Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Freedom.
 

Media Update – May 27, 2004

   1. Court upholds conviction in Cherry Hill dungeon case

   2. Leather report: We'll whip you into shape for one of Chicago's wildest weekends

   3. Sexual side of G.I. abuse

   4. Fetish farm: It's not what you think

   5. You wince some, you lose some in Cleveland S&M haus of pain

   1. Court upholds conviction in Cherry Hill dungeon case

   2. Leather report: We'll whip you into shape for one of Chicago's wildest weekends

   3. Sexual side of G.I. abuse

   4. Fetish farm: It's not what you think

   5. You wince some, you lose some in Cleveland S&M haus of pain

 

Court upholds conviction in Cherry Hill dungeon case

 

by staff writer

The Courier Post (New Jersey)

May 26, 2004

 

The state appellate court has upheld the conviction of a Cherry Hill couple who pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution, admitting they operated a sadomasochistic dungeon in a home.

 

Dorina Pizio, 53, and Martin Hunsinger, 57, formerly of the 1100 block of West Valleybrook Road in Cherry Hill, pleaded guilty to a third-degree charge of promoting prostitution in October 2000.

 

They were each sentenced to two years probation. They admitted they charged fees in exchange for providing sadism, masochism, bondage, domination and submission, cross-dressing and infantilism services to patrons who derived sexual pleasure from the activities.

 

[cont.]

 

To read this article, go to:

http://www.southjerseynews.com/issues/may/m052604k.htm

To respond, go to:

http://www.courierpostonline.com/about/edletter.html

Leather report:

 

We'll whip you into shape for one of Chicago's wildest weekends

by Chris LaMorte

Chicago Tribune (MetroMix section)

May 25, 2004

 

Memorial Day weekend in Chicago means three things: barbecues, parades and, of course, gay leather fetishists.

 

Among the biggest annual conventions in the city, this year's International Mr. Leather competition again promises to whip the town into a frenzy. The leather-clad will be turning heads from tony shops on Michigan Avenue to twink hangouts on Halsted Street.

 

Mr. Leather title-holder, John Pendal, gives us the scoop on the extravaganza via e-mail from his home in London.

 

Q: Tell us a little about IML.

 

Pendal: Around 60 "leathermen" from all over the world enter the contest, which lasts from Thursday through Sunday, [and appear] in front of a panel of nine judges. You're judged on leather image, stage presence, a formal interview, physique round and then the 20 finalists have to give a speech that they've written to a theater full of 3,500 people.

 

[cont.]

 

To read this article, go to:

http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/barsandclubs/mmx-040526-barsmrleather,0,1942172.story?coll=mmx-home_top_heds

To respond, go to:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/site/chi-lettertotheeditor.customform

Sexual side of G.I. abuse

 

by Dr. Judy Kuriansky

New York Daily News

May 24, 2004

 

They're called the gentler sex, but women can also become sexually aggressive – even to the point of being abusive. In light of recent charges of sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers – including some who are female – interest is keen about how anyone, much less women, can do such things. And why.

 

Pundits have explained that degrading and seemingly inhuman acts are used by some military as a way of blackmailing – called dirty recruitment – to get intelligence. But acts shown in the now-infamous prison videos – dressing men in women's clothes, putting hoods on the head and leashes around their neck, making men kneel to simulate homosexual acts – are activities that real women and men can engage in voluntarily, and for pleasure.

 

In no way do I condone abusive acts, nor do I want to equate the prison scandal with the S&M scene I'll now describe, but I do want you to know the kinds of things "regular people" really do that rings with some similarities.

 

Sadomasochism – or S&M – is a catchall phrase covering a wide range of fantasies, urges and behaviors that involve inflicting or receiving physical or psychological suffering that on one hand may be nonviolent and between consenting adults, but in the other rare extreme leads to psychopathic torture and murder.

