“And they came, with silver skin & flashing hair, eyes glinting with cold metallic mercy. A virus of lust had been downloaded & they had gathered to run the program… They came to dent fenders, to overload circuits, to liberate black oil thick like blood… It was the beginning of the CyborRevel”

NOT TO BE MISSED: the first College Night of 2008, hosted by Antonia and Blaise. Come for Rob’s “piercing couture” and stay for college discounts, cyborg-themed decadence, Automaton Tunes, anime porn, and a floor show!

Paddles 250 W 26St, basement, between 7th and 8th Ave
Students With Valid ID: $10, Members: $25, Non-Members: $35

TES-TiNG is coming up to visit us at Conversio Virium It’s an honor for CV to host TES-TiNG, TES’s group for young adults, aged 35 and under. This is also a chance for us at CV to network with the rest of the New York City kink community. From the TES-TiNG calendar announcement:

Join us at 7 PM at the Chelsea Gallery Restaurant (72 7^th Avenue between 14^th and 15^th Street) for dinner, coffee, and/or a snack. Ask for “TES” at the diner. Then at around 8 PM we’ll head up to Columbia University to attend a Conversio Virium meeting, Columbia/NYC’s Student BDSM Discussion Group

Patricia Johnson, Mark Michaels, and Selina Fire‘s monthly gathering of the diverse pleasure-positive communities in New York City is meeting again this month. From the invitation:

For a Pleasure Activist, every day is Mardi Gras!

[…]

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.

Pleasure Salon is also announcing discounted rates to the Dark Odyssey Winter Fire event that’s upcoming in March for all registered Pleasure Salon attendees. Registration is free and easy. Just sign up for their event invitation list when you get your name tag at the Pleasure Salon you attend.

Pleasure Salon members are eligible for a Dark Odyssey group discount. Go to DarkOdyssey.com and enter “Pleasure Salon” when you register.

A surprising and heartening announcement from The Eulenspiegel Society is making the rounds. It’s good to see an important organization like TES trying to understand what it does right, what it does wrong, and how it can improve:

To all TES members, past, present and future and all BDSM community members,

This Tuesday, February 12, 2008, The Eulenspiegel Society (TES) is embarking on a bold undertaking. Since it’s inception in 1971, TES has prided itself on being innovative, open-minded and progressive. It is unfortunate that it may not still be perceived that way. In a move to continue to provide the bold, provocative guidance and insight that allowed this organization to be the oldest, largest BDSM support and education group in the hemisphere, we are seeking to look introspectively. We seek to do a self analysis, with those who love TES for what it has been, and what it can be, and those who don’t love TES, for the same reasons. We will do this in the form of a forum entitled, “What’s Wrong With TES, or, How Can the Best Get Better?” In this forum we wish to discuss how The Eulenspiegel Society can keep current, stay relevant and continue to be a beacon in the BDSM community. In addition to discussing problems and shortcomings, we wish to entertain solutions and ideas. These ideas are critical, not just to the continued survival of TES, but to the BDSM community at large, as many of our community groups have been suffering with similar issues. We will be discussing Issues such as maintaining relevance in the age of the Internet, recruitment and retention of volunteers, developing mentors, eliminating predators, community outreach and activism.

Sir Guy, who will be moderating the discussion, has also set up an email address so that people can voice their opinions anonymously:

We understand that there may be those who are a bit apprehensive about speaking in public. To this end, a special e-mail address has been provided. The only person to have access to this account is Sir Guy, a TES Board Member and moderator for the discussion. You can maintain your anonymity if you so desire. The e-mail address is: whatswrongwithtes@gmail.com. Please feel free to participate in what is sure to be a lively discussion. It’s important to us all.

This weekend, DJ Lucien, DJ Ash and friends are hosting the monthly synthi-sexy BYTE Party, this month in celebration of a cyberpunk-themed Valentine’s Day.

$5 for fetish divas, creative goths, cyberpunks, material girls, fashionistas, alternative sexiness, and anyone who can leave their inhibitions at home! $10 for all black, $15 all else. 21 and over please…no exceptions! Make an effort, let yourself go!

Drink Specials: $5 vodka Red Bulls. $5 Bloodbaths. $6 Bud & kamikaze shot.

Jeff Mach is at it once again with his annual Wicked Winter Renaissance Faire. Join perverts, rennies, pirates, ninjas, gamers, and friends for a weekend of Lovecraft-inspired mayhem. Quothe the web site:

Who’ll discover the secrets needed to unlock the tombs of Those Who Cannot Die? What’ll happen if they do…and who will be Eaten First? Which side will it be the Pirates? The Knights? Rebellious Squires? One of the warring Ninja clans? Secretly-evil Barmaids? (Actually, I didn’t think that was terribly much of a secret.) Perhaps it will be teams of former enemies, made into strange bedfellows by strange, strange times. The Villagers are frantically pretending that nothing-at-all-out-of-the-ordinary-is-going-on-really-truly… some with more success than others… so as not to disturb the Revels. We have a feeling that won’t quite work. The visitors will probably figure out what’s going on; the tentacles, for one thing, are a bit of a dead giveaway. Perhaps some of the visitors will even decide to take part. After all, who wants to miss the End of the World?

