get some of the things wrong we will shake in our boots but how long did it take us to get it right? This is just the beginning as our community was up in arms about the Goth Clubs when they started and it did change the way we looked at BDSM. This movie will do the same so pull up your boot strings and support your local community and make a difference.
Walk in peace everyone and find joy in this life as you never know what tomorrow will bring.
Rev Mel
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