So-called “gut” feelings and other kinds of “hunches” have long been thought to be silly, nonsensical things our bodies do when we’re nervous or unsure about something. Most of the time, we try to push them away and don’t listen but Danielle DV8, a practicing Zen Buddhist and self-described lifestyle submissive, Domina, and (consensually) owned slave for many years, thinks intuition plays an important part of good decision-making. She is presenting her take on Lifestyle Intuition at DomSubFriends this Friday. From the presentation description:

The exploration of what intuition is, the difference between feelings and thoughts (including paranoid thoughts and projection), how to practice identifying intuition, how to apply intuition to decisions and how to build faith in your ability to do all this.

This is a powerful, interactive clinic that has a goal of improving decision making by applying intuitive information. This is especially helpful for singles, newbies to the leather lifestyle, those with patterns of poor choices (partners, jobs, investments, etc.), those with insecurities (all of us), and those that wish to fine tune their intuitive abilities.

Over at TES this Wednesday, the Bondage Group is hosting Jack McGeorge as he presents “My Life as a Bondage Enthusiast”:

From the time he acquired his first set of handcuffs at age eight to the present when he keeps his slaves in some kind of locking bondage 24/7, Jack’s true love is bondage. Join us as Jack takes us on his journey exploring a wide array of techniques and materials starting as a self-bondage player to being the Master of the Order of Discipline & Service.

Jack is a fantastic speaker that is very well-known for his presentations on such topics as interrogation and Master/slave relationship dynamics. His are talks that are educational and enlightening as well as always being entertaining. Also, he has a superb collection of bondage equipment that I simply can’t stop drooling over.

SxySadist is going to be at DomSubFriends on Friday to teach about low-to-the-ground suspension scenes:

Suspension is suspension whether you are 2 inches, 2 feet or 20 feet off the ground. Yes, sometimes added height can be an advantage for certain types of play or for “showy” or performance art scenes, but I have discovered some of my sexiest and most intimate suspension play can happen when my partner is barely off the floor.

These days I love to slide in underneath them and lounge on my back while they are hanging there just above me barely a breathy kiss distance away as I run my nails across their body. Ahhh yes, there is much that can be said and relished about low to the ground suspension work and this is also a great way to get a feel for and experience with suspension while minimizing risks associated with falls from higher altitudes.

In this class I will explore some ways that I love to play with partial and full suspensions that are close to the ground and then finish up with a bit of cheery holiday decorations.

BiRequest is a local social and discussion group for bisexual and bisexual-friendly people that meets bimonthly on the first and third Thursdays of each month at the LGBT Center in the Village. Their next meeting is called Home for the Holidays:

In a blink of an eye the holidays will be here. When they arrive will you feel anxious, depressed and sad? Or will you be excited, upbeat and positive? The way you approach the holidays is what will determine your feelings. Remember, you can control the way you feel by the way you think.

[…]

The question you have to ask yourself is this: how do you want it to be? How do you want to feel about it? Then focus on what you want the outcome to be. Your feelings will flow from your thoughts. We can make the holidays a fun, happy event or focus on what’s missing and then feel despair.

But it’s a conscious choice.

As such for this holiday join us in a sharing of stories, of art, of bad jokes, let’s take time to acknowledge the most important person of all in this time, ourselves and how far we have come in our journey.

Very much like our own Conversio Virium tradition, after the meetings attendees of BiRequest go out for dinner and more socializing at a nearby restaurant. Don’t let loneliness overcome you this holiday season; come out and chat it up with us.

Our friends at Poly NYC are throwing one huge Holiday party replete with a DJ, a cash bar serving wine, spiked cider, and more. With over 200 people expected (!) tickets are required, but you can get them with a one-third discount by purchasing online (price list). Ticket sales benefit Polyamorous NYC and The Center. From the email invitation:

It will be a potluck evening. Please bring any food that you can that you think the group would enjoy, i.e. cookies, candy, cakes, snacks, appetizers, chips, dips, crudities, cheese and crackers, hummus and pita, etc.. We will be having our fabulous DJ Velour, aka Gilad, spinning tunes all night.

Room 101 at the Center (208 West 13^th Street) will be decorated with beautiful tables with flowers and a gorgeous and cozy cuddle space will be on the side for those of you who like to lounge and cuddle. We are having something new and exciting this year. An entire table off to the side of the room that will be a “Get Connected Area”. Please bring any flyers, business cards, or other info about what you are up to and events that you would like the poly community to come to and support you with. You will be able to place your info on the table. We believe this will be a great way to get more connected in the community and for us to see and hear what you all are up to.

