Here’s a photo flashback from 1997, when I visited San Francisco as a bondage slave! I was wearing a leather collar, a pair of locking leather chastity shorts, and sporting a fresh Mohawk! We thought it would be fun to take this daring picture in front of the SF headquarters of the company I worked for at the time. This was on a weekday during business hours.
Available from Mr. S in a variety of “hanky code” colors, these masks are made from a double layer of material. The top layer is a traditional hanky pattern, while the backside is a black cotton. Wear it either way. Stylish, breathable and machine washable. Nylon/spandex ear straps keep the mask comfortably secured to your face. Look hot and be safe all at the same time!
Click for Reversible Hanky Face Mask
Note: Mr. S has announced a donation of 500 masks to local organizations in San Francisco. It’s their way of giving back to help keep everyone safe.
Click for Mr S
Bondage / BDSM gear from Mr S here
Iron restraints from Mr S here
While you’re locked down, remember that you can make your house arrest more interesting with some gear from Mr S! They are shipping orders as usual, and you can buy online.
Click for Mr S
Check out this video in which artist Hal Fischer discusses “gay signifiers” — namely keys, earrings and the hanky code — worn by gay men in 1970s San Francisco:
Hal Fischer’s work, Gay Semiotics, is a photographic study of visual coding among homosexual men.
You can see many of his photographs on the SFMOMA site.
Also visit gaysemiotics.com
Thanks to my buddy Grey for passing along this link!
For those who are in Palm Springs, LeatherSex Conversations, presented by the Desert Fetish Authority, are held the first Friday of every month. On Friday, Dec. 6, 2019, Mark I. Chester will present “Street Sex Photos and Other Perversions,” which is described by organizers as 40-plus years of images from San Francisco’s gay radical sex underground.
“Mark I. Chester’s work work is politically provocative, artistically taboo and socially conscious,” an announcement from the Desert Fetish Authority says. “In documenting his life, Mark has also documented these tumultuous times in San Francisco, giving a glimpse of the people and times that we have lived through. One focus of this presentation will be Mark’s new project, Street Sex Photos, which documents gay men being sexual on the streets of South of Market in San Francisco.”
The presentation will take place Friday, Dec. 6, 2019, from 7-9 p.m. at the LGBT Center of the Desert. It’s not to be missed, if you are in Palm Springs!
Details on the event available here.
Desert Fetish Authority official site here
I recently finished “My Leather Life: Early Years” by Peter Fiske, narrated by Thomas V. Peterson, and I can’t recommend this book enough!
It’s available for purchase on Amazon.
Peter is one of our most passionate and loving of leather elders, who is well known in gay s/m circles as an expert in flogging and whipping. For anyone interested in learning more about this topic — as well as anyone who wants to understand more in general about who we are as kinky folk and where we came from — this book is highly recommended!
Peter shares personal stories of growing up in New York City and discovering a sexual interest in bondage and spanking at a young age. He also tells of serving in the military in the segregated South and finding leather sex at a dirty movie theater in Times Square. All of this takes place pre-Stonewall! Speaking of Stonewall, Peter was also a patron of this famous bar and tells of being present at three different raids before the famous rioting took place in late June 1969.
Peter was also active in the leather scene in San Francisco, meeting many of the “old guard” leather men of the day and joining a back patch club and attending leather runs. Peter later became active in brotherhood organizations, including The 15 Association, the Chicago Hellfire Club and Delta.
“‘My Leather Life’ reads like porn, but it is my life,” Peter shared in a recent posting on Facebook.
“All of our stories matter. Mine is no different than any of my readers,” Peter continued. “I have been lucky to live at the center and to find love. If you take one thing from my book, it is that it’s in your power to live authentically and to find your love and your friends. Drag queens told me that in the 60s. Be real. You can be real too. All it takes is courage and a glad heart.”
The group picture shown in this blog posting is in the book and is also from Peter’s Facebook page. The caption states that it is from the Folsom Fair in San Francisco in September 1991 and shows, from left, Shadow Morton, Coulter “Colt’ Thomas (who was the fifth International Mr. Leather and Peter’s lover), Sky Renfro, Peter himself, and John.
I absolutely loved reading this book. I’m inspired not only by Peter’s passion for leading an authentic life but also of his stories of standing up for those being discriminated against, including men of color, drag queens and those who are transgender.
But for me the most moving passages were those in which the author describes the way he plays. When Peter flogs or whips a bottom in a leather scene, he does it as an act of love.
We should all be more like Peter.
The monthly social event of BLUF SF — Leather Lounge — is held on the patio at the SF Eagle from 9 pm to closing every second Saturday of the month. Get your gear on and join for an evening of fun in leather. See old friends or make some new ones. All are welcome. Mention BLUF at the door if you get there before 10 pm.
Official BLUF SF website here
Also find them on Facebook and Twitter
SF Eagle bar website here
In San Francisco, of course, and it’s a steal at a mere $1.88 million!
“The property is owned by a Japanese businessman who had fun creating Alcatraz-themed accommodations for Japanese tourists,” says this article.
Zillow listing here.
