Ever wonder what was it like to be a leatherman way back when?
Before Metalbond’s blog.
Before Grindr.
Before text messaging.
Before Recon.
Before Leather Navigator.
Before AOL chat rooms.
Before IML.
Before the Black Party.
Before the Internet.
Before AIDS.
Before the Village People.
Before Drummer magazine.
Before Stonewall.
Believe it or not, there really were gay Masters and slaves before all of these things — a vibrant leather scene with defined values that included things like respect, honesty, integrity, responsibility and loyalty. You could not just walk into a shop with a credit card and emerge an hour later with leather pants and a harness — you had to EARN these things.
Are you curious about how things used to be? You can catch a good glimpse of the “Old Guard” in a book. Yes, a BOOK, it’s what you hold in your hands, turn the pages and READ. It’s called The Slave Journals, and it is by Thom Magister.
Published by Perfectbound Press, it includes 17 erotic stories written from the perspective of different Masters from the 1950s onward to 1980. It’s also got some fantastic illustrations by the author.
It’s available at Amazon.com by clicking here
Metal, thanks so much for recommending this book, which I was privileged to publish! Thom Magister (yeah, it’s a pseudonym, but he has a “vanilla” business he needs to protect) is one of my oldest friends, in both senses, and he’s the real deal. He got into the scene in L.A. back in the 1950s when he was only 19 — he met a well-connected masochist who picked him to be the man’s Master and sent him to a series of Topmen to train in various specialties, from bondage to flogging to cutting (all this is described in detail in Thom’s often-cited essay, “One Among Many,” in Mark Thompson’s great anthology LEATHERFOLK). Thom later moved back to New York City, where he was born, and also visited San Francisco frequently, cutting a wide swath in the gay leather scene in all three cities. In THE SLAVE JOURNALS (the cover pic is of Thom in his 30s), the title story is a novella from the slave’s perspective, a fantasy about a Master/slave leathermen’s club in NYC in the 1950s. The rest of the stories are all from the perspectives of different Masters from the 1950s to 1980; some are based on Thom’s own experiences, some on those of his friends or rivals. It’s all fascinating, hot, and thought-provoking about the way the scene developed over those decades. The six sexy illustrations are by Thom also; he’s an artist whose erotic work has been published in several skin mags. I hope the readers of your great blog check out THE SLAVE JOURNALS! It’s available as an ebook from Amazon, BN.com, and iTunes as well as a print book from Amazon and BN.com.
My great uncle escaped my great grand father’s intention to commit him to an insane asylum because he was a homosexual. He was turned into the pastor of a Danish Lutheran Church by a lover that he tied up and had sex with.
Needless to say, my great uncle was the dirty little secret in the family. I only learned about 18 years ago, two years after I came out to them. My Aunt gave me his phone number and address and I immediately started to correspond with him. I eventually had the priviledge of spending time with him.
He was on of those men in the late forties and fifties who road thier Harley and Indians up and down the state of California. They were the leather clad rebels that terrified the towns folk whenever they rode together. He was also a slave and eventually a Master at a time when they had to hide in dark allies and hide being gay.
He said the being a leatherman in those days was more sacred. Being outcast and engaging in BD/SM had more meaning because you had to work to find your way into it. There was an initiation that was degrading and painful. The men who initiated you swore an oath to esch other and most of them remained “family” throughout thier lives. They formed what were essentially secret societies.
I came out at about the time mental health professions began to lift the stima from being gay and BDSM. Being a member of a club was more mysterious and private. The feeling of being “perverse” felt exciting. That sense of excitment is gone now. Our life style is publisized in the media and people enter it with very few long term ramifications. In a way, they are lucky but my great uncle painted a picture of leather life that really meant something. Today, it’s just another choice on the menu of life. Instead of experimenting we can go to seminars and workshops to learn to play. I sort of envied my great uncle.
Yes it’s true it’s easier to get the gear nowadays but I don’t believe it’s dying as much as you think. There are many out there that I have come across who would love to live a Master/slave lifestyle but I think that the apps on the phones with easy sex have a lot to do with it. Often guys don’t spend any time to talk to someone and find out if they want a real BDSM lifestyle. I am different in my use of the apps in that I talk to people and can quickly determine the guys who are just into the fantasy of BDSM for play v the guys who are open to the real thing with the right Master as we all have different things we like and things we are not into. The difference in the bar setting you can visually see how the Master is treating those around him and if your interested to find out more. Then you engage with someone and find out some more details and you make a choice to submit or not. Nowadays people think a guy is a Master if he calls himself that, sorry but that’s not a Master just some arrogant man to me. A Master can command respect but also you know by the way he is doing things you are in safe hands even though he may push you in ways you never thought possible as he connected with his slave to push his slaves limits which did not happen overnight. There is also the aftercare at the end of training you slave where he learns he has done a good job and in what areas he will be required to improve. There is a right way to do things for some they need a firm hand to help them accept there place for others it can be a more gentle approach in the beginning to allow them feel safe to let go of their inhibitions and be trained in the ways of serving it’s Master in ways it never thought possible. I have found many guys who have submitted with very different personalities who would never have done the things I got them to do for others. It came from a balance of knowing when to push these boys in ways they would not have done for others. So I ask you to consider we have evolved and think more about what we are getting into with open dialogue and if the situation is right there are guys who will submit if the right circumstances are there for it to happen. So don’t blame others for what you have not shown to others to be possible. I firmly believe there are plenty of slaves out there with true values looking to serve but haven’t found the right Master they felt they could let their guard down for such a life.
Ask yourself what am I offering as a Master to a potential slave and does he match up with what your seeking is it just sex or are you seeking more, be clear in what your offering.
And likewise to the slave be clear what you can give the Master if he invests time in you, don’t be hiding things and after a few sessions feel guilty and tell him as you’ve wasted his time and he would have every right to drop you like a sack of spuds as you can’t give what he sought.