Not in my name

I posted the other day on International Fetish Day and the goings-on within the BDSM community. I drew some parallels with gays and mentioned some of the differences of opinion. The comments to the post certainly underlined the point.

It got me thinking about the general problem where a bunch of people have a common interest, whether it's gay sex, bondage or train spotting, and one or more take it upon themselves to represent the interests of the community.

Two things seem certain.

First, without representation, your interest is going to get stomped on. When it comes to a conflict of interest (which could be over whether gay marriage should be legal, whether it's OK for police to question train spotters, making violent porn illegal or whatever else), you're in a much stronger position if you have the ability to make your voice heard, whether through protest or lobbying.

Second, if you're the one who stands up to be that representative, you might find yourself with more influence, but you'll also find a lot of people you're trying to represent want to give you a good kicking and disagree with what you're doing, especially where you're self-appointed.

I think the best approach is to start off campaigning on a specific issue, neither attempting nor claiming to represent a whole community. You'll still get the kicking, but at least, as you lie awake in the long, dark, lonely, nights, you can console yourself that you don't really deserve it.

One of the comments to my International Fetish Day post complained that

I spent hours, by email, trying to get a "self important tosser from [a popular BDSM internet community site]" to specify whether they were combining International Fetish Day with opposition to the new UK extreme pornography laws as they did with National Fetish Day last year.

That seems like a fair criticism to me.

Organising a general purpose "BDSM/homosexuality/train spotting is OK and should be celebrated" event is fine, as is allowing people to promote their own causes within that event (as is the case with Gay Pride).

Saying "This is an event to celebrate BDSM and oppose the extreme porn legislation" is much trickier. Unless you're very careful, it can look like you're trying to hijack the whole community to promote your cause and that's not a good way to win friends.

On that note, I'll put in a plug for the Consenting Adult Action Network (CAAN), a fledgling organisation making no claims to represent anyone other than the people who signal their support for CAAN's Statement of Intent:

"We believe in the right of consenting adults to make their own sexual choices, in respect of what they do, see and enjoy alone or with other consenting adults, unhindered and unfettered by government."

"We believe that it is not the business of government to intrude into the sex lives of consenting adults."

CAAN are in action, protesting between 2pm and 5pm on Sunday 25th January in Parliament Square, on the eve of the extreme pornography legislation coming into force.