The Eulenspiegel Society, also known as TES, is the first BDSM organization founded in the United States. [1] It was founded in 1971 and based in New York City. [2] [3]
The Eulenspiegel Society, also known as TES, is the first BDSM organization founded in the United States. [1] It was founded in 1971 and based in New York City. [2] [3]
The Eulenspiegel Society was the first BDSM organization founded in the United States. [1] It was founded in 1971 in New York City by Pat Bond, a music teacher, and Fran Nowve, as an informal association and support group for masochists; sadists joined shortly after in that same year. [4]
Bond placed an ad in Screw magazine in December 1970, reading: [5]
"Masochist? Happy? Is it curable? Does psychiatry help? Is a satisfactory life-style possible? There’s women’s lib, black lib, gay lib, etc. Isn’t it time we put something together?"
The ad also ran in the East Village Other . Fran Nowve, using the name Terry Kolb, was the first person to answer the ad. [4] She and Bond began The Eulenspiegel Society in 1971, and Nowve came up with its name. [4]
In August 1971, The Eulenspiegel Society's members voted to include sadists in the organization. [4] The Eulenspiegel Society originally met in members' homes, and then met in rented space in theaters and churches. The organization was an active part of the 1970s sexual revolution, as well as LGBT activism, including marching in New York City Pride Parades beginning in the early 1970s. The organization also launched Prometheus, [6] a decades-long-running magazine, in the early 1970s, exploring issues important to kinksters, ranging from advice columns and personal ads, to erotica and art, to conversation about the philosophy of consensual kink. The magazine now exists online.
From 1973 until he died in 1983, Jack Jackson, a black leatherman, was the first president of The Eulenspiegel Society; to “signal that he was forever one with the title”, The Eulenspiegel Society has not had a president since, leaving him as its only one. He was inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame in 2021. [7] [8]
In 1992, The Eulenspiegel Society's cofounder Pat Bond received the Steve Maidhof Award for National or International Work from the National Leather Association International. [9] [4]
In 1993, Leather Pride Night by The Eulenspiegel Society, Excelsior MC, GMS/MA, LSM, and NLA: Metro New York received the Large Event of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards. [10]
In 1994, Barbara Nitke attended her first meeting of The Eulenspiegel Society to see a presentation by underground photographer Charles Gatewood. The couples she met in the SM scene fascinated her, and she began photographing them in 1994. They became the focus of her book, Kiss of Fire: A Romantic View of Sadomasochism (2003). It was among the first mainstream publications to examine the subject of BDSM. [11]
In 1996, The Eulenspiegel Society hosted the first large BDSM convention, in celebration of its 25th anniversary. This event was so well attended that the organization took over two large clubs (Hellfire Club and The Vault) as well as a disco which was converted into a club. Over 1,300 people attended. This event inspired other leather organizations to hold annual conventions as well. In 1997, this event received the Large Event of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards. [10]
The Eulenspiegel Society was one of the founding coalition partners of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, which was founded in 1997. [12]
In 1999, Gary Switch posted to The Eulenspiegel Society's USENET list "TES-Friends" proposing the term RACK (Risk-aware consensual kink) out of a desire to form a more accurate portrayal of the type of play that many engage in. Noting that nothing is truly 100% safe, not even crossing the street, Switch compared BDSM to the sport of mountain climbing. In both, risk is an essential part of the thrill, and that risk is minimized through study, training, technique, and practice. [13]
In 2002, The Eulenspiegel Society reorganized as "The TES Association." It retains rights to its original name and historical intellectual property.
In 2003, TES received the Large Club of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards. [10]
In 2011, TES was inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame (under the name Eulenspiegel Society). [14]
In 2015, Bond and Nowvve (the latter under the name Terry Kolb) were inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame. [14]
TES (pronounced "Tess,") is an entirely volunteer-run nonprofit organization, including an elected board of directors. It "promotes sexual liberation for all adults, especially for people who enjoy consensual S/M". It regards sexual liberation as a prerequisite for a "truly free" society and it is particularly concerned about the freedom of sexual minorities such as the BDSM community.
TES generally holds two classes each week (over 100 a year) in New York City, both general meetings, and ones hosted by special interest groups, ranging from bondage to a meet-ups for novices interested in alternative sexualities. In 1996, TES hosted the first large BDSM convention, in celebration of its 25th anniversary. This event was so well attended that the organization took over two large clubs (Hellfire Club and The Vault) as well as a disco which was converted into a club. Over 1,300 people attended. This event inspired other leather organizations to hold annual conventions as well. It also hosts frequent social events, including parties. [15] Membership includes discounts at participating stores and clubs. It also supports AIDS prevention education and organizations such as the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) and the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, for which TES is a founding coalition partner. [16]
The Eulenspiegel Society took its name from Till Eulenspiegel, a character described as a "foolish yet clever lad" in medieval German folklore. It changed its legal name to "The TES Association" in 2002, although it still uses and is widely known by the original name. The original name, which cofounder Fran Nowve came up with, [4] was inspired by a passage from Austrian psychoanalyst Theodor Reik's Masochism in Modern Man (1941), [2] in which he argues that patients who engage in self-punishing or provocative behavior do so in order to demonstrate their emotional fortitude, induce guilt in others, and achieve a sense of "victory through defeat". Reik describes Till Eulenspiegel's "peculiar" behavior—he enjoys walking uphill, and feels "dejected" walking downhill—and compares it to a "paradox reminiscent of masochism", because Till Eulenspiegel "gladly submits to discomfort, enjoys it, even transforms it into pleasure". [17]
BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged in by people who do not consider themselves to be practising BDSM, inclusion in the BDSM community or subculture often is said to depend on self-identification and shared experience.
