Furries & gimp masks at Surrey Pride

[wheresmymojo]

It was Surrey's first Pride recently and yet again people with sexual fetishes are latching on.

I consider myself fairly liberal - I don't give a monkeys if people want to be Furries or wear gimp masks with their own consensual sexual partners.

But nobody is discriminated against on the basis of wearing a gimp mask in their own home

Why has this suddenly become a thing? What does it even have to do with Pride anyway?

According to 'Mr Leather Wales', "fetish is often an intrinsic quality of LGBT+ folks identities

I have as much idea as to whether my gay and lesbian friends are into fetish as they have about me.

I don't see any particular reason why fetish should be more prevalent amongst gay and lesbian people than heterosexual people.

How positive a thing is it to re teach society that LGBT people normally have fetish/exhibitionist sexual proclivities and this is something that should be openly celebrated and accepted as part of being LGBT?

It's homophobic/transphobic, and something LGB people fought against for decades that they were the same as everyone else despite a different sexual orientation. It's NOT an intrinsic part of either being gay or trans, any more than it's an intrinsic part of being Christian or disabled or black. Nothing wrong with fetish or anything else consenting adults do in private, that's the issue.

This is part of the 'queering society' agenda, and part of the mens sexual rights agenda, which is why we actually have someone in the NSPCC wanking in rubber shorts at work, taking photographs and posting it openly on social media and this is supposed to be ok and you're a bigot if you express distaste or have a problem with this . Its boundary pushing. It's all boundary pushing. With selfish disregard for the parts of society damaged by the individuals enjoying their personal freedom and the thrills of exhibitionism.

According to 'Mr Leather Wales', "fetish is often an intrinsic quality of LGBT+ folks identities

I thought that the LGBT community had been trying to distance themselves from fetish for years so this doesn't make any sense. Pretty sure loads of gay men and lesbians just lead normal lives with their partners like everyone else and don't have anything to do with the fetish community. Seems like gaslighting to me.

You can't have it both ways - it's either an adult fetish march or a family friendly march. Introducing children to fetishes is wrong on so many levels, I can't believe they even try to defend it. The more I see of this stuff the more thankful I am not to have children because how can we protect children if the police, charities and organisations are actively trying to introduce them to fetishes and transgender ideology?

how can we protect children if the police, charities and organisations are actively trying to introduce them to fetishes and transgender ideology?

We can't, and that's the end goal.

We can't, and that's the end goal.

It's all very sinister. I hope collectively the government, police and charities wake up and see what it is they are enabling.

@ohholyjesus Joanna Killian is the CEO and Tim Oliver the leader of Surrey County Council

[email protected]

this is supposed to be ok and you're a bigot if you express distaste or have a problem with this

People need to start claiming these words.

Yes, I am a bigot when it comes to people using, for example, Pride to parade their fetishes in front of children.

Yes, I am clearly transphobic, in that I don't agree with self-ID, male-bodied people competing against women in sports, coming into our spaces, etc,

Yes, I am. And I'm happy to own it.

We are being silenced by these words, and that's very much to our detriment.

I am pleasantly surprised that Rhondda Pride even attempted to make a stand. That's a first, isn't it?

Pride needs to decide what it is and who it is for.

Either invite fetishists (if you must) or invite children. Anybody who thinks it's appropriate to invite both is dangerous.

I realise the leathermen have been going for ever but it used to be just them, they used to wear far more clothes and it was never plugged as a family event.

Surrey Pride this year was also in a park with a large children's playground etc.
Next year it probably will be in a less "child centred" park.
But I think people need to decide if they want a "family friendly" event or a fetish friendly event. Both are okay but cannot be the same thing.

(Most gay parents I know wouldn't want their children at a fetish event.)

In looking for an answer to what flag the person in the photo is draped in, I came across this blog, which explains lots of different 'pride flag' designs... among them 'master/slave/ownership pride' and 'adult baby / diaper lovers pride' which features a big safety pin 🤮

clarebayley.com/2013/06/a-field-guide-to-pride-flags/

@Usingmyindoorvoice you are a diamond thank you!

Looking at their website, leathermen cymru are all over the 'pups'.

"Had the event been presented differently, perhaps as a family day or Mardi Gras, I do not think the controversy would have been so fierce."

They don't want it to be a family day.

One thing is for sure, it's not a day for lesbians or bisexual women any more (old fashioned cunty sort).

I think I'll leave them to it and enjoy the mermaids vs. fetishists shitfest while pouring scorn on anyone whose sense of boundaries is so poor they'll actually take their children.

There are loads of children and teenagers in the Surrey Pride FB video, I saw a kids shoes with rainbow laces being pushed around in a buggy. The rainbow glitter draws the kids in, they just think it's fun and colourful, and why would they think anything else. They don't know someone is acting out their sexual fetish in front of them, I hope they don't ever know, but I know and I'm not ok with this. I don't care whether it's a homosexual thing or not, it's not cool to have it at a family friendly event, but because there wasn't nudity it's law-abiding and the police can't (won't) do anything. Arrrgghhhhh

#rhonddapride makes for interesting reading.
twitter.com/search?q=%23rhonddapride&src=typd

It seems that fetish is part of Pride, and anyone who thinks that children shouldn't be exposed to adults parading their fetishes in public is a 'social conservative' and 'neopuritan'.

twitter.com/AndyGCardiff/status/1156132903715315713

I came across this blog, which explains lots of different 'pride flag' designs

So the lesbian flag was invented by a man?

