22 iustiout
JULY 21. 2006
.'/A
Oregon Leather Pride Week promotes pleasure and pain
by Joshua Ryan • Photos by Xilia Faye
ou may be part of the leather
community if...
• You like the feel of your corset
because you can’t breathe.
• The first thing you notice about a
woman is her shoes.
• You don’t use Crisco for cooking.
• The sound of a Harley revving its engine makes
you wet.
• You have issues with authority.
• A «tern voice turns you on.
All kidding aside, these responses were shared
on a warm mid-summer’s day by Cheryl Spector, the
three-year chairwoman of the Oregon Leather Pride
Week Committee. She was joined by Alycyn
Britton, Ms. Oregon State Leather 2003, and Ben
Brown Jr., who’s also a member of the Oregon Bears,
as they sat in the center of a bustling coffeehouse in
downtown Portland.
The group was surprisingly laid-back. At first
glance, you would think they were bankers,
educators or your average public servant. OK,
maybe servant is not the best term to use here—
when you’re around these folks, you have to be
careful throwing around words like “servant,"
“master” or “daddy.”
For Spector, Britton and Brown, these terms
take on new, often sexual meanings. In discussing
their interests and attempting to define their
community, the three seemed as average as the guy
sitting two tables over tapping on his computer.
They weren’t wearing biker clothes or chaps. They
could be anyone’s sister or brother.
And then you notice that beneath Spector’s
light brown hair, which spills onto her shoulders
and glistens in the sunlight, are hardcore “leather
culture” earrings. That is, she wears a slider (an
earring that rests inside the hole of your earlobe)
and through it runs another earring that looks likes
something a bull might wear in its nose. Dorothy,
we’re not in Kansas anymore.
The three devotees have been actively involved
in the leather community for many years and openly
discussed sex, kink, perversion and the Oregon
Leather Pride Week celebration that runs Aug. 3 to
13. In fact, the only time patrons raised their heads
to look in our direction was when Brown talked
about loving “sweaty men that do not wear deodor
ant” and when Britton talked about the appropriate
protocol for attending a dungeon party (see sidebar).
The leather community has been a significant
part of the larger sexual minorities community for
years. During the past three years, the 10-day
Leather Pride Week has evolved from a series of
separate events—produced by Blackout Leather
Pnxluctions, Portland Leather Alliance, Bad Girls
and others—into a single, integrated celebration
supported by a dozen Oregon-based organizations.
In fact, in 2006, these groups include the Dancing
Muse, Get’er Done Community Pnxluctions,