IML Has Serious Problems…
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24 May 2009 | 15 Comments
<rant>
I just sat through the IML (International Mr. Leather) contest and I was shocked and really pretty saddened… A few big issues popped out at me…
First, IML is fucking racist. A “judge emmeritus” was announcing the top 20 finalists and what did he say before announcing the 20th finalist? Something like “I hear there’s a movement in Asia and next year we’ll be having Mr. Eggroll Leather and Mr. Sushi Leather”. And the really sad part was most guys in the audience laughed along with it. A few of us booed him. There was no apology, no correction of his statement, everyone just went along with it. And the really scary thing was he travels around the nation judging leather contests, so he’s still VERY influential in the process of someone becoming IML.
Then during the final entertainment segment they had with the puppet Madame With An E (the one who used to be on Hollywood Squares), she made the comment about going to East India “where the people have the red dots on their head. What does that mean?… [long pause] Coffee’s Ready!!!” (laughter).
How in the hell do they manage to have two major racist comments in one program? It’s fucking shameful. And on top of everything else everyone kept talking about being “inclusive”, but it turns out “inclusive” means bringing people like the tennis shoe and sports kit fetishists in under the fetish umbrella. True, IML 30 (’08) was Latino, but there were shamefully few minorities as contestants, and of the 20 finalists the darkest person they had up there was a very well Americanized Arab.
On top of that they’re completely hypocritical on barebacking and HIV… For starters, IML makes money off bareback porn. In their leather mart they had Dick Wadd Fetish, Treasure Island Media, Spunk Video, Helix Studios, and LeatherMatch.com (an offshoot of BarebackRT) – and those are just the ones I can remember.
Then there’s all the bareback sex parties in the host hotel. I’d say more people are at IML for barebacking than are there for BDSM. IML is a bareback event… There was even a conversion party schedule in the hotel (though it fell through). I mean honestly, how many of the attendees get infected each year? I’d be surprised if it w
Oh, and best yet – the guy who won IML this year announced in his speech that he found out he was poz this year. While I can’t say for sure, I’d bet money he got HIV from being a willing bareback bottom – the numbers are on my side on that bet.
Yet IML’s founder, Chuck Renslow, gives this big long speech about how horrible barebacking is. It was noteworthy that no one applauded any of his comments, but at the end he had everyone stand up who had lost someone close to them to HIV. This is how he was trying to show support for his cause. I stood up ’cause I had lost a boyfriend to AIDS in ’95, but did he honestly think someone like rawTOP standing up in anyway supported what he was saying? His message was to support yet another “just say no” sorta campaign. It was so out of touch with reality it was sad (and irritating).
And lastly, they fail miserablably with bringing people into the leather community. They had a hotel full of guys into barebacking who know very little about what it means to be a leatherman, yet there was zero outreach to them. There were no educational seminars, no organized activities for guys who are leather curious. Most of that group think leather is a fashion statement. Guys would come to my room and I’d ask them if they wanted to get into bondage or flogging and they’d look at me like I was crazy – they just wanted vanilla fucking. Yet many of those same guys genuinely understand sexual submissiveness (and for the tops, sexual dominance). It’s easy to teach a bareback bottom about bondage or flogging or being a puppy – it’s an easy sell ’cause mentally they’re most of the way there already. And the concept that sex can be about power and control isn’t alien to barebackers either.
Let me put this bluntly. The “just say no” program Chuck Renslow told everyone to support isn’t going to do squat. What might have an impact is to reach out to barebackers and bring them into the leather community (much of the leather community are barebackers to start with), and then teach barebackers about caring for each other – which is one thing the leather community is good at (if you can get included in the first place).
</rant>
OK, that’s all the negative shit. On the positive side it was clear there’s a bit of a war going on in the leather / BDSM community. Many of the contestants speeeches were about the divide between “the old guard” and “the new guard” and quite a few others mentioned “inclusion” but almost no one defined that term. Put simply, the new guard is going to win through attrition. I hope they’ll be a bit smarter than the old guard. But honestly, with that many people laughing at racist comments and jokes I may hope, but I can’t say I’m hopeful.
