BY MICHAEL SOZE
If you walk through the streets of Berlin or San Francisco in September, you’ll fall for the misconception that everything is fine with the fetish scene. It is not unusual to meet a few hundred guys in skin-tight leather outfits within minutes. But how much appearances are deceptive, you quickly notice when you go outside this filter bubble.
Even among homosexuals there is still something sexually wicked, forbidden and somehow trashy about the love of leather.
Nothing could be further from reality, because those who love leather are willing to invest a lot of time and money in it. The leather scene is much more than just a sexual fetish of a bunch of sex addicts who are into lust and bondage games. To change this point of view and to take away the first fears of contact, especially for young men, is one of the central tasks that Mr.Leather Europe has set itself. The twenty-six year old Italian Stevio Blackhart represents the European leather community this year.
„I myself was one of those young guys who had real fears of the scene at first. It all seemed very sexualized to me at the time. I didn’t know that BDSM also had a human component. The leather fetish is about deep trust and an intimate connection between two men. Or of course with more than two guys. And today I still wonder from time to time: „Why the hell did I wait so long?“
When Stevio smiles, one can understand why the young, hot-blooded Italian has won the hearts of many men. Quite a few of them are begging for a sex date. At the award ceremony, one guest even said to him with a wink: „You’re going to have a hell of a lot of sex now.
But Stevio is much more important to explain over and over again how safe you can feel in the scene:
„I talked to a young guy who had never had a BDSM experience before. He was very curious, but had not yet had the courage to try it himself. I explained to him that he has nothing to fear, because a good master instinctively understands where the limits of his slave are.“
„We understand each other more than anyone else can! Especially because we have often gone through the same thing. I have met so many leather men who have changed my life forever and I will carry some of them forever in my heart!“
The leather scene, once born out of the American motorcyclist subculture, is worth being discovered in a new and unprejudiced way, so that young men also have the courage to take the first step if they are interested.
„We still have a lot of work to do! It is our task. And it’s really important!“
Just before the election, Stevio jokingly demonstrated how much this message means to him: In the middle of Rome he posed with a big sign saying: Vanilla Sex is boring!
