The scene, a reality check? (5)

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Grimly
Posted by Grimly on Mon 12 Dec 05, 12:04 PM

I have been following the “Time To Unite Is NOW” thread I have thought a bit more about this. I decided to keep out of that thread because anything I had to say may have been seen as inflammatory for obvious reasons. I have decided to post my own thoughts here and I want to point out from the start that this is just MY opinion and also that its one that I have posted on before almost a year ago. See

http://www.informedconsent.co.uk/weblogs/Grimly/...

and

http://www.informedconsent.co.uk/weblogs/Grimly/...

The thing that we loose sight of is that when you strip everything away what we are talking about is a minority sexual kink. The Majority of the population are never going to see us other than a bunch of perverts no matter what we do. The best we could ever hope for is tolerance, never acceptance and in Scotland attitudes to anything connected with sex are still governed by a Calvinistic attitude. PR exercises are only going to draw more attention to us and may make matters worse. The Press would have a field day with us as they know sex and sexual deviancy sells papers! Any club, scene business or public event is going to carry some element of risk, My own business (Albaleather and dungeon for hire) was forced to close after being outed in the press, and I will point out here that the press got a hold of the story when the locals got wind of it and started a campaign and not because of someone in the scene. Local politicians, the church and community council all jumped on the band wagon and every paper in Scotland carried the story. No politician is going to stand up and defend us there are no votes in it and may even be seen as a vote looser. The fact that the government is looking to introduce new legislation regarding violent porn and that it is seen as a popular measure is an indication of how they see the Moral climate of the country. When it happened to me I accepted it as a hazard of running a scene related business I did not run around looking for a scapegoat or pointing the finger at anyone I just quietly moved on because I always knew it could happen.

Scene infighting is never going to end, there are too many egos, and the more open it is the more scope for trouble. When the scene was underground pre clubs and internet there was never this. The scene as it is now is only a few years old and has not yet learned how to cope with all the egos and agendas. There is a danger that we all loose sight of the bigger picture because we want it all our own way and forget we are a minority. Yes we want the freedom to do what we enjoy without harassment, but by shoving ourselves into the limelight we must be prepared to take the flack, publicity and difficulties that will be put in our path. I believe that the real split is that the Scottish scene and the English scene are seen as two entities A united UK scene would be much stronger and carry more clout. As to the idea being mooted up here in Scotland of a meeting of club owners and Munch organizers, this will be seen by some as elitist and it creates an aristocracy. I for one and I believe the majority of people in the scene just want to have fun and get their needs met and don't want leaders, The fact that there have been many posts stating that people don't want unelected committee speaking on their behalf shows this. Apart from one or two, most clubs are seen as commercial enterprises and are in competition for members and their cash. Those that do want to be leaders in the scene will be viewed by many as being on an ego trip or looking to line their pockets.

I don't know what the answer is, I never have, and properly never will or even if there is an answer. We may all in the end just have to shrug our shoulders forget or ignore the politics and get on with having fun it the best we can.

Cheers Grimly

Replies

12 Dec 05, 1:05 PM
Delta_D
4 yrs
Grimly wrote:
I have been following the “Time To Unite Is NOW” thread I have thought a bit more about this. I decided to keep out of that thread because anything I had to say may have been seen as inflammatory for obvious reasons. I have decided to post my own thoughts here and I want to point out from the start that this is just MY opinion and also that its one that I have posted on before almost a year ago. See
http://www.informedconsent.co.uk/weblogs/Grimly/...
and
http://www.informedconsent.co.uk/weblogs/Grimly/...
The thing that we loose sight of is that when you strip everything away what we are talking about is a minority sexual kink. The Majority of the population are never going to see us other than a bunch of perverts no matter what we do. The best we could ever hope for is tolerance, never acceptance and in Scotland attitudes to anything connected with sex are still governed by a Calvinistic attitude. PR exercises are only going to draw more attention to us and may make matters worse. The Press would have a field day with us as they know sex and sexual deviancy sells papers! Any club, scene business or public event is going to carry some element of risk, My own business (Albaleather and dungeon for hire) was forced to close after being outed in the press, and I will point out here that the press got a hold of the story when the locals got wind of it and started a campaign and not because of someone in the scene. Local politicians, the church and community council all jumped on the band wagon and every paper in Scotland carried the story. No politician is going to stand up and defend us there are no votes in it and may even be seen as a vote looser. The fact that the government is looking to introduce new legislation regarding violent porn and that it is seen as a popular measure is an indication of how they see the Moral climate of the country. When it happened to me I accepted it as a hazard of running a scene related business I did not run around looking for a scapegoat or pointing the finger at anyone I just quietly moved on because I always knew it could happen.
Scene infighting is never going to end, there are too many egos, and the more open it is the more scope for trouble. When the scene was underground pre clubs and internet there was never this. The scene as it is now is only a few years old and has not yet learned how to cope with all the egos and agendas. There is a danger that we all loose sight of the bigger picture because we want it all our own way and forget we are a minority. Yes we want the freedom to do what we enjoy without harassment, but by shoving ourselves into the limelight we must be prepared to take the flack, publicity and difficulties that will be put in our path. I believe that the real split is that the Scottish scene and the English scene are seen as two entities A united UK scene would be much stronger and carry more clout. As to the idea being mooted up here in Scotland of a meeting of club owners and Munch organizers, this will be seen by some as elitist and it creates an aristocracy. I for one and I believe the majority of people in the scene just want to have fun and get their needs met and don't want leaders, The fact that there have been many posts stating that people don't want unelected committee speaking on their behalf shows this. Apart from one or two, most clubs are seen as commercial enterprises and are in competition for members and their cash. Those that do want to be leaders in the scene will be viewed by many as being on an ego trip or looking to line their pockets.
I don't know what the answer is, I never have, and properly never will or even if there is an answer. We may all in the end just have to shrug our shoulders forget or ignore the politics and get on with having fun it the best we can.
Cheers Grimly

I have to say reading this makes alot of sense and I am in agreement with it.
Personally, just wish everything would just die down and allow us to pursue what is essentially for most of us a pleasant fulfilling recreation.