We welcome all polyamorous, poly-curious, or poly-friendly people to this event.

Patricia Johnson, Selina Fire and Mark Michaels invite you for an evening of drink, talk, and gifts!

After the holiday dust has settled, mellow out with your fellow sexplorers. Bring a small gift to exchange with a new friend.

The Pleasure Salon has been created to build community, allowing sex-positive activists to cross-pollinate. Our gatherings bring together members of the BDSM, swinger, alternative gender, LGBT, sex-activist, nudist, sex-magic, polyamory, Pagan, radical faerie, tantra, dark odyssey, sex-blogger, porn, pervert and sex-worker communities, and others whose passion is sex. (Let us know if we missed any one of you!) Through building networks in the sex-positive community, The Pleasure Salon hopes to help create a sex-positive world. It is a place for the open exchange of ideas and sensual expression.

We have been thrilled by the turnout at previous gatherings. A community of New York area Pleasure Positive folks is developing rapidly, and we hope that you will join us or continue to be part of it. Please invite your like-minded friends. In keeping with the spirit of Dark Odyssey, we encourage everyone to embrace the basic principles of respect, tolerance, acceptance, openness, and non-judgmental support.

Our next event will be Thursday, December 27^th 6-10 PM, at Marion’s Marquee Lounge, 354 Bowery at 4^th Street.

This Saturday night Mike S. will be hosting the TES Holiday party at Paddles benefiting NCSF.

The holidays come but once a year and what better way to celebrate than with your friends at TES? Please join your host Mike, for a fun filled, freaky Romp O’ Kink in the spirit of the season! Touch base with old friends, make some new ones, enjoy our quality buffet, amazing music, special events and of course, play, play, play!! It’s gonna be some party! All profits will be donated to NCSF – come on out and show your support! Michael from Paddles will also be donating all proceeds from the bar to NCSF!

Sometimes there are certain things that, while we love to do and learn about, we think are just a little bit too dangerous for whatever reason to do at Conversio Virium meetings. However, especially because these topics can be accompanied with considerable physical risk, it’s all the more important that information about them be available. Thankfully, the upcoming TES meeting this Tuesday promises to cover just such concerns over very edgy medical play:

Edgy…invasive…potentially dangerous…but very hot. Join our very own Santos, a medical professional and avid Scene enthusiast, for a thrilling discussion and demo of some really edgy medical play.

It’s unfortunately too rare a treat to learn about kink from someone who has professional-level knowledge in the field, and even rarer for that overlap to occur in the complicated arena of medical play. With Santos, a member of the BDSM scene for quite a few years, at the helm of this meeting, however, everyone’s sure to learn a thing or two (or three).

GMSMA‘s pre-Christmas holiday meeting is a chance for you to mingle with other men who are into consensual BDSM:

Have you been naughty? Have you been nice? Come to our Holiday Social to get your due reward for your behavior over the past year. Enjoy good food, fellowship, and good fun as Santa gives all the boys what they really deserve!

This good boy wants some very bad things from Santa this year….

Like techno, trance, synthpop, darkwave, and industrial music? Like fetish, electrosex, and dancing? New York City’s “monthly synthetic sexy dance party” might be exactly what you’re looking for. DJ Lucien and friends are once again hosting BYTE at the Delancey Lounge at 168 Delancey Street. There are also a few special events planned for the party:

BYTE will be raffling away two custom BYTE iPod Nanos at the XXX-Mas part. BYTE will also be hosting the 1st ever BYTE shopping mini mall, for all your alternative XXX-Mas shopping needs.

Since alcohol is served, attendance is restricted to those 21 years of age or older. Additional details can be found on the promotional web site.

Most of GMSMA‘s seminars and workshops require advance registration, with the exception of this one. An introductory discussion about BDSM, this seminar is a golden opportunity to explore another aspect of the gay male BDSM community in New York City. From the seminar description:

A seminar for men new to the scene, as well as for tops and bottoms interested in switching their usual roles. Topics will include types of relationships, meeting people, equipment, and the dynamics of a scene. There is no charge and no advance registration for this event conducted by Gil at the LGBT Center in NYC. This seminar will be open to members and non-members, in a special outreach to the entire male s/m community. Don’t use the sign-up slip; just come along!

If you’re new to BDSM or you’ve been thinking about getting yourself out there and want to meet other men, there is no better time than now to do it!

Renowned BDSM author Jay Wiseman is presenting a class on Rope Bondage You Can Actually Use, which is being hosted by DomSubFriends. From the event description:

Do you want to tie up your lover but aren’t sure of how to go about it? Have you ever attended a bondage demonstration of spectacular techniques but returned home with no idea of how to tie them yourself?