It's a shame that the suffragette flag has been co-opted as the flag of the gender queer.

Look at this. They have the audacity to say that we are 'appropriating' their 'genderqueer' flag.

When the suffragette colour scheme was designed in 1908:

twitter.com/thalestral/status/1053354976955772928?lang=en

These people constantly project what they are doing onto us. Ie. they steal the colours of the women's suffrage movement, then accuse us of stealing them.

It's crazy making even having a conversation with someone who is so in denial of reality. Pure narcissistic projection and gaslighting.

Also, don't these people attend universities? Do they ever learn facts, science, history these days or do they just sit around making up new genders and flags?

AnotherAdultHumanFemale

It's all very sinister. I hope collectively the government, police and charities wake up and see what it is they are enabling.

You speak as if all those institutions aren't deliberately enacting their agendas. They're not enabling by accident, and they don't give a shit if the peasants don't like it...

You speak as if all those institutions aren't deliberately enacting their agendas. They're not enabling by accident, and they don't give a shit if the peasants don't like it...

Usually for movements to thrive you need a group of brainwashed/unaware people lead by a group of sociopaths. I think most people fall into the former category and have no idea what they are enabling. That's why the TRAs use language like 'inclusion', 'bigotry' and play the victim, because they are appealing to normal people who have empathy. The normal person responds with 'gosh how awful, of course we don't want you to be upset so of course I'll try to get you those rights you keep asking for.' They think they are part of a good cause.

It's only if you have critical thinking skills, or are familiar with the tactics of abusers, or are a lifelong feminist, a cynic etc that you start to question things for yourself and don't assume everyone has good intentions. Hence society being split into people who can see through the ideology and people who think anyone who questions it is a horrible bigot.

Pride orgs are more concerned with men expressing themselves sexually, than with normal safeguards for children.

Why can’t they at least designate a family-friendly area? And/or a designated 18+ area? Shouldn’t gay and lesbian parents be able to take their kids without seeing gimp masks?

Its clear that men who want to wear fetish gear in public have more power here than LGBT parents who don’t want their kids to see it.

This leaves only one solution: stop promoting Pride as “family friendly” and make it an 18+ event.

Wearing fetish gear is a sexual turn-on for the wearer. Wearing it in front of other people involves them in your fetish. Consenting adults - fine. Kids? No.

It seems to me that pride is about pride now, it has nothing to do with gay pride. its everything pride.
It also pisses me off that asexuals are piling in - I'm asexual myself. I'm not gay or straight I'm asexual. I am not attracted to any gender nor identify as gay, straight or pansexual so why the fuck would I want to march about in a gay pride parade with people who have fought for their rights.
I'm sick of the whole damn thing.

Interestingly madcatladyforever I noticed that asexuals on reddit pointed out how uncomfortable they were with fetish gear being at pride. They said they wanted to be part of it but probably wouldn't actually go to any events because it's all about hyper sexuality and they didn't feel welcome.

I think Pride should just be for LGB people, since they started it, its their movement. Everyone else should create their own movements, and the public can decide whether they support them or not. The problem with it being every letter under the alphabet is that if you object to anything about pride, people assume you are homophobic. When you might just be objecting to the fetish gear, or transgender ideology, or the erasure of lesbians etc.

Leathermen have historically been a very important subculture in LGBT, and they are becoming less so as time goes on, gay clubs and saunas are closing, and gay culture is “pinkwashed” into a more acceptable, “respectable” form. It’s widely discussed as a problematic erasure of the historic struggle gay men went through to gain acceptance.

So I’m not surprised that there was a massive backlash against potentially banning fetishwear from Rhondda Pride. It’s the equivalent of suggesting the Queen doing her stuff at the State Opening of Parliament is a bit of a waste of money and could easily be scrapped. Unarguably true, but sacrilegious to say.

The organisers do need to decide if their local Pride is a family-friendly celebration of love and a demonstration that gay people are just like everyone else, or if it is a radical provocation and assertion of gay people’s right to exist no matter how unacceptable they appear to wider society. Both have their merits, but you clearly can’t do both at the same time.

Another thing co-opted by men and turned into what suits them and if anyone complains there will be shouts of bigot, terf or homophobic. I don’t see why just because it’s pride that sexual fetishes should be on display. Imagine if on an average day you saw a man (they typically seem to be men especially middle aged) in a gimp mask. But because it’s pride it’s okay?

When I see twitter status’ by some people and the support they have you start to see how dangerous things are becoming. I don’t think male bodied people regardless of what gender they identify should be allowed in female spaces. I have no issue with gender neutral spaces being added but not at the expense of women.

I often wonder if this ideology had been started by women that it probably wouldn’t have gained the traction it has. It once again shows the power men still hold.