OPINIONS

Race Play?

by David

It's a hot topic right now and why the hell shouldn't I address it? Fuck it, let's exploit the motherfucker! It's one of those forms of play that really doesn't get mentioned often. When someone says I get off when I am called a nigger, kike, whop, honkey, mau mau, nip, garlic eater, beaner ad-infinitum, we tend to get quiet and look the other way, avert our eyes or become silent or that ever popular "ummmmmm". I've been to three classes in three years that dealt with or was about race play. The current realizations that I have about race play with respect to being an African American in a community that has few taboos came about through the recent experiences that I have had during these past three years.

Before I begin, gentle reader, I will explain that what I am about to write is going to be brutally honest and non-politically correct.

To preface what I am about to say, this essay is the result of a series of personal experiences, conversations and various email posts that I have received within the past three months. The catalyst was an email post protesting the title of a certain event's class called "Nigger Play: Free at Last". So I looked it up, and thought initially what an interesting paradox. By looking at it in the context of certain humiliation models that are taught, humiliation can give the person receiving it a sense of empowerment and a sense of freedom. But to the layman, this is just a simple racial slur; or even, what if a new African American man or woman came onto that site and saw that class, what would he or she assume?

Overall, my first encounter with race play was three years ago. It was a surrealistic and numbing experience. The presenter was a bit concerned about how I processed what happened. I was pissed. But in that same class, a woman was objectified, for the slut that she was, a man was degraded for the sissy he was (he happened to he very big and very intimidating in stature) and a dyke was reduced to a strap on cock sucking slut that she was. That didn't bother me. But how did the other scenes affect the women, the dykes and the men? Were they feeling the same thing as I was?

Closer personal examination of the race play scene resulted in me feeling embarrassed for the individual, and how could he lower himself because it was like lowering the African American race. Bullshit! he was simply getting off on a social taboo and watching a mass mind fuck that the audience had. Never the less, I was conflicted.

How could I subject myself to watching something so debasing? It was hot, but it shouldn't be because it's wrong. Sound familiar? Well how about, I shouldn't enjoy flogging someone, but it is also socially unacceptable. They both have historical significance, they both can be seen as debasing and the both carry the same connotations of immorality and inappropriateness to a degree.

Don't dance with the devil, you can't change him, but he sure will change you. My realization was that I had been altered by that experience. My personal beliefs about self had been challenged. I had to ask myself why I was so angry about it, why did it fuck with me so much and why did I like it? Or did I just convince myself to accept it.

Location: Texas
Place: SPLF2003 (South Plains LeatherFest)

I did an interview with the person who conducted the humiliation class and I had so many questions. The summation of the interview within the boundary of that specific topic was permission. Giving or allowing you the freedom to let go and enjoy things that are taboo is a powerful paradox. That is why, women can enjoy being a slut; and people of color can get off on being called a nigger, kike, whop, honkey, mau mau, nip, garlic eater, beaner ad infinitum. It's a way of letting go of what society and history has designated right and wrong.

People who are given the authority by other people to make those judgments deem history and all of its atrocities as such. Therefore, can we unmake what has been made? Through BDSM I say yes as we are afforded small windows of time with individuals that can transcend taboos and what society and history has decided to be wrong.

Resolution:

I have resolved that I do enjoy humiliation play and many other forms of erotic role-play, it has enhanced my game as a Top. A model that I will give you is this: erotic forms of SM are physical means to bring you to a spiritually or chemically induced altered state or reality. Adding erotic role-play and humiliation makes this play three dimensional and mutually interactive as it can allow the individual to incorporate many forms of play during various settings. It allows you to explore base and primal feelings as well as those that are highly intellectualized. What woman doesn't want to be taken by that big brutish barbarian or seduced by the highly sophisticated yet cruel aristocrat? (yes I'm using a heterosexual male-female/ Top bottom hierarchy, but feel free to insert the appropriate scenario)

Oh yeah: What about this class? "Nigger Play: Free at Last"? I disagree with the title completely based on the public insensitivity of it. The bottom line, the class deals with an aspect of erotic role-play. I have also noticed that the new classes that are coming out today have these rather exotic titles such as things that go thud in the night, Oh God! Who Knew It Could Be Like This? (Spirituality and SM), King Tut's Kink: Mummification and Into the Abyss: The Spirituality of Piercing?. With these examples I can see the rationale behind the title "Nigger Play: Free at Last". Based on that rationale only though. Would I change the name, yes because it is so sensitive, would I cancel the class? Hell mother fucking no. Sometimes, saying something doesn't kill the negativity and being that it is for a BDSM event, the outside world is going to see that and it can have a negative impact on how the community is perceived. By changing it, have you censored someone's 1st amendment rights? Let's ask a few questions: will the name elicit a highly negative response from many African Americans? Does it cause a degree of uncomfortableness in or outside the medium of kink? To what degree is this class title offensive to the targeted group (even if it is not the intention of the group)? Can the class be called something else and communicate the nature of the class?

Conclusion:

There is shit out there that fucks us up, physically and emotionally. History has shown us about acts that that were atrocities against humanity. We tend to react to this by responding violently against them in order to get the point across that we are violently opposed to such egregious acts. Ironically, behind close doors and in the bedroom, what's really going on?

David M.Column