Come spend some entertaining and educational time with one of the world’s top BDSM educators, the author of “Jay Wiseman’s Erotic Bondage Handbook” published by Greenery Press, and the producer of the excellent video “Jay Wiseman Teaches Basic Rope Bondage” to learn some simple, easy to learn, and widely usable bondage techniques.

TES‘s general-attendence meeting this week is going to be all about Kidnappings with Soulhuntre:

Just what is a kidnapping scene and how do you set one up? Discussion will cover pre-scene negotiations, pre-planning, set-up, involving others, participant safety and limits. Private vs. Event kidnappings, Abductions, Role Play, and Fantasies that work and some that don’t (or are practically impossible) will be also be covered.

How many subculture interests do you have or how many subcultures do you identify with? I can name at least seven right off the top of my head: I’m a Trekkie, a Star Wars geek, a computer nerd, an anime otaku, I’m polyamorous, and of course, I’m a BDSM submissive. I’m also a juggler and love hanging out with all my “circus arts” friends. Then there are friends who cross over into even more subcultures.

The Switchables Group at TES is going to discuss the phenomenon of why and how kinky people often identify with multiple, diverse subcultures in their next meeting this Wednesday called Trekkies and Witches and Wenches, Oh My…:

There are many people in the SM scene who also have other unusual or “alternative” interests. What attracts them to these other Scenes? What do they have in common? Could it be that, when you accept one unusual idea, it’s that much easier to accept another? Let’s discuss this and find out more with our panel of fellow kinky folk who are also involved in Sci Fi, Fandom, Paganism & Wicca, Renn Faires/SCA/medieval recreationism, and/or the Goth Scene.

Lest you think the BDSM and other alternative sexuality crowds are immune to mainstream influences and societal pressures, just take one good look around you at the media that’s marketed to us and the things we talk about. The fact is, members of fringe cultures like ours still face the same struggles as people firmly rooted in the center of the mainstream.

Furthermore, people face such issues regardless of their gender identity or sexuality; men have body image issues as do women, and tops, dominants, submissives, and bottoms all often struggle with reconciling an idealized image of sexuality with what they personally find to be comfortable and enjoyable.

This week’s general-attendance TES meeting is the “Body Image Forum” a panel moderated by Sir Guy:

A long willowy blonde with legs up to there, clad in skin tight leather, clutching a bullwhip. A muscular, tan and teasing 20 something with a firm butt protruding through black leather chaps. The tiny Asian, bound in colorful ropes, with nary an ounce of fat on her flexible little limbs. These are the images often seen in magazines and films of BDSM practioners. But is this reality? Is there pressure, even within the community, to conform to these images of young, lithe, totally fit practitioners of BDSM and fetish? Join Sir Guy and the panel as we explore body image in the Scene.

Sir Guy has a proven track record of bringing intelligent, thought-provoking discussion to the forefront of the kinky community (like his recent People of Color Forum) and I would just like to take this opportunity to applaud his persistence in bringing even more of these important issues to light!

When I first heard about the concept of leather contests, I balked. “How can you judge something so personal?” I wondered. Later, I learned that in fact these contests weren’t always stand-and-model pageantry but were instead educational events, and the contestants were all judged on how well they were able to educate others about their lifestyle.

This Tuesday’s TES meeting, titled Leather Contests…More Than Just Stand and Pose, is your chance to learn about leather contests from current and past leather titleholders:

Join current and past titleholders as they discuss the qualifications necessary and responsibilities of being a Leather titleholder. Many people are surprised to learn how rigorous the judging can be and how much of a titleholder’s year is spent on educating both Scene and non-Scene members about what it is we do. Come and meet the people representing you to the public. Audience participation is welcome.

NCSF’s founder, and one of only three women who are honorary members of GMSMA, Susan Wright will be presenting “Sensationalized Sex” during GMSMA’s Leatherfest this Saturday.

It’s a look at the past 10 years of NCSF’s media activism, and the strategies we’ve developed to combat the way the media encourages the stigma about alt sex. I’m bringing copies of the Concerned Women for America’s press release about My Viscious Valentine in 2002, when they declared the event hazardous to the health and reporters repeated their lies. I’ll also bring the Missouri State Senate resolution that barred BDSM activities in the state—which NCSF got shelved. Plus much more!

Susan Wright is a passionate and inspirational speaker, leader, and activist. She gave a similar presentation as this at this past Summer’s Floating World convention and I was so impressed I wasn’t the least bit disappointed that I had to miss the presentation on fucking machines. Yes, she’s that good.