It is an oft-cited criticism of the BDSM scene: “It’s too hard to meet women!” Indeed, many men feel that their attempts at engaging members of the opposite sex are consistently unsuccessful. It’s unfortunate that when something isn’t working, many men simply try to do more of the same. If asking ten women to let him rub their feet didn’t work, he’ll just try asking another fifty, thinking one of them will eventually acquiesce. Sadly, this just doesn’t work.

Thankfully, DomSubFriends is hosting a presentation all about meeting and playing with people in the scene called (appropriately enough), “Why can’t I meet someone?”. Thomas, aka Shibari Warrior is presenting this topic specifically for men who have trouble finding play partners:

Frustrated on why you cant meet anyone in the scene, whether to play or create a relationship? Geared primarily for males, Top/Dom or bottom/sub, the class is open to anyone who wishes to attend. The approach to the class will be a twofold concept of a book: the Book cover and the contents of the book. In the class we will discuss the problems people face and the means of overcoming them. The presenter will share his expertise from his time in the Marine Corps (the total person concept) and his current occupation in the fashion industry. If you want to make a change for the better, this is the class to attend.

In my personal experience, a few key guidelines have proven themselves to be invaluable. These are:

1. Vanilla rules apply. Just as certain common-sense rules of etiquette are followed in non-kink spaces, so too must they all be followed in kink spaces. Being in a BDSM dungeon does not grant anyone the right to be rude to anyone else.
2. Make conversation. Nine times out of ten, if you ask someone to play with you before you even say hello, you’re going to get turned down. Think about it: do you walk up to random women in bars and ask them to have sex with you? No, you talk to them first, you flirt. Do that in a BDSM club, too. If there’s some chemistry in the conversation first, then the apple of your eye is much more likely to say yes when you broach the topic of playing together.
3. Be generous. If you get turned down, be gracious and accepting about it. On the other hand, if your offer to play is accepted, then do something you are both going to like when you play and make sure your play partner knows how much you’re liking it while you’re playing. If you’re topping, this means you top with enthusiasm tempered with lots of care. If you’re bottoming, this means you’re reacting to what she’s doing because, remember, she wants to be having an effect on you. I don’t think I know a single top who doesn’t like noise, or squirming, or something of the sort as long as it’s an authentic reaction and not a big phony act. Conversely, almost all of them really dislike playing with a stubbornly stoic, silent, expressionless bottom.

This weekend, TES-TiNG is hosting an excursion to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show. From the web site announcement:

Are you a virgin? Well, tonight’s your lucky night! Join us for a late dinner/snack at the Moonstruck Diner…then we’ll head over to Clearview’s Chelsea Cinema (260 W. 23rd St @ 8th Ave) for a midnight screening/performance of The Rocky Horror Picture Show! Can’t make it to the diner (It’s not easy having a good time!)? No worries…just meet us in front of the theater at 11:30 PM, and catch this cult classic with your fellow TNGers!

Subcuticular skin stapling is often a frightening concept. In fact, however, it’s a procedure that’s relatively common in hospitals across the country involving small, medical-grade skin staples that are typically used to close wounds. With proper practice, knowledge, and awareness, this kind of skin stapling can be safely performed in an erotic and kinky context, too. This week’s DomSubFriends meeting hosts Slutress and Zebrianna’s well-received Skin Stapling 101 presentation:

This 101 class will help you to better utilize the sub-dermal technics of Staples. Learn “hands on” how to utilize various Stapling techniques for pain as well as pleasure. Learn how to make beautiful designs and art work with Staples and other supplies. Like Corsets, wings, flowers and more. Imaginations are encourage.

You will leave the class having both staple and been stapled (if willing). You will learn the basics of Skin Stapling play safety, supplies, usage and disposal. This is a serious type of edge play requiring a reasonable level of comfort with Staples play techniques and a good knowledge of fundamentals. The knowledge, demonstration, and practical hands-on (with instructors help) will allow you to leave feeling competent to begin practicing and refining this technique for yourself.

This Saturday, join GMSMA at the Third Annual Leather Fetish Fashion Show, a benefit event for the LGBT Center. The Fashion Show is one of GMSMA’s rare events that are open to both men and women.

The third annual Leather Fetish Fashion Show presents the best of New York’s leather fetish designers. Both male and female attire will be shown.

Erotic trampling, wherein one partner typically walks on the body of another during BDSM play, is not just pleasure isolated in a foot fetishist’s domain. Far from it, many different kinds of people enjoy the activity, such as impact play enthusiasts, people who enjoy role-playing, and many more. This Friday, you’ll have the opportunity to learn much more about this common and versatile form of play at DomSubFriends, which is hosting a presentation about trampling with Mistress Didi:

There is a fine art to trampling; not just stepping on someone. Getting the most out of trampling without damaging the tramplee or yourself is the primary focus, while creating a visually stimulating presentation for you, the tramplee and any observers to enjoy. Fine attention to organs, muscles and airways is paid with a concentration on circulation, safety signs, and weight bearing.