The Changing Face of Fetish

Lately I've been often considering how the generations approach their fetishes and how they express them.  There is a huge divide between the pre-Internet and post-Internet generations in what they consider normal behavior and expression.  This is something particularly obvious to kink event planners.

Personally, I see that the numbers of people participating in different fetish events varies widely on what is being offered to what target groups, and in some cases the numbers are dropping while in others the numbers are rapidly rising. As I get more and more involved in fetish event planning, I am seeing more evidence of this and also the challenge of trying to appease to as many groups as possible. The problem is that most cities outside of Europe don't have the size of kink population that goes out in public and expresses their kinks openly to have targeted events for profit. For instance, the leather community here in Vancouver is small, the rubber community is even smaller, so in order to have a sizeable event here for these and similar communities you need to have mix many of the communities together and create a memorable event for as many people in those groups as possible with what you offer them.

There are high barriers of entry into rubber and leather lifestyles.  Many younger guys are getting into general gear that is affordable - spandex and sports gear as examples.  I think the future will show a lot more open-minded younger people taking the plunge into fetish at a much younger age, but will still have the issues of not being able to afford the dream items they yearn for. They also tend to make associations with and are comfortable with fostering relationships with others online more as on one-on-one arrangements; one of the biggest challenges with planning play/party events is that the numbers of younger guys attending these events has traditionally been low and continues to be so; to me, it seems they don't feel the need to express their kinkiness in public when they are getting what they want behind closed doors through internet hookups.

A lot of the 'old guard' kinksters out there have very rigid expectations of coverage, behaviour, and who they want so see at these events. They love being able to make associations and build relationships face-to-face...something I like as well particularly because it is what we had to do before the Internet if we were even going to get laid. Because some of the older guys are narrow in their expectations, it is a challenge to satisfy them with some planned event where you are trying to attract a younger crowd.

I don't think either group is wrong, they just do things differently. I think I tend to lean to the pre-Internet group, where you meet other guys in person, get to check out their physique, smell, mannerisms and body language in addition to also getting to know their personalities face to face and be able to determine a good match from there. I am leery about how this is arranged online; as we all know there are a lot of people that, er, exaggerate their realities there? More often than not, you don't end up getting what was ordered as advertised.

So what's an organizer supposed to do? Make the events as all-encompassing as possible or advertise and market differently to younger crowds? This is particularly important to me regarding the organizing of Rubbout 20 and 21; the big party will be in 2011 for the 20th anniversary, but what happens after that? How am I going to keep something like Rubbout going without attracting some new blood to the events and in the organization of such events? I have talked to young and old, experienced and inexperienced and have yet to come to some definite conclusions. This is something that isn't exclusive to kink party planning...I had the same issues managing bike teams in the past and trying to lure young new riders to our team at the beginning of each season. The issues were the same in that it is difficult to get young people engaged (and on the bike teams it usually involved financial incentives to get the parents on board). Is it a matter of using different methods to get the communication channels open - using Twitter and Facebook instead of traditional media like the local rags and posters? Maybe getting some of the bigger kink websites on board to advertise might be the way to do. Yes, Recon, I am talking to you...it would be great if you could sponsor your first Canadian event at Rubbout next year!

I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts...