Lawsuit!

I am a fairly active member of the San Francisco BDSM community. I have a BDSM Production company that has a website and we also do live BDSM performances.

I just read from a NCSF (National Coalition for Sexual Freedom) about a lawsuit filed against a local club owner for an accident which occurred almost 2 years ago. The accident involved a suspension gone bad. The female sub was hanging by her ankles when something came loose and she crashed to the floor suffering some fairly serious (and expensive) injuries. Of course, the news of this terrible accident spread quickly including mean gossip and the usual inaccuracies. I wasn't there so I won't add to the misinformation.

What concerns me here is that this was an opportunity for the BDSM community to work together to solve a problem, instead, it devolved into a nasty, polarizing incident that has caused divisions and now what is sure to be a nasty lawsuit, rather than a coming together to help someone in need (the injured woman) and work together.

Those of us who are into BDSM are at risk. We are still stigmatized by the psychologists disorder manual (DSM), discriminated against and thrown in with child molesters as nasty perverts. We may joke about being perverts, but most of society doesn’t think it is funny at all and has no problem discriminating against us including the constant threat of actually going to jail for doing what we like with consenting adults. The Gay community got sick of this kind of treatment years ago and began working together to get their basic human rights.

There a number of organizations that seek to address these issues such as the NCSF, the Society for Sex and Culture and local organizations like the Society of Janus (San Francisco). We need to support these organizations, work together and try to get our human rights.

Sincerely,

Cactus Jack
www.girlstieduptight.com