Myths, lies and pathosโ€ฆ

Update 10/24/2002: There is more information on this topic, please also see my further comments…

Ok, so every now and then someone decides they aren’t getting enough attention and whips off some sort of “expose” document supposed to dispel the “lies” and so on that they think (or pretend) pervade the BDSM community.

It doesn’t matter that these “myths” are only really put forward in those documents that claim to dispel them, a little thing like facts shouldn’t get in the way of a good crusade!

This is actually a special form of newbie rant, usually designed to maximize the number of mentor groupies created. If you want to see one of the more amusing, including a dissection of it, go check out “A hit of Acid Test“.

In any case, follow the more link to see the original form of this lameness and a copy of my reply. I have no problems posting it here because I got no less than five copies of this thing from different sources today.

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Let’s take a moment and talk about reproduction permission. As this work is already widely distributed, is clearly not for profit and falls into the broad categories of “educational” or “political” speech among other reasons I feel I have a good case for “fair use” fo this content for editorial comment and satire purposes.

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The Original
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Blatant lies on the Web about BDSM, Sado-Masochism, Old Guard:
by Joseph who can be reached at ([email protected])

  1. It was started by the Roman Catholic Church
  2. It was started in an organized way (fill in a date here before 1898 or 1930)
  3. It has specific protocols that are universally and internationally known and recognized.
  4. There are “ancient” “Houses” which:

a. Have ‘histories’ going back to antiquity, back to the medieval times, back to enlightenment, renaissance, or to the Victorian era

b. Sell slaves

c. Train people

d. Teach the one ‘true’ “way”

e. Is in any way associated with “Old Guard” trainings, teachings, or history

f. Can prove they exist

g. Would consider recruiting on line if they did exist.

  1. There is only one “true” or “real” way, path, method for living the life, way of behaving for people that are “real” or “True”.
  2. All the people you meet who tell you they are Old(e) Guard are telling you the truth (if they are not gay and older than 45 years old, they ain’t what they say they are).
  3. Not ALL the people you meet with the title Grand Master or Grand Mistress are. It is very very rare that a community bestows this on someone, and, generally they are the elder and senior members of the local community.. …not some wanna-be cyber jockey.

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My reply
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Ah yeah, these things make the rounds ๐Ÿ™‚

You know, it’s odd. Almost all of these “lies” only really exist on the websites and emails that claim to debunk them. It’s almost like some people have to invent things to “fight” to feel like they are accomplishing something.

> 1. It was started by the Roman Catholic Church

Never heard it. Never saw it.

I HAVE seen some people try and use the inquisition as some sort of moral high ground to attack religious groups who may oppose BDSM. Maybe it comes from that confused parallel?

> 2. It was started in an organized way (fill in a date here before
> 1898 or 1930)

Sort of. I know of several activist groups who all claim to basically have been the “beginning” of the BDSM community.

> 3. It has specific protocols that are universally and internationally
> known and recognized.

Never really saw it. I HAVE seen (and agree with) that there are several things that are ALMOST universal ๐Ÿ™‚

> 4. There are “ancient” “Houses” which:

Haven’t really seen it – the few people I have seen use it have all been “real time” people using their supposedly superior credentials in a misguided attempt to show they are better than those “cyber jockeys” … to borrow an insulting and basically ignorant term from this very screed.

10-23-2002 Note: I was pointed at one place with some info for a claim or two and I was give the names of some others but I haven’t got any reliable information about what they may or may not claim.

> a. Have ‘histories’ going back to antiquity, back to the
> medieval times, back to enlightenment, renaissance, or to the
> Victorian era

Nope, haven’t seen anyone claim any such thing as this.

> b. Sell slaves

I know, people who have sold slaves – so I wouldn’t consider this a “myth” ๐Ÿ™‚

Or are you only discussing this in terms of (a)?

> c. Train people

Again, I know people (several ๐Ÿ™‚ ) who (c), but since I donโ€™t know any (a) I guess they donโ€™t count ๐Ÿ™‚

> d. Teach the one ‘true’ “way”

I know lots of people who claim the “one true way” about BDSM, they all seem to call it… umm… “ssc” is the term ๐Ÿ™‚ But again, not in conjunction with (a).

> e. Is in any way associated with “Old Guard” trainings,
> teachings, or history

Know some of these people, not in conjunction with (a).

> f. Can prove they exist

I know several houses that can prove they exist ๐Ÿ™‚ None with any overlap with the (a) thing again.

> g. Would consider recruiting on line if they did exist.

Funny, I would think many houses WOULD consider looking online. Lets face it, the number of even remotely service driven people is low – and if you add in the factors of looks, appropriate age for training, intelligence and other factors you are looking for a very rare person.

Why NOT allow initial contact online instead of recruiting only from the VERY few people you will run into other ways… unless you either donโ€™t understand the idea of online connections or have a problem with them ๐Ÿ™‚

(and judging from this and “cyber jockies” I am assuming the author of this missive has such a problem or lack of understanding)

> 5. There is only one “true” or “real” way, path, method for living
> the life, way of behaving for people that are “real” or “True”.

Again, I only really see this in conjunction with SSC advocates.

> 6. All the people you meet who tell you they are Old(e) Guard are
> telling you the truth (if they are not gay and older than 45 years
> old, they ain’t what they say they are).

I haven’t EVER seen or heard it. In fact, so many web pages, seminars and groups specifically spend time telling people that “old guard” stuff is usually bull I can’t even imagine that anyone thinks this is a common “myth”… unless they are trying to score points debunking it.

I believe this is commonly called a “straw man”.

> 7. Not ALL the people you meet with the title Grand Master or Grand
> Mistress are. It is very very rare that a community bestows this on
> someone, and, generally they are the elder and senior members of the
> local community.. …not some wanna-be cyber jockey.

Funny, I haven’t seen or heard of a community that feels like they can “bestow” something like this – and in fact I would think any group of people who would believe they need to confer someone a title of “Grand Mistress” in a BDSM context have significantly more problems than the “cyber jockeys” they seem to spend so much time looking down on ๐Ÿ™‚

Soulhuntre
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my site: www.soulhuntre.com
my mission: www.the-estate.com
my refuge: www.pure-submission.com
my passion: www.girl2.com
my living: www.dotpublishing.com