Amsterdam fetish nights

[ciphergoth]

We hadn't planned on it when we left, but we ended up going to an Amsterdam fetish night called "The Clinic", and I am so glad we did!

I didn't know it was happening, and neither myself nor purplerabbits brought a single piece of equipment or a stitch to wear, but we asked in the shop selling the tickets (Absolute Danny) what we'd get away with, and took their advice. I found a bondagey top in "Diabolo" that was reduced to EUR 20 (about GBP 13) which I just wore with combats while I did my hair in bunches, and purplerabbits found a rather lovely purple ribbon corset in Demask that was surprisingly reasonably priced (reasonable for the Fetish Fair or the Whitby Bizarre Bazaar - amazing for Demask), so we managed to get costumes together at the last minute. There was a nervous moment approaching the door after the taxi, but it was no problem at all, and in fact we were in some ways dressier than a lot of the guys who were just wearing leather trousers.

My impression is that in most ways it kicks the shit out of any other fetish club I've ever been to. There was much more nudity and much more sex of course, which was in many cases breathtakingly lovely, but the really impressive thing was that it was amazingly friendly. It happened about five or six times that a group of people we didn't know would introduce themselves and start chatting, ask where we were from and what else we'd been to.

We smoked drugs and wandered around checking out the eye candy and watching people play. We also played ourselves, details of which will have to wait for another entry with different permissions...

I felt less confident than I would have liked since I didn't really feel dressed up, and mainly I feel I *really* want to go again, with a good costume and lots of toys. Even though most of the people I spoke to weren't as experienced as me in many ways, I still felt like such a novice there - it felt like I'd never been to a real fetish club before, and tha what we have in the UK is a sort of pretend club that wants to be an Amsterdam fetish club when it grows up.

Comments

[tanais.livejournal.com]

Hi there sorry if you don't know me. I read this from [Bad username or site: >sbisson (i'm an ex and very good friend of his partner <lj user=marypcb @ livejournal.com] and In fact I think I coined their domain name for them ;)

Anyway... I never bothered much with the UK fetish scene. Sum it up in one word? Humourless. Despite all its fetishisim, it seemed so.. so... unimaginative and straight, with straight men largely dominating the vibe. Having attended many of Carol Queen's Queen of Heaven parties in San Francisco where there is a large contingent of Queer fowk plus the same vibe at a few of the fetish clubs in Seattle (which also admitted Goths because at last the Bar could be put to some money-making use and the Goths additionally had something to ignore) I thought the UK scene was very reserved, cliquey and a place to pose rathe than to actually get down and dirty. After a few disappointing British clubs I thought the British scene was very quaint and very play-acting compared to some of the ones downtown San Francisco (and a lot less fun than even the gay meat markets off of 3rd and Market (Stockon, Folsom Street) and the Castro).

When I bought some Pony Boy and Pony Girl training stuff to a UK club four years ago it went way too over their heads. They were not sure if it was BDSM, Bestiality, Fetish or 'Just Plain Weird'; Okay so for a bit of a laff we did a gender bending scene where one girl was a randy stallion (complete with anatomically correct strap-on appendage) and I was "his" naughty stable-girl and people felt it was just too weird. Weird it may be, but in San Fran and Seattle they not only coped, they were laughing and encouraging (nicely) as well... it was a crossover of species, exhibitionism, fetish and just plain fun -- and they applauded after a scene -- something that I have never seen in the UK.

Then there was an incident with a digeridu... but best not go there...

[ex-pipistre.livejournal.com]

ooh! i want to go to amsterdam now, sos i can wear my big nyoo boots to a fetish night!

[nitoda]

I don't know where y'all have been playing in the UK, but my experience varies. I know of two (UK) clubs which are held in what are usually swingers clubs and there is certainly plenty of sex happening there ... no drugs, though. Which doesn't bother me personally, in that I prefer to be sober and know what I am getting into when I play. And I definitely prefer my Dom/me to be sober and know what s/he is doing! I've found the scene to be as friendly as I want it to be - it does help to get to know people at munches first, but once the ice is broken, people are friendly without being intrusive, if you know what I mean. If there IS a lack of sexual expression in UK venues I wonder if it is the famous British reserve in action? I do know of people who go to clubs but only to socialise and would never think of actually playing in public. Weird, I guess, but aren't we all?

[booklectica]

I'll be interested to see what you think of Club L'Amour on Saturday, as it sounds quite similar - are you still coming to that?

From C

[(Anonymous)]

Damn you! Take me next time!!!!!

:o)

C.