 

The two parts of the word – sadism and masochism – are complementary: A sadist derives pleasure from psychologically and physically dominating or abusing his or her partner, even to the point of inflicting pain – forcing the victim to crawl, keeping him in a cage, making him beg for mercy, being humiliated (subjected to verbal abuse, forced to bark like a dog), blindfolding, paddling, spanking, whipping, beating, and then more extreme forms, like burning, cutting, stabbing, mutilating.

 

The masochist relishes receiving that treatment.

 

[cont.]

 

To read this article, go to:

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/196331p-169572c.html

To respond, write to: the author at DailyNewsDrJudy@aol.com or the editors at voicers@edit.nydailynews.com

Fetish farm: It's not what you think

 

by Connie Street The Muscatine Journal (Iowa) May 21, 2004

 

WILTON, Iowa – A rural Wilton man's Web site depicting a fantasy bed-and-breakfast that caters to fetishes has cranked up local rumor mills, generated complaints to police and attracted hits from around the world.

 

Online since September 2003, the site for the Country Fetish Farm, Bed & Breakfast and Fetish Retreat states that it offers a "safe, warm, and friendly environment for your fetish enjoyment."

 

The site's home page says it caters to "most fetishes with the exception of extremely dangerous and vulgar fetishes," and includes interests such as cross-dressing, bondage, domination, enemas and spanking." It does not include animals, torture, children or sexual play.

 

William Hasemann, the Web site's creator, said the site is actually "a cyber-world fantasy, not a bed and breakfast."

 

Hasemann said his site has had 97,000 hits this month from all over the world. He also receives an average of three to four e-mails and phone calls a day inquiring about the site.

 

Sgt. Mark Kopf of the Muscatine County Sheriff's Department reported a dozen complaints about the Web site within two weeks.

 

[cont.]

 

To read this article, go to:

http://www.muscatinejournal.com/articles/2004/05/22/news/news5.txt

To respond, write to: the author at ckcasey@louisacomm.net or the editors at comments@muscatinejournal.com

You wince some, you lose some in Cleveland S&M haus of pain

 

by Michael Heaton (opinion) The Cleveland Plain Dealer May 14, 2004

 

Today's column is about sadomasochistic sex practices, so this might not be the one you give to your fourth-grader for his school reading assignment. In fact, your canary might not even want it on the bottom of its cage.

 

A year ago, a cop, an editor and a guy on talk radio all mentioned the presence of dungeons in downtown Cleveland. A dungeon meaning a place where there's sadomasochistic activity for fun and profit. I had lunch with Lady Jacqueline English from a dungeon called Haus Berlin. She wants to further our sexual freedoms by bringing alternative sex practices out of the shadows.

 

She took me to her dungeon, a spacious second-floor loft on an obscure, industrial block of downtown Cleveland. The place was full of racks, stocks, crosses, cages and other torture devices. There was a locker full of whips, chains, paddles and restraining devices such as handcuffs, and hoods. One room was a doctor's office, another a locker room. They recalled every Playboy magazine cartoon with kinky sex as its subject.

 

English explained that the alternative sexual universe was wide-ranging and multifaceted. It could be as tame as a couple using a silk blindfold and as extreme as well . . . all I had to do was look around. English said the motto and mantra for the alt-sex scene is "safe, sane and consensual."

 

[cont.]

 

To read this article, go to:

http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/108452731489790.xml

To respond, write to: the author at mheaton@plaind.com or the editors at letters@plaind.com

HOW TO WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

 

Feedback letters are an effective way to convey a positive image of alternate sexual practices such as SM, swinging, or polyamory. You can help to correct negative social myths and misconceptions about these types of practices. These letters help achieve the advocacy goals of the NCSF.

 

Generally, for a letter to be published, it's important to include your name (or first initial, last name), city and daytime phone (for verification only). For more information, see:

https://ncsfreedom.org/media/writelettertoeditor.htm

 

Please alert us to positive, negative or neutral stories about SM, swinging and polyamory at media@ncsfreedom.org