SFLDG Event

How do 24/7 Masters and slaves make it work?

David Stein & David Schachter

Wednesday, May 20, 2009   7:30 pm - 9:30 pm @ Blow Buddies, 933 Harrison St.

Ask the Man Who Owns Him, coming in May from Perfectbound Press, is the first book to present the real lives of long-term gay Master/slave couples and families. Sixteen slaveowners and their properties around the U.S. and in Canada welcomed the authors into their homes and spoke candidly about how each relationship started, how it evolved to meet the challenges of living in “straight” society, and how it works today. All of these bonds have lasted for at least three years, some for well over a dozen.

These relationships are different from the Master/slave stereotypes of erotic fiction. They’re also different from what you may find in how-to books and Internet postings on the subject. Instead of offering what a single writer says this lifestyle should be, this book reveals what gay Masters and slaves are actually doing. Tradeoffs are made, deals struck, and power exchanged in ways that work for these unique individuals pursuing their respective dreams.

If you’ve wondered whether being a Master or slave is right for you, or just wish to understand the lifestyle better, this LDG presentation will preview the book and show slides and video clips of the interviewees. Come hear authors david stein and David Schachter share insights about strategies and tactics for success as a Master or a slave, followed by Q&A with the authors and some of the San Francisco interviewees.

Speaker Biographies

In 1980 david stein co-founded New York’s Gay Male S/M Activists (GMSMA), once the world’s largest gay s/m organization, and served in many capacities for the next 11 years. In 1983, for that group’s statement of purpose, he coined the now ubiquitous slogan “safe, sane, and consensual.” He also co-founded and helped lead New York’s gay chapter of Masters And slaves Together (MAsT).

For six years david wrote the “Bond+Aid” safety column for Bound & Gagged magazine, and in 1996 he guest-edited issue #14 of International Leatherman magazine, devoted entirely to real-world gay Masters and slaves. In 2002 his epic Master/slave novel, Carried Away: An S/M Romance, was published by Daedalus. Over the years, his fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Drummer, DungeonMaster, International Leatherman, Mach, Power Play, and other periodicals as well as in five anthologies: Leatherfolk edited by Mark Thompson, SM Classics edited by Susan Wright, Horsemen: Leathersex Short Fiction edited by Joseph W. Bean, Men on the Edge edited by Christopher Pierce, and The Academy: Tales of the Marketplace, a “novelology” by Laura Antoniou. This spring Boots, Bondage, and Beatings, a collection of david’s short fiction, came out from Perfectbound Press. More of his writing is available on his website.

Having been involved in three Master/slave partnerships of various lengths, slave david is currently unowned but under the long-distance supervision of Master Steve, the founder and former director of Butchmann’s.

David Schachter is a professional generalist, a software engineer, a teacher, and the owner of two slaves, one for 14 years, to whom he is married, and one for three years, married to a former Master. Mr. Schachter has studied advertising and mass communications, engineering, and the history and philosophy of science. He is a strong believer in individual freedom in a socially aware context, including the freedom to accept the voluntarily relinquished freedom of another. His interest in the present volume is motivated by frustration with the dearth of descriptive literature and an over-abundance of prescriptive and fantasy material, which he believes leads novices to unrealistic expectations and a needlessly high rate of failure for Master/slave relationships.