Inside every fat girl is a thin one screaming to escape.... feed the bitch more chocolate to keep her quiet!

12 Dec 05, 1:49 PM
bohnanza
UK(FK), 10 yrs
Y!
I am of the opinion that the meeting thing is a load of bollocks. I see it as rewarding and forgiving people for being shitbags. Almost all clubs are commercial enterprises, the owners of each club get to keep the money and decide how they spend it. Commercial enterprises close for all sorts of reasons, I didn't see many tears being shed here when Landmark Furniture Stores went bust, or C&A shut up shop.
The majority of people on IC never go to any events, the majority of people who go to events don't care about what is happening. The bickering never happens at events, it all happens online.
On a side note, in the last year two clubs up here have complained they were outed to the press, yet I have seen no mention of any stories published about them. If the press were following up stories we would have had either "Perverts hold orgies in local pub" or "Evil perverts run away because of a campaign by your family friendly newspaper". I cannot see an editor with a paper to fill missing the opportunity to look good.
http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/serial.htm#...

12 Dec 05, 9:03 PM
MmeDragon
UK, 8 yrs Well I have to say one thing... having had experience of England and Scotland... and I like this country do not get me wrong... they seem not to be as liberal over here and somewhat are behind the times. Maybe I am wrong but it is just my own personal impression. It is quirky yet extremely charming but it does take some getting used to... the country AND it's people.
Erare humanum est... To err is human....Heck, I am blonde and dizzy I needed some intellectual excuse!

12 Dec 05, 10:12 PM
Grimly
UK(IV), 8 yrs

MmeDragon wrote:
Well I have to say one thing... having had experience of England and Scotland... and I like this country do not get me wrong... they seem not to be as liberal over here and somewhat are behind the times.
Maybe yet another reason for greater integration, though the differences have a value too

I'm not just politically incorrect ….I'm politically incoherent!!!
Edited 12 Dec 05, 10:13 PM by Grimly

12 Dec 05, 10:24 PM
voodookid37
UK(DD), 4 yrs
Y!

Grimly wrote:
I have been following the “Time To Unite Is NOW” thread I have thought a bit more about this. I decided to keep out of that thread because anything I had to say may have been seen as inflammatory for obvious reasons. I have decided to post my own thoughts here and I want to point out from the start that this is just MY opinion and also that its one that I have posted on before almost a year ago. See
http://www.informedconsent.co.uk/weblogs/Grimly/...
and
http://www.informedconsent.co.uk/weblogs/Grimly/...
The thing that we loose sight of is that when you strip everything away what we are talking about is a minority sexual kink. The Majority of the population are never going to see us other than a bunch of perverts no matter what we do. The best we could ever hope for is tolerance, never acceptance and in Scotland attitudes to anything connected with sex are still governed by a Calvinistic attitude. PR exercises are only going to draw more attention to us and may make matters worse. The Press would have a field day with us as they know sex and sexual deviancy sells papers! Any club, scene business or public event is going to carry some element of risk, My own business (Albaleather and dungeon for hire) was forced to close after being outed in the press, and I will point out here that the press got a hold of the story when the locals got wind of it and started a campaign and not because of someone in the scene. Local politicians, the church and community council all jumped on the band wagon and every paper in Scotland carried the story. No politician is going to stand up and defend us there are no votes in it and may even be seen as a vote looser. The fact that the government is looking to introduce new legislation regarding violent porn and that it is seen as a popular measure is an indication of how they see the Moral climate of the country. When it happened to me I accepted it as a hazard of running a scene related business I did not run around looking for a scapegoat or pointing the finger at anyone I just quietly moved on because I always knew it could happen.
Scene infighting is never going to end, there are too many egos, and the more open it is the more scope for trouble. When the scene was underground pre clubs and internet there was never this. The scene as it is now is only a few years old and has not yet learned how to cope with all the egos and agendas. There is a danger that we all loose sight of the bigger picture because we want it all our own way and forget we are a minority. Yes we want the freedom to do what we enjoy without harassment, but by shoving ourselves into the limelight we must be prepared to take the flack, publicity and difficulties that will be put in our path. I believe that the real split is that the Scottish scene and the English scene are seen as two entities A united UK scene would be much stronger and carry more clout. As to the idea being mooted up here in Scotland of a meeting of club owners and Munch organizers, this will be seen by some as elitist and it creates an aristocracy. I for one and I believe the majority of people in the scene just want to have fun and get their needs met and don't want leaders, The fact that there have been many posts stating that people don't want unelected committee speaking on their behalf shows this. Apart from one or two, most clubs are seen as commercial enterprises and are in competition for members and their cash. Those that do want to be leaders in the scene will be viewed by many as being on an ego trip or looking to line their pockets.
I don't know what the answer is, I never have, and properly never will or even if there is an answer. We may all in the end just have to shrug our shoulders forget or ignore the politics and get on with having fun it the best we can.
Cheers Grimly

WELL SAID THAT MAN.................


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