Sprituality and Kink panel
The Society of Janus presents ...
Sprituality and Kink
a panel with Steve Ward, Marc Fuentes, Angela di Tenebre, Michael Bettinger, and Terence (TK)
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
Program 8-10 pm (doors open 7:30)
$5 members of Janus & reciprocal orgs; $15 all others (membership not required)
at SFCitadel, 1277 Mission Street at 9th St, San Francisco
http://SOJ.org
Do you ever wonder if there could be a spiritual aspect of Leather or kinky sex and play? When you engage in play, do you feel that something, psychologically, is missing in the experience?
The panelists will discuss the definition of the word 'spirituality' as it relates to today's Leather scene, and compare spirituality and Leather among various spiritual practices.
Attendees will come away with a fuller knowledge how other people convey their spiritual practices in our Leather community, as well as things to guide their search for their own inner spiritual presence.
ABOUT OUR PANELISTS:
Moderated by: Steve Ward
Steve has been a member of the Bay Area Leather / kink community for 10 years. Steve serves the 15 Association, a San Francisco Men’s play group, as Vice Chair and Membership Coordinator. He also serves as President of the Defenders San Francisco, is a steering committee member of the Leathermen’s Discussion Group, and Vice-Chair of the San Francisco Leather Forum.
Panelists: Marc Fuentes, Angela di Tenebre, Michael Bettinger, and Terence (TK)
Marc Fuentes
Marc is an officer of the Defenders/San Francisco, and has been a member of the Roman Catholic LGBT organization Dignity for 20 years. He has served on panel discussions of spituality and Leathersexuality for the Defenders, Dignity, LLW, LLC, and LDG. In September he married his partner of 15 years, a minister, and is Fathering two men. All the men in Marc's life are deeply rooted, spiritually.
Angela di Tenebre
Angela has helped create and lead many spiritual rites and workshops for kink events, including LLC, LLW, Defenders Weekend, and Folsom Fringe. She has been actively serving her community in leadership roles in Janus, SFCitadel, LLW, and other leather organizations. As part of EduKink (edukink.org), she teaches BDSM topics for a number of kink organizations, as well as SFSU, Mensa, and Berkeley Free Clinic. She and Iain are Distinguished Lecturers and SAR faculty members for IASHS, and have been recognized by the Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas for their contributions to the field of sexology/erotology.
Michael Bettinger
Michael is a psychotherapist, marriage counselor specializing in working with gay and kinky people, educator, writer, musician and biker. He retired four years ago from full time professional practice to devote his time to spiritual studies and playing the conga drums. He is Jewish by heritage and often uses Jewish metaphors to describe and discuss spiritual issues, though he accepts all spiritual metaphors as being equally valid, and equally meaningless. He is particularly interested in the intersection of spirituality, love and sexuality, which he sees as each different facets of the same phenomena. He was a member of the Janus Society from about 1977 through the early 80's.
Terence (TK)
If God is Catholic, TK has all the necessary paperwork to get into heaven - but he left that faith in his teens to pursue hedonism, nihilism, Zen Buddhism, Vipassana Buddhism, and eventually paganism. For the last four years, Terence has been a core member of the Spark Collective, which holds monthly rituals, potlucks, and workshops in Oakland. He also recently joined the Fire Family Council, which organizes Phoenix Fire - an annual event that encourages people to connect with the divine through sacred fire circles in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Although creativity, curiosity, and dominance have always infused his sexuality, TK became consciously kinky four years ago. For him, BDSM is also a spiritual practice which demands authenticity, honesty, humility, and the utmost moral, ethical, and intellectual rigor from its adherence.
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