Fetish Ball was a wild success Saturday night, with impressive costumes, sexy games, a packed house, and about $8000 raised for the Four A's food bank to provide meals for people with AIDS. It also attracted a negative comment on the blog and a snarky poetic response.
"Fetish Ball 2010 will go down in history as the biggest fetish fund raiser ever!" writes Sarha, Ms. Alaska Leather. "Thank you to those that attended the planning meetings, participated in setup and tear down, ran game booths, walked the runway and worked so hard to make this happen."
Fetish Ball is an annual theme party hosted by the Anchorage fetish, leather and s/m community. It's not a specifically gay event, and many heterosexual people attend. Ms. Alaska Leather, one of the event organizers, is married to a man. But gay people have always been involved, it's a benefit for Four A's held at Myrna's, and the event and poster were listed with other GLBTA weekend events last Friday on the blog.
Soon after the post went live, an anonymous comment appeared:
"Fetish Ball 2010??? with a medical theme??? And those in the LGBT community wonder why they aren't openly accepted... lol!"
During the ordinance hearings last summer, Bent gained several anonymous trolls. They are attracted like moths to certain topics, such as the UA policy change and transgender issues. Posts that describe discrimination against LGBT people will often get a comment saying that we deserve whatever bad treatment we get. Some of the comments are openly hateful, like this one, for example, and these below the post.
The Fetish Ball comment isn't as hateful as those, but the string of false assumptions between gays and fetishes and the lack of acceptance or rights was more than I had time to deal with on the weekend. So I posted the comment on Bent's Facebook wall under the Fetish Ball link and waited to see how the friends would respond.
The first person easily summed up the situation:
"Everyone has fetishes. The LGBT community and allies are just more willing to embrace it instead of acting like hypocrites."
Well said. The next person responded with a poem! She's a transwoman who attended the ordinance hearings and noticed that some of the haters have a trans fetish:
The fundies sneering at me in halls,for going to the fetish balls,Are the ones behind restroom doors,who hit on me to drop my drawers.Only Baptists have asked me to,do the things that Baptists rue,to spread my legs for them to see,When all I want to do is pee.Spitting on me when I pass,Then stand behind to watch my ass,Brimstone public testimony,Then privately ask to see my pony.Sunday mornings go a-churching,Friday nights ask me for birching,For churchman insults heaped a-plenty,Hun, you're never going to get any.
She added, "I am not particularly appreciative of the behavior expressed towards me by certain orthodox individuals. Perhaps they believe that God doesn't exist if no one is looking."
SNAP! I'm glad I'm on her side.
Thanks to the FB friends for answering an ignorant blog comment with insight and creativity. And thanks to all for a great event that raised funds for a good cause.
2 comments:
I am the anonymous commenter in question. I also recently posted under Allies and Opponents in Tuesday's election and Clary: Gays = Drunks and Cheaters.
Trust me when I say, My comment was not based in hate or anything of the sort. My thought had to do with how a medical themed fetish ball relates to the desire by many in the LGBT community to be more accepted by mainstream society.
Of course people have fetishes, that's not the point. My wife and I would never ever ever attend a medical themed fetish anything. Even if it was for a cause we supported. It's all just too much. lol.
I've been thinking of creating a handle to use on your site and others. What would be a good name? Hmmm.
@ anonymous poster, so are you saying that having a fetish is cool by you, as long as it is not a medical fetish? Hmmmm? I just don't understand your line of thinking? What theme would have been more appropriate for this years fund raiser?
The Annual Fetish Ball is a cross community night of fun and acceptance. Sure it is held at the most popular gay bar in the state, but it is far from a strictly GLBT event. Many SM/Leather folks, voyeurs, body modifiers, kinksters, and swingers came out again this year, and the medical theme was a huge draw for the attendees!
One of the reasons Fetish Ball is held at Mad Myrna's is because of the acceptance that the GLBT community ooze. I should know, my name is Sarha and I am Ms. Alaska Leather 2010. I aided in the planning and plotting of this years fundraiser as I have in the past. I do not belong to the GLBT community, but I sure am accepted by them. My community, the SM/Leather community, crosses with the gay community on many levels but the two are very different. If it wasn't for the Fetish Ball a lot of people would never get a chance to see the Sm/Leather community in action. I am Happy to have allies with such open minds and accepting hearts.
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