Louisville is known to the public for many things - the Louisville Slugger Museum and factory, The Belle of Louisville, Actors Theater, the first hand transplant in the US, Muhammad Ali and of course the Derby Festival leading up to the "Greatest Two Minutes in Sports", the Kentucky Derby. Louisville is not, however, widely known by the public for its kink scene. While it's not as hard to get info on local munches and parties as it was even just five years ago, it still takes looking in the right places. This discovery, however, may very well put the local scene on the map!
I will admit that when I read the first article on this discovery on the WHAS11 website, I was a bit put off. As is all too common in the mainstream media, it was initially described as a "sex club", and portrayed as something dark, sinister and borderline evil. The words "torture chamber" were used more than once, even though the people who were there when it was a functioning club were probably enjoying themselves thoroughly. It was described by one of the people who discovered it as "the weirdest thing I've ever found" and "very disturbing". Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion, however those words used to describe something form the history of Louisville's kink scene still made me cringe.
Knowing how passionately I can react to things like this, and how people in this part of the country tend to react to "abnormal sexuality", I told myself I wasn't going to read anything more that was posted about this, that I was going to ignore the constant appearance of this in my FB news feed. Finally today, my curiosity got the better of me and I revisited the original article, where I was pleased to find two more articles on the subject. One was very short, mostly serving to announce that the word "LATEX" that had been discovered painted on one wall was presumed to be the name of the club, and to share more photos taken of the inside after crews had managed to stabilize the building. It was the one linked to from that article that made my day, even if the title "50 Shade of Louisville" did make me roll my eyes and groan loud enough to garner the attention of my previously sleeping cats.
I was thrilled when in the first line of the article they addressed the club as what it was - a sadomasochism club - instead of the previous title it had been given. I mean, this is a piece of kink community history here! Apparently the local community, upon seeing the initial article, rose to the occasion and set the news strait as the second paragraph of the article mentions receiving a number of emails, as well as posts to their FB and Twitter accounts. Asking WHAS to withhold his name (and understandably so), a former founding member of LATEX came forward to set the record strait. "We employed safety personnel and guards to insure nothing dangerous, non-consensual, or untoward ever took place, and to my knowledge never did." was mentioned at one point, and at another He added that the room was a private space for receptions and demonstrations but "never, ever any nudity or sex acts." I don't think I have ever been more proud of the local community. It takes guts to come forward about something like this, even after asking your name be withheld, at least in my opinion. If that little piece of information were to be leaked, it could ruin more than one life. Placing his trust in the media, a hard thing to do in this day and age, this person stepped forward and in doing so has helped to prevent the media from portraying this in the stereotypical way things like this usually are, as well as helping to insure that pieces from this discovery are preserved as the pieces of history they are. Thank you.
While among online kink related forums there are a number of folks from around here expressing their concern that this discovery will bring an influx of newbies seeking out the munches and play parties for all the wrong reasons, there is one person who has made a very good point several times over. We were all newbies once. We all had our reasons for seeking out the kink lifestyle, for attending our first munch or play party, and those reasons are as varied as the people one would meet at such an event. Yes, there is a chance that someone may see the articles and begin to investigate the local BDSM scene because in reality they are an abusive asshole looking for someone they think wont notice if it's under the guise of such a relationship. However, there is just as much a chance that someone like I once was, someone who's spent years thinking they were a freak because of their sexual and relationship preferences, someone who has spent years alone because of these feelings, will see these articles and realize that there are others out there like them. If this discovery brings even just one person to this revelation, or to an event where they find there is a whole community waiting to welcome them in, answer their questions and give their support, then all this coverage, and anything negative that comes from it, is worth it. Of course, that is just my humble opinion. Your mileage may vary.
Read the articles here: http://www.whas11.com/home/Works-crews-discover-underground-sex-club-in-Whiskey-Row-167597465.html
http://www.whas11.com/home/50-Shades-of-Louisville-Whiskey-Row-club-had-recent-history--167744715.html
In other happy news, I read a heartwarming story this morning about a dad in a small town in Germany who instead of belittling his son for wanting to wear skirts and dresses decided to stand up for him by doing the same. Since it's a short article, I've copied and pasted it below. Way to go, Mr. Pickert!
Shed A Tear & Go Call Your Dad: This Adorable Man Wears A Skirt In Solidarity With His Son
Got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? This should more than take care of it. We've basically been speechless from a disease caused by the adorable-itis superfluous bacterium since we read this story about the World's Greatest Dad (for real this time), a resident of Germany and generally the nicest guy we've ever heard of. Nils Pickert's young son likes to wears dresses, and instead of freaking out and forcing the poor kid to repress the urge, this guy decided to wear a skirt as a sign of solidarity.
It's understandable that even the most progressive of parents would be concerned about young boys cross-dressing (although for some reason the same issues don't seem to apply to female "tomboys"). After all, even if they genuinely don't mind their sons wearing dresses, painting their nails, or playing with dolls, no parent wants to see a child bullied and tormented at school. That certainly occurred to Pickert, but he quickly came around and decided that rather than make his son conform to the rules of their "very traditional" town, he would stand up for his child's rights.
And apparently it worked: Now, when kids tease him at school, Pickert's son just says, "You only don't dare to wear skirts and dresses because your dads don't dare to either." Go ahead, wipe away that tear. We won't say we told you so or anything.
It's understandable that even the most progressive of parents would be concerned about young boys cross-dressing (although for some reason the same issues don't seem to apply to female "tomboys"). After all, even if they genuinely don't mind their sons wearing dresses, painting their nails, or playing with dolls, no parent wants to see a child bullied and tormented at school. That certainly occurred to Pickert, but he quickly came around and decided that rather than make his son conform to the rules of their "very traditional" town, he would stand up for his child's rights.
And apparently it worked: Now, when kids tease him at school, Pickert's son just says, "You only don't dare to wear skirts and dresses because your dads don't dare to either." Go ahead, wipe away that tear. We won't say we told you so or anything.
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