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Joseff -> Up Mainstream Without a Paddle (6/6/2007 9:15:11 PM)
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I posted this in another forum recently. The reasons I am posting it here are because this seems like a perfect forum for it, and also because no one has responded to it in that other forum, and I'd like some feedback.
Joseff
A friend recently sent Me another one of those links to some online news service story about something to do with the BDSM lifestyle. You all know the ones, stories that kinda remind you of the local newscast's "Human Interest" bits: "We're here with Farmer Bob, and he's got this giant potato that looks just like Richard Nixon!" These reports are all over the internet, and we all have plenty of people on our buddy list who like nothing better than to search them out and send you a link. And of course, they always get it just a bit wrong. Nothing harmful, really, just a little off, not quite hitting the mark.
So what are all these reports about the lifestyle about? Is it some sort of freak show? Nope, I think its something different. There is a segment of our society that wants to redefine wiiwd (what it is we do), as normal everyday activity. Get ready for the Mainstream, folks. Soon practicing your pony girl in the park will be as commonplace as walking the dog, play parties raise eybrows no more than Tupperware parties, and casual Fridays at work can be joined by Leather Mondays.
Now these people have only the best intentions for their aims. They believe that greater familiarity in the community at large will lead to better understanding and acceptance. I agree that it would be a good thing if people didn't start screaming for our heads every time some amatuer accidently kills their partner during play. Also, we all know that every time a child molestor is caught with bondage magazines under his mattress, the vanillas' first recourse is always legislation and censorship.
But will mainstreaming ourselves really reduce these problems, or just make it easier for the mob to find us when its time to grab a torch and pitchfork? Everybody knows that ol' Farmer Bob, although he's an upstanding member of the community, is a little bit weird.
Well, I do not want to be part of the mainstream. I am proud of My individualism. Part of the mystique of wiiwd is that not everybody understands it. We have already been inundated with thousands of teenie bobber Goth children who talk the talk but can't walk the walk. I am set apart from "normal" people, I am different, and that's the way I like it. Furthermore, the majority will not, cannot understand us. They'll just keep getting it wrong. All potatos look like Nixon. Others want acceptance, what they'll get is what familiarity always breeds, contempt. Let other groups get together and celebrate their diversity, Id rather hang with My perverted friends and celebrate our uniqueness...and beat some subbies, too.
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