History Repeating?

James Makings, a big supporter of the Manchester Rubbermen and blogger, posted an Origin story on his A Rubber Perspective blog today that I thought was poignant and I wanted to re-post here. Not only because of its candor but also because this story is similar to mine. I think many of us rubbermen today can relate to James' story. Thanks for sharing James, and thanks for letting me repost!

A Personal Rubber Journey.

I’ve been a practising fetishist for at least 12 years now, from that time as a relatively innocent 13 year old who had just got a pair of lycra shorts for school, that for some reason gave him a rock hard boner, right up to know, a fully functioning (yeah right) 25-year-old, who is a regular on the London fetish scene, and is eagerly awaiting his first Berlin Folsom trip in September.

I was on a certain well-known fetish site at the tender age of 15, and was far too terrified to actually meet anyone (which in hindsight is a good thing as that would have been statutory rape.)  I discovered this site after 2 years of internet browsing for things that tickled my pickle. When I discovered the lycra shorts got my blood pumping, and I finally worked out why I got a stiffy every time I saw someone in a wetsuit, I saw no harm in have a little browse of google images for these particular things – I honestly don’t know how the previous generations of fetish men coped without the internet!

This in turn lead me to discovering the site http://www.wetsuitlads.co.uk/, suddenly I realised I wasn’t the only person who was into this stuff! From there I discovered a little material called rubber. I think the first time I came across it was a latex clothing site based in the US that had a particularly hot latino model (another weakness), Instantly I was hooked, I would go on the site all the time, print out the pictures and do what teen boys do. This in turn lead me to discovering Gear Fetish, Rubber Zone and of course Recon, then World Rubbermen, and thus my integration into the fetish world had begun.

Fast forward a few years to me being 18. On my 18th birthday I finally bought a premium membership to Recon, I started using Recon Chat a lot to get to know people, and I’d started to get some rubber gear of my own. Often I’d gear up when I had the house to myself and do webcam shows of me in my rubber usually with a fag hanging out of my mouth…looks like not a lot has changed except the medium I show off in! This contented me for a while, I would meet up with guys for horny sessions, and was really loving this new sexual side of me – I was never the teenage gay that fooled around with a mate at school or had a boyfriend from the Y to make out with, this was finally my sexual revolution! I had one particular playmate called Ben who I first met at that sort of time and am still in occasional contact with today, and he’s as horny as ever!

After a while, around the age of 20, I started to want to check out this fetish scene I’d heard about, The Hoist, Backstreet, Full Fetish, they all sounded like such exciting places and I wanted to experience them all! I finally got my chance when I got approached by Regulation about cutting hair for them in-store during fetish week (I’m not a hairdresser, I worked in Ann Summers at the time, but I had a mohawk I cut myself so apparently this qualified me), I declined the offer to cut hair, but asked if I could help out in-store anyway to which they said yes. I’d never even been in a proper fetish shop at the time, so I was pretty fucking nervous to say the least. After the shift had finished I got paid £50, and a £50 store voucher, which I immediately spent on a rubber vest and shorts. The guys announced they had spare ticket for Full Fetish that night and did I want to go? Obviously I did, so I rang my mum, made my excuses for staying in London, and got ready to go. I can honestly say, I have never been so scared to walk into a room in my life. It’s hard to imagine now, but walking into a fetish party as a total newbie is one of the scariest things any young gay can experience. Luckily I bumped into a few guys I’d chatted to on Recon, a few of whom I still know to this day, and for the most time had a good time. The only hairy moments for me were standing outside smoking and people pulling my codpiece off and undoing the back zip on my shorts – this horrified me! The whole blatant cruising thing was not something I had come across, which in turn lead me to avoiding the entire play area like the plague. Too be honest, this is something that has stuck with me to this day, I’m not a lover of dark rooms, and sex in clubs, I will do it occasionally, but I’m much more likely to be found at the bar or in the smoking area than in the dark rooms, especially at the big parties.

After that It took me a good 2 years, possibly even three, to go to another fetish night, and that was Gummi at the Hoist. I always went with my mate Mark, who would effectively look after me, make sure I got drunk, and then let me stay at his. Knowing Mark was great in those early days (and still is) because through him I got to know a fair few of my contemporaries, including Rob and Miles, and really start to fit in to the scene.

But still, I had never been to Rubber Reunion at Backstreet, and I had decided that seeing as I went to Gummi semi-regularly, I’d be totally fine going on my own, so I booked a hotel and off I went. Well, those that go will know that Gummi and Rubber Reunion are completely different beasts. Walking into Rubber Reunion was like walking into a local pub in a strange part of the country where everyone knows each other. The age range is typically older and I 100% felt like the new, young guy. No-one spoke to me, I just stood at the bar and drank, and drank, and drank, eventually I got chatting to a few people, most notably Bryan, who has kind of looked out for me since, (If you ask him he’ll deny this completely), but that didn’t stop me getting absolutely trashed and waking up at my hotel room, on my own, with no idea how I got there.

From then on I made it my mission to be at everything I could, when I moved up to London in 2014, I already had a pretty big gear collection, and was pretty much a regular at Gummi, so it very easily became a regular part of my life, I’ve made some great friends on the fetish scene such as Dom, Tom, and Neil, and that’s even how I met one of my best mates, and flat mate, Liam.

But recently something has felt off to me. The scene is changing and I’m not sure why or how we can stop it. A huge part of the scene is run online these days, not only with Recon, but through the Rubbermen Groups on Facebook – of which I’m a member of 3. The London Rubbermen page was revolutionary in making the London scene come alive again, some of the old guard would say perhaps it’s changed it for the worse, but largely I would say its been a good change, Miles and team have done a great job for the most part of promoting events and the group, and bringing in new guys to the scene, but recently there has even been a shift on that platform, perhaps its the contrast with the mighty Manchester Rubbermen group, which seems to be going from strength to strength.

I don’t know what it is, but our scene is dying, and I for one think that’s a terrible shame. We gays are known for our in-bitching and clique-making, but for once I think we all need to put this aside and band together for the sake of our scene. You now seem to have the old guard which refuse to go to Gummi because its “too young and chatty”, you have the Gummi regulars who value the night, and then there seems to be another set that has come up, who happily post all over the LRM page, and go to their events, but don’t actually seem to support the nights already existing. Up against behemoth events such as Hotwired and London Fetish Week, places like The Hoist and Backstreet are loosing out. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if in a year neither are open any longer, and perhaps that’s a good thing, because if we don’t have them there, perhaps we can appreciate them by missing them, and a new venue can rise up like a phoenix.

So next time you are sat there debating whether to rubber up and cruise Recon, don’t. Go to Gummi or Rubber Reunion, and meet some guys in a sleazy setting, have some real pervy sex, and you never know, there might be some young, drunk 18-year-old newbie who needs some guidance in this crazy fetish world, and you could be the guy to help him.