It’s great that you’re confronting and annoyed by the racism and hypocrisy you witnessed at IML – the more people who do, the less we might have these things occur. I should point out that you have blogged about wanting to indulge in racist fantasies, and have made repeated comments of black men tasting a certain way, or someone tasting like a black guy – which is exactly what?
Racism and stereotypes happen on a variety of levels and people aren’t always conscious of them. While the blatant comment at IML might seem really awful, you might look at your own comments. On some level, they can perpetuate stereotypes and behaviors as well.
Simple solution: Don’t go to IML and stay home, instead.
The points you make are reasons I don’t go to IML. I’ve never been “trained” on leather/BDSM, yet I am a barebacker. Had they had some sort of “outreach” or “training”, I would have been much more likely to attend.
That’s fucking lame. I can’t imagine how they got away with overtly racist statements… that weren’t even funny! I have a pretty keen sense of humour, and in a way I think everything’s game so long as it’s good natured, you can take what you give, and it’s FUNNY.
But, honestly… Mr. Sushi Leather? Coffee’s ready? I’m not sure if I’m more offended that the comments were racist or that they were blatantly unfunny. Each is a travesty. lol
I’ve got a few gay Asian friends who have mentioned to me how the gay community tends to be somewhat racist, and I honestly didn’t pick up on it before they pointed it out to me.
Stupid.
The racist statements wouldn’t have been made if (1) they didn’t think they’d be positively received and (2) if they thought what they were saying was hurtful.
The fact of the matter is, we, as homosexuals, are members of a minority group. If we’re offended when some talking-head on TV refers to the gay community in a hateful/ignorant/phobic manner (even if it’s disguised as a jest), we should be equally offended when someone tries to get a cheap laugh at the expense of someone’s race.
Society on the whole finds the racist behaviour harmless and acceptable (consider the number of successful stand-up comedians and talk-radio personalities regularly bait their audience with racist comments), so the gay community, basically just “going with the flow”, tolerates, accepts, and, through their silence, condones this behavior.
If we, as a community, genuinely want progress on a civil-rights level (and that is just one example) we really should be more conscious of this sort of thing.
How many non-white guys were in the crowd at IML? and specifically, how many Asians? I think you’ll find racism in those circles begins well before an idiotic MC.
Personally I find it obscene that something as personal as sex – and especially kinky sex, which should be all about exploring individual desires and inclinations – has become so regimented. Let me remind you at the core of IML is a BEAUTY CONTEST, complete with runners-up, side competitions etc – all without a hint of irony. As if we really needed more hierarchies. Oh you won Mr Bootlick Oklahoma 2007! awesome! How the fuck can something based on such premises be ‘inclusive’ I have no idea.
And the obsession of categorizing every sex act… I’m a Boy, he’s a Sir, we like puppy play and gut-punching but not mummification – yes let’s go ahead and trademark everything so people can buy off the shelf and no longer have to explore for themselves.
I think there are two things at work here: corporate mentality and the fact that a lot of people are insecure and/or just not very imaginative. The second is probably a human thing, but I get the feeling the first is more American. it’s probably not a chance that these contests are mainly a US thing.
I agree with everything you have stated except one thing: That the current IML was “a willing bareback bottom.” Unless you know that for a fact, why are you putting that out there? Do you know his full story? Do you know how he was infected? If not, why make the statement? You seem intelligent, so you know there are those that will read this statement and take it as a truth. Did you ask him? Or are you being stereotypical and perpetuating the myth that anyone into the leather scene or BDSM that is positive must have been infected as a “willing bareback bottom?” How is that comment helping anyone?
I agree that words can hurt a community, but sometimes we need to look at our own words as well. You make such an excellent arguement, but that one comment truly hurts the credibility of your entire post, because you are now guilty of the very thing you are speaking against.
Food for thought. . . .
The multi-layered irony in the post and responses is delicious.
*applauds*
I have to say your blog is a keeper. It’s on my secret reading list, lol.
I love TIM and bareback! Fuck condoms!
I’m still a neg despite of the recent HIV scare here in Manila.
We all die… I’d rather die happy 🙂