Jessie (a top femme butch) is covered up by polyswitch Levi during Friday's IMsL auction.
International Ms. Leather Weekend
Holiday Inn on Van Ness and Pine
Review, Photos and Videos by Janine Kahn
May 2, 2008
A large pale woman in a red silk corset gyrates in the middle of the carpeted floor as another woman smacks her over and over with a single strip of leather. Bound by the neck to a padded post, the amber-haired lady dangles gracefully, legs spread apart, hands moving in almost Middle Eastern motions, closing her eyes in bliss as the whip strokes, then strikes rapidly.
Across from this scene, a handsome butch in a leather harness with an "O" ring at the back cries out as her mistress flogs her bare bottom. Beyond that, a fully clothed couple wrestles with a muzzle - eventually strapping it on the designated sub for the evening and securing her to a large black cross.
This is probably your average evening at S&M dens across North America, but this is no dimly lit dungeon. This is the basement of the Holiday Inn.
How International Ms. Leather executive producer Glenda Rider got the folks at this fine establishment to sign off on this weekend's activities is flat out amazing - I'm told it took a lot of paperwork. And a lot of crossing your fingers that IMsL attendees stick to the playspace rules, like the following, printed neatly and slipped into the conference take-home totes:
Rule #12 Blood Play (including needle play): The playspace floor is carpeted. Please bring tarps, blankets or other coverings to ensure that the carpet stays free of blood. Please bring teknicare, betadine or other anti-infective as well as band-aids or gauze as required.Rule #16 No scat water sports, breath play, open flame branding or fire play allowed. Medical branding devices which do not use an open flame may be used with prior permission from the Senior DM.
The evening started out with a press briefing on the 26th floor in a corner suite with gorgeous views of the city. In attendance were Mollena Williams of Bondage.com, blogger Fivestar of Iamfivestar.com and myself. Our gracious hosts fed us cream cheese-filled dates, crackers and candy bars and implored that we keep our coverage fair and not locked in on the edge play.
In the name of that, let's move out of the basement and into the conference room by the lobby, where most gathered at 7:30 to bid on doms, subs and switches. The atmosphere is almost like an Anime con, with old friends flowing out of tight leather dresses, squealing and hugging in the halls. The humor is pointedly S&M centric - but unlike other cons, the folks you joke with about spanking now will probably take you up on it later.
The auction starts off with Celeste, a lean lady clad in sheer black and silver chains. She's available to top straight men and women or a couple, and knows her whips and needles. She goes quickly for $350.
Up next is a famous name in the BDSM community: Japanese-German Dominatrix Midori, who offers an hour of instruction or a sadistic scene of her choice. (Brr!) All I can say is nothing is hotter than an intelligent lady with a wicked sense of humor. Last year's safeword was "George Bush." This year's is "I'm a registered Republican." Watch Midori's auction here:
Over a dozen were auctioned off at the end of night (with the proceeds going to the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund among others). We'll run a slideshow featuring those fine folk and their creative safewords on Monday and leave you with this other video highlight of the evening: A lap dance one auctionee gave in the name of selling the goods. . .
Critic's Notebook:
Personal Bias: Wish we could have seen some rope play ala the SF Fetish Ball.
Random Detail: The cute packets of lube in the giveaway bag were a nice touch.
By the way: The night ended with a uniforms party that served real military rations - 'twas quite a trip.
