text:
"When the Levee Breaks: A guide to dealing with and avoiding arrest and prosecution in BDSM scenes."
"When the Levee Breaks" is a companion to the NCSF publication, "The Aftermath," and is a guide to provide a perspective for those who have, through mistake, misunderstanding, or a fleeting lapse of reason, committed an act of criminally actionable sexual assault. It is not intended to provide a defense for indefensible acts. "When the Levee Breaks" also provides information on how to better protect oneself against arrest and prosecution.
Click to get a PDF of "When the Levee Breaks"
Saturday March 26th. 2011
8:30am - 9:00am – Welcome
9:00am - 9:30am – Ice Breaker & Introductions
9:30am -12:30pm – Year in Review Reports
12:30pm - 1:30pm – Working lunch
1:30pm - 1:45pm – Break
1:45pm - 2:45pm– Year in Review Reports (continued)
2:45pm - 4:15pm ? Break Out Groups – Where are we going??
4:15pm - 5:00pm – Wrap up break out groups & adjourn
Sunday – March 28th, 2011
9:15am - 9:30am – Welcome
9:30am - 9:45am – NCSF's Volunteer of the Year
9:45am - 10:30am – Elections
10:30am - 10:45am ? break
11:00am - 12:00pm – Additional Committee Reports
12:00pm - 12:15pm – Take aways
1:00pm - 4:00pm – Media Training and Consent Counts – open to community
1:00pm - 2:00pm – new board meeting
I am so glad to welcome all of you to Boston. It's our first time here and we've been very fortunate to have the hard advance work and efforts of Boston community – particularly Opn, Kali and Vivienne Kramer.
As chair, I started my term in September 2008 with several goals.
I believe we've hit our stride and are now doing things much better than we have in the past. In all years prior to September 2008, we published exactly 3 quarterly newsletters? two in 2003 and one in 2006. We've published a newsletter ever quarter since I became chair. We've published our minutes to the CP list every single month. I've written notices/letters to the membership every month. We've kicked up our press and media alerts and switched to using Constant Contact to make our mail outs more professional.
With the implementation of SalesForce now have a solid foundation under which we can build our donors, members, conduct campaigns, etc. NCSF has been incredibly fortunate to get strong volunteer talent board on the board and in key organizational positions. It is true that we are nothing without our volunteers? especially in an organization that has only part?time paid administrative help. As we've broadened our SalesForce integration into our organization, we've connected it to our website and we've created customer service portals for both IR and KAP administration. In addition, we hope to have a fully functional customer service portal for our CPs by mid?year.
One of the things we've developed in the last year is what we're calling NCSF's "Value Proposition". We've created it as a guide to keep NCSF focused on what our core programs and values are. We have new handouts on child custody, child protective services, event insurance, how to find and event location and a template for an event briefing book. We've also developed new formal handouts – one for therapists about Polyamory and one for how to find a Kink Aware Therapist.
NCSF is the leader and the only organization in the country working on these issues. Susan? particularly with her work on the DSM has led the way for some major successes for NCSF this year. Judy Guerin has become involved again with NCSF and is taking the lead in our Consent Counts project. Both of these projects will be on the front burner for us for the next 3? 5 years.
We're making terrific strides and have had some major "wins" this year. You'll see our new website has gone live? finally! Its been a huge project for us but we like our finished product and hope you do too. We're Twittering and blogging now. We have a strong marketing plan in place.
In short, I'm excited about the progress we're making and hope you are too!
March 16, 2011
From: Kevin Carlson, KAP Coordinator
RE: Report on the Kink Aware Professional List for the NCSF 2011 Annual Coalition Partner Meeting.
This has been a very busy year, as the Kink Aware Professionals list continues to grow and change. This resource is consistently the top resource accessed on our website. Something I am quite proud of. In the past twelve months a lot has happened.
I completed the first level purge of invalid data from the list. We did a survey in preparation for the website redesign. A good portion of that survey dealt with KAP. All entries in the KAP system were extracted down to name and email address. This list was added to our constant contact and the survey was sent out to them also. From the failed email returns from this mass emailing, I was able to further able to examine the fails to see if any other possible simple means of contact was in the listing. If such was, I made further effort to contact them asking them to update their listing. Those responding were left in the list and those that did not were removed. The total entries removed were 146 of the 880 we had listed. This was a major accomplishment in preparation of deployment of the new KAP pages on our website. In addition it made our list that much more accurate.