Leather subculture denotes practices and styles of dress organized around sexual activities that involve leather garments, such as leather jackets, vests, boots, chaps, harnesses, or other items. Wearing leather garments is one way that participants in this culture self-consciously distinguish themselves from mainstream sexual cultures. Many participants associate leather culture with BDSM practices and its many subcultures. For some, black leather clothing is an erotic fashion that expresses heightened masculinity or the appropriation of sexual power; love of motorcycles, motorcycle clubs and independence; and/or engagement in sexual kink or leather fetishism.
Risk-aware consensual kink is an acronym used by some of the BDSM community to describe a philosophical view that is generally permissive of certain risky sexual behaviors, as long as the participants are fully aware of the risks. This is often viewed in contrast to safe, sane, and consensual which generally holds that only activities that are considered safe, sane, and consensual are permitted.
Sadomasochism is the giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation. Practitioners of sadomasochism may seek sexual pleasure from their acts. While the terms sadist and masochist refer respectively to one who enjoys giving and receiving pain, some practitioners of sadomasochism may switch between activity and passivity.
The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF) is an American sex-positive advocacy and educational organization founded in 1997. NCSF has over one hundred coalition partners, and over sixty supporting members. NCSF advocates on behalf of adults involved in alternative lifestyles with respect to sexuality and relationship composition, specifically for tolerance and non-discrimination of those so identified, as well as education for adults involved in such lifestyles. The organization's main office is in Baltimore, Maryland.
Samois was a lesbian-feminist BDSM organization based in San Francisco that existed from 1978 to 1983. It was the first lesbian BDSM group in the United States. It took its name from Samois-sur-Seine, the location of the fictional estate of Anne-Marie, a lesbian dominatrix character in Story of O, who pierces and brands O. The co-founders were writer Pat Califia, who identified as a lesbian at the time, Gayle Rubin, and sixteen others.
The Society of Janus is the second BDSM organization founded in the United States and is a San Francisco, California based BDSM education and support group.
Gloria Brame is an American sexologist, writer and sex therapist based in Athens, Georgia. She is a member of the American College of Sexologists, and clinical sexologist. Her sex therapy practice specializes in consensual BDSM, sexual fetishism and sexual dysfunction.
This glossary of BDSM terms defines terms commonly used in the BDSM community.
Dominance and submission is a set of behaviors, customs, and rituals involving the submission of one person to another in an erotic episode or lifestyle. It is a subset of BDSM. This form of sexual contact and pleasure has been shown to please a minority of people.
Harvey John "Jack" McGeorge II was a Marine, a Secret Service Specialist, and a munitions analyst for the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), as well as being a frequently recognized regional leader for BDSM advocacy and education.
Theodor Reik was a psychoanalyst who trained as one of Freud's first students in Vienna, Austria, and was a pioneer of lay analysis in the United States.
Black Rose is a pansexual educational and support group for the BDSM community in the Washington, D.C. area. It was founded in June 1987, was the center of the local BDSM community for almost 20 years, and continues to this day. Jack McGeorge was one of its founders.
The Lesbian Sex Mafia (LSM) is an information and support group for bisexual women and lesbians interested in sexual activities involving BDSM, fetishes, costumes, etc. Founded in 1981 by Jo Arnone and Dorothy Allison, it is located in New York City.
Conversio Virium (CV), one of the oldest university student-run BDSM education groups in the United States, is the central Columbia University student organization that represents the college's collective population who engage in consensual BDSM and related activities. CV is a not-for-profit group that advocates strongly for freedom of sexual self-expression and is particularly concerned with creating a safe and welcoming environment for young people to explore their interest in alternative sexual practices, especially consensual sexual dominance and submission (D/s). CV participates in many of New York City's sexuality community events alongside similar organizations such as The Eulenspiegel Society.
National Leather Association International (NLA-I) is a BDSM organization, based in the United States with chapters in various cities in the United States and Canada. It was founded in 1986 as the "National Leather Association" (NLA), as a national integrated organization including gay leathermen, kinky heterosexuals and bisexuals, SM lesbians and transgender sadomasochists, and representing their interests in the face of prosecutions. Adding "International" to its name in 1991, the organization staged "Living in Leather" gatherings until 2002. After a period of decline around the turn of the millennium, NLA-I has become more active again and runs a series of awards for fiction and non-fiction writing. NLA-I’s records can be found at the Leather Archives and Museum.
Guy Baldwin, M.S. is a Los Angeles-based psychotherapist, author, activist, and educator specializing in issues of particular relevance to the BDSM and leather communities. He maintains that inclusion of non-injurious elements of sadomasochism in a consenting sexuality does not itself indicate or confirm mental illness or psycho-sexual dysfunction.
Cynthia Slater (1945–1989) was the cofounder of the second BDSM organization founded in the United States, a San Francisco, California based BDSM education and support group known as the Society of Janus, which she founded with Larry Olsen in August 1974. According to the Leather Hall of Fame biography of Slater, she said of the Society of Janus,
Pat Bond, born Walter Allen Campbell was an American BDSM pioneer, known for cofounding The Eulenspiegel Society, the first BDSM organization in the United States. In 1971, as a 44-year-old working as a music teacher, Bond and Fran Nowve founded The Eulenspiegel Society in New York City as an informal association and support group for masochists; sadists joined shortly after in that same year.