Do you understand what consent is? I came across this great and simple description of the concept of consent by Rockstar Dinosaur Pirate Princess – like probably most of you have in your social media channels. The description is so simple, straight forward and true to my understanding of consent, that I could not do otherwise than write a post about it.
Rockstar Dinosaur Pirate Princess‘s description reminded me again of how important the strict rules in our fetish community and at events are, and that we need to take care of each other, making sure that we all feel safe. I know, sometimes it is difficult to make sense of specific situations at especially fetish events, but when ever you are in doubt, it might just be a good idea to make sure everything is alright. Therefore, if you ever experience abusive behavior, to yourself or to others, you should, depending on the situation, you can ask directly if they are o.k. or report it to the party security staff.
If you haven’t seen Rockstar Dinosaur Pirate Princess epic blog post yet, go ahead and read it:
If you’re still struggling, just imagine instead of initiating sex, you’re making them a cup of tea.
You say “hey, would you like a cup of tea?” and they go “omg fuck yes, I would fucking LOVE a cup of tea! Thank you!*” then you know they want a cup of tea.
If you say “hey, would you like a cup of tea?” and they um and ahh and say, “I’m not really sure…” then you can make them a cup of tea or not, but be aware that they might not drink it, and if they don’t drink it then – this is the important bit – don’t make them drink it. You can’t blame them for you going to the effort of making the tea on the off-chance they wanted it; you just have to deal with them not drinking it. Just because you made it doesn’t mean you are entitled to watch them drink it.
If they say “No thank you” then don’t make them tea. At all. Don’t make them tea, don’t make them drink tea, don’t get annoyed at them for not wanting tea. They just don’t want tea, ok?
They might say “Yes please, that’s kind of you” and then when the tea arrives they actually don’t want the tea at all. Sure, that’s kind of annoying as you’ve gone to the effort of making the tea, but they remain under no obligation to drink the tea. They did want tea, now they don’t. Sometimes people change their mind in the time it takes to boil that kettle, brew the tea and add the milk. And it’s ok for people to change their mind, and you are still not entitled to watch them drink it even though you went to the trouble of making it.
If they are unconscious, don’t make them tea. Unconscious people don’t want tea and can’t answer the question “do you want tea” because they are unconscious.
Ok, maybe they were conscious when you asked them if they wanted tea, and they said yes, but in the time it took you to boil that kettle, brew the tea and add the milk they are now unconscious. You should just put the tea down, make sure the unconscious person is safe, and – this is the important bit – don’t make them drink the tea. They said yes then, sure, but unconscious people don’t want tea.
If someone said yes to tea, started drinking it, and then passed out before they’d finished it, don’t keep on pouring it down their throat. Take the tea away and make sure they are safe. Because unconscious people don’t want tea. Trust me on this.
If someone said “yes” to tea around your house last saturday, that doesn’t mean that they want you to make them tea all the time. They don’t want you to come around unexpectedly to their place and make them tea and force them to drink it going “BUT YOU WANTED TEA LAST WEEK”, or to wake up to find you pouring tea down their throat going “BUT YOU WANTED TEA LAST NIGHT”.
Thank you Rockstar Dinosaur Pirate Princess for that fantastic metaphor. You can also find Rockstar Dinosaur Pirate Princess on Twitter or Facebook.
Tea anyone?
Calgary Rubberman posted this video of a rubber guy testing a re-breather. I must agree with Rubberman, the sounds of this guys panic are great fun, as long as you don’t forget that breath play is edge play. Play safe!
Rubber Ron, the extraordinary latex spotter on |R|ubberist.net just posted another news article about a man’s life cut short by suffocation while in heavy rubber.
The death appears to be a result of suffocation, which was possibly brought on by the use of poppers. Sadly (or typically!) the Sun can’t resist labeling the unfortunate man an “oddball,” which probably isn’t a lot of comfort to his surviving loved ones.
What a nightmare scenario, and what a sad, unnecessary end to a young man’s life, another death as a result of unsupervised solo play and drugs! What saddens me even more is this man lived not so far from one of the fetish epicenters of the world with club nights happening nearly every weekend devoted to latex play. It just seems like a horrid risk to take, and reading these scary stories always makes me immediately fearful for my own husband, who I’m sure has spent the odd night fully encased in rubber when his wife’s out of town.
Please, be careful, friends!
