The Sentinel
by Kathleen Stubbs
While sitting through City Council meetings might be described as torture, in the City of Takoma Park, that description has taken on a new meaning.
Last November, in the same room Takoma Park City Council meetings take place, sociologist and Gallaudet University associate professor Julie Fennell presented a detailed lecture about bondage, domination, sadism and masochism (BDSM), which included live demonstrations of rope bondage.
The lecture and demonstration were also taped and are on the city’s YouTube site. The extended version of Fennell’s lecture and demonstration, lasting more than two hours, is the third-most popular video hosted by Takoma Park City TV, with more than 5,000 views as of Monday. An interview with author Rachel Renee Russell and her humorous children’s book series Dork Diaries (20,793 views) places first and has been on the YouTube site for about a year. A video called “Great Big Book Club,” a discussion of James Joyce’s “Ulysses” (14,511 views) comes in second and has been on the YouTube site for about two years.
“(There’s a) long , really rich history that’s really obvious when you delve into things and realize how many people in the Takoma Park area are involved in the kink scene,” Fennell said.
Takoma Park paid a total of $350 for the lecture and for the production of the video, according to the community development coordinator and TV production manager.
Rosalind Grigsby, City development coordinator for Takoma Park, said the City paid Fennell $100 to lecture at the Takoma Park Community Center.
“(I’m) disappointed that we were using taxpayer resources for a program like that,” said Council member Terry Seamens (Ward 4), who said he was unaware of the lecture before a reporter brought it to his attention.
Takoma Park TV Production Manager Alvaro Calabia said the cost of producing the program was the hourly pay of city employees, a total of about $250. He said funding from City taxes covered the cost.
Calabia said the program last aired on Takoma Park Televison Aug. 18 at 10 p.m., as well as May 12 at 10:35 p.m. and June 10 at 10:45 p.m. He said the program aired on television 21 times.
The video in both a short and extended version has been available on YouTube since February.
The Takoma Park Arts and Humanities Commission selected Fennell as part of their lecture series after she applied and, according to members of the commission, they appreciated her academic standing.
Fennell said she applied to lecture for the city because it was an opportunity she had never seen before: to present an academic lecture to a general audience.
Only people 17 and older could attend Fennell’s lecture in person, but the video is available online without restriction.
In the six months the BDSM lecture has been on the YouTube channel, people viewed it 5,062 times as of Monday.
In addition to the lecture, Fennell also introduced two people on the videotape she called “kinksters” who demonstrated sophisticated rope bondage.
She requested audience members donate $10 to the performers as people in the field of BDSM don’t tend to make much money.
The second demonstration of rope bondage featured Fennell and another man, Brandon Neil. Outside her role as a professor, Fennell practices in being a “rope bottom” or the person who is tied up in BDSM.
Alvaro Calabia, Takoma Park City TV production manager, said he hesitated at first to produce the lecture and demonstration.
“It changed my perspective,” Calabia said. “I didn’t know much about it; whatever little I knew I would (have guessed) it was pornographic but… (I learned) it’s another type of performance art.”
Fennell said she saw her lecture in Takoma Park as a form of debriefing subjects after observing people in the D.C. area in her sociology research and sharing her findings with them.
“(The) bondage performances that people did (who) were completely clothed – I really don’t see a difference between clothed bondage performance or frankly a lot of Olympic sports, (such as) ice skating (or ballroom dancing),” Fennell said. …