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This essay and all site contents Copyright L. Goodwin 1990 -2001
Who are we? We are women and men who have discovered that our fantasies of erotic domination do not have to remain as fantasies, but in fact can be fruitfully expressed and acted out. We are women and men who sense that love and sex do not have to be boring and predicable, scary and confusing, but can be controlled and shaped to our liking.
Domination and submission are facts of life for every creature from lizards on up, so what is the mystery? Every person has both dominant and submissive impulses. This is normal. What is not normal, what makes humans special of all the creatures on the earth, is that we can creatively choose and imaginatively act out whichever of these impulses we are feeling. It is normal for a human to feel dominant under some circumstances and submissive at other times. It is normal for a person to feel dominant toward some people and submissive toward others. It is also normal to feel dominant or submissive at different times toward the same person.
Scientists have only theorized about how sexual preferences are formed and crystallized. All that is known for sure is that certain percentages prefer certain activities. That's it! You can say that the majority are probably more right than the minorities, but that's not necessarily true. Sometimes the majority is wrong. The majority used to believe that the world was flat, but no one holds that belief now. Why? Because evidence against the belief overwhelmed the non-evidence in favor of it, until anyone that did not accept the truth was at least shamed into silence.
This same process is taking place now in regards to dominance enthusiasts. In times past, women and men who enjoyed bondage and discipline, erotic "torture," and related fetishes were classified with the criminals and the insane. In other words, it was said that there was something seriously wrong with us. We were sinful or sick. Did we need punishment or therapy? The controversy raged on and on, and all the while none of these self-styled "experts" thought to ask us what we thought (because what we thought did not matter).
The Blacks fought back against this kind of thing and inspired Gays to fight back, which inspired Leatherfolk, who are also fighting back, and winning.
We are winning power and freedom. We are pushing back and demonstrating that Leatherfolk are good people who are as deserving as anyone of life's joys.
The best cure for that chronic longing for action is to get some. We are the solution to our problems! When Leatherfolk get together and create friendships and love affairs we prove our enemies wrong, and at the same time relieve our loneliness and shame.
People play with bondage and discipline because it's fun, and it feels good. That is why people do it. When dominance practitioners turn away from the naysayers and turn to each other instead, we find comfort, encouragement, and a wellspring of pleasure. That is why we form groups like this.
Join Alt.com - largest BDSM/Alternative Lifestyle Personals!
This essay and all site contents Copyright L. Goodwin 1990 -2001