Vampires, Pagans & S/M

This was sent to me , though it seems not in its entirety , though now after reading the whole thing I find it intriguing in relationship to the whole "Vampire Fetish"... S/M culture is predominantly a sexual culture. The clothing and appearance of those who are part of the genre do tend towards the sexually significant, whether that be in terms of provocative and revealing clothing made of slinky fabrics like rubber which cling to the skin, or power dressing in uniforms reminiscent of control and domination. The Mistress with her whips and chains may be a popular stereotype, but it is an image which does have validity in certain areas of S/M culture. Whilst it would be unjust to state that all sado-masochistic acts are inherently sexual in nature, it is fair to say that most contain an element which is sexually motivated. It may not be every one's idea of sex to have someone piss all over your naked body, but to some people it obviously is a turn-on. Sexuality can be expressed in any way in S/M culture, holding true to the link which we found before with the Pagan ethic of 'Do what you will, if it harm none'. If people want to be pissed on, then let them get on with it. It harms no-one else. If people want to be whipped and hung upside down from a cross then who really cares? So long as nobody is being forced into it, it shouldn't be a problem for anyone. S/M culture does in fact have very strict rules regarding the etiquette of joining a 'scene' in a club, whereby the permission of all involved – even the slaves – must be sought before involving an additional element. Although Paganism is a pacifistic religion or belief system, it is interesting that most of my respondents thought of Pagans as dominant rather than submissive. Most religions can be seen as submissive in that they are bound by traditions and rules which promise pain and torture, even damnation, if you do not toe the party line. Paganism has a stronger freedom of expression – there is no real idea of a right and wrong way to behave as codified in a bible, as right and wrong are natural concepts which we understand intrinsically. Vampires similarly are seen as dominant, though as pointed out in the first part of this feature they are also submissive to a degree, as they are dependent on their food source for their survival. Inherent predators, they are primarily dominant however, and this is the opinion of those who know and those who only view from outside the crypt! The key sexual link which all three possess is in the idea of taboo. Some respondents report that their S/M activities are something they keep well hidden from family and 'normal' friends; likewise with many Pagans they feel it is something which non-Pagans would find disturbing or offensive. As regards vampires, this is usually seen as a joke and laughed off. In some extreme cases all three fields of interest do come under fierce attack from fundamentalists who believe that anything which deviates from the monotonous path of 'normality' is evil and corrupt and that therefore followers (who they frequently see as brainwashed, and redeemable) should be lambasted in the press, hounded from their jobs, home etc, have their children taken from them, and generally abused and insulted everywhere they go. This has happened with Pagans all too often, and it is also sadly a phenomenon which is growing in the S/M world as it leaves the underground and becomes more mainstream. The vampire is largely excluded because it has such a strong literary, therefore non-real and less threatening, persona – we are relatively safe from attack because what we believe in can be scoffed at and ridiculed. The typical ignorant rubbish about blood-drinking cults and sex in coffins is usually as bad as it gets for most of us! The sad fact is that sex itself is taboo in some minds still, so it naturally follows that any 'perverted' opinion or practice – like S/M, bondage, sexual magi ck, ritual nudity, blood-letting, blood-drinking etc – is doubly taboo. Most informants confessed that there was at least one part of their three interests they felt compelled to hide. Whilst all three remained a subculture of the 'norm' this was a fairly easy thing to do, but is there a price to pay for pushing these interests into the mainstream? As Paganism becomes the fastest growing faith in the UK, as witchcraft shakes off its old associations with demonology, as S/M leaves the fetish clubs and moves into the high street, as vampirophiles become every more outrageous and decadent in their search for self-expression, is it not inevitable that we will suffer for our beliefs even more than before? For most of my informants, the idea of going openly public with their views is the final taboo. This is not to suggest that they are ashamed or afraid of what they believe in – dominance prevails in all our fields of interest, as we have sufficiently proven – but we are still so obsessed with society's image of us as freaks and weirdos that for many of us the shadows are still preferable to the spotlight. Sexuality pervades the realm of the vampire perhaps most obviously of all. S/M sexuality is something which is not for everyone. Paganism only calls those who are ready for it, and need not involve a sexual element at all. But vampirism is the ultimate expression of sex through blood. While human beings struggle to get to grips with their own mortality, vampires are free to enjoy and experience everything that the darkness has to offer. And although traditionally seen by literature as sterile, sexless, even genderless beings, the new breed of vampires are baring their fangs to a whole new world of experimentation, that of sexual vampirism. For some of us, that change has been eagerly awaited for centuries... www.angelfire.com/jazz/louxsie/vpsm2.html