The new KAP pages on our website were deployed on February 27th, simultaneously, we sent notification to all listed informing them of the change to the system and asked them to update. As of this report we have had 167 (56 the first day, it was a Sunday) entries updated by the person listed.
The old system on the website consisted of; Name, Location, Category, Actual Listing and email address (this email address was invisible to the end user). Numerous times the listing did not have accurate contact information because the person making the listing assumed the email address was included in the listing and not invisible. You could only search the list by either location or category.
The new system a person's listing is much more complex. Some fields are required and others are optional. The focus was to make it simple to contact someone. Many of these fields were motivated by the survey. The new fields are (*=required); Entry Title*, First Name*, Last Name*, Credentials (Phd, M.D., MSW, and LSW), Kink Awareness* (Kink-Friendly, Kink-Aware, or Kink-Knowledgeable. A self gauge by those listing to rate their Kink Awareness and convey this to the potential Client), Insurance Accepted, Email*, Website, Company Name, Street Address Line 1, Street Address Line 2, County, City*, Postcode*, Phone, Practice Description, Ability to load a picture (160x160 pixels), Meta Data & Description, Up to 2 Categories (Doctors, Counselors, Lawyers etc.)
The Search capacity was greatly expanded. In short it is possible to search by any of the above fields or for specific words in a listing. I tried a search for the word "shoe" and got a result.
Zip code and actual address are a major addition to the total package. We can now provide a Google map of at least the area of town someone is in based on the zip code. The more of the address they put in the more accurate the Google map become.
The output pages of the searches or just browsing are very professional and appealing to the eye.
What a listing looked like on our old page;
As you can see, quite a change in look and feel. The information for the listing is much simpler to find, allowing for better matches for what the end user is seeking.
I will be sending out another notice to those that have not responded to the first one about the change to the system April 1st and again on May 1st. Then I will begin individually contacting those who have not updated.
All entries from now on will automatically be reminded once a year to update their listing. I will be receiving a monthly report of who these notices were sent out to. If no update is made within 15 month the entry will be removed from the listing. Again I will receive a report of who the system removed and I will have the option of overriding the system and keeping the entry active. 2012 is going to be fun.
When the last annual report was given, we had 796 entries and as of this report 813. Even with the purge of 146 entries, we are bigger and better than we were last year. We have had and addition of 179 entries since the last annual report.
With the deployment of the new KAP pages and the accuracy of the information, it will be a simple matter over the summer to develop a marketing strategy to greatly expand the number of listings as well as the number of people who use KAP as a resource.
The numbers since our last annual meeting in March of 2010;
2010 Media Report - Susan Wright
In 2010, NCSF assisted in 22 media incidents. Susan gave 38 interviews to the media including:
Washington Examiner, Washington Post, Gazette, Channel 4 News, ABC News, Channel 5 Fox, Channel 9 News, and CBS New York – interviews on British Lucky Paul's parties
Village Voice, Time Out NY, Next, Parle Magazine – about Folsom Street East
Archives of Sexual Behavior – requested a Letter to the Editor on the proposed DSM revisions to depathologize the consensual paraphilias
Associated Press – Maryland law to ban 1st cousins from marrying
Associated Press – regarding consent and the Ed Bagley case in Missouri St. Louis Post Dispatch – regarding consent and the Ed Bagley case in Missouri
Riverfront Times – one interview on the "coming out" of Kendra aka The Beautiful Kind, and a second interview on the repercussions when her child custody was challenged.
AASECT Contemporary Sexuality – sexual privacy on the Internet
AlterNet – one article on BDSM submissives, and another on discrimination and child custody
ShortandSweetNYC.com ? about TES Fest and BDSM community
NBC Bay Area – a report on polyamory
Community Assistance
Susan gave pre?event assistance to: Dark Odyssey's Winterfire in Washington D.C., Folsom Street East in New York City, SinSations in Leather and Kinky Kollege in Chicago, TES Fest in New Jersey, and the Boise BDSM Society.
Susan gave media trainings for: the NCSF Annual CP meeting in Portland, NYC Poly Pride conference, and the Boise BDSM Society spokesperson.
Media Updates are now being posted daily on the NCSF blog at ncsfreedom.org
DSM Revision Project - 2010 Report
Submitted by: Susan Wright
The American Psychiatric Association's Paraphilias Subworkgroup has agreed:Kinky is NOT a Diagnosis! NCSF has worked very hard with its DSM Revision Project to make sure changes are made to the Paraphilias section, and we continue to strongly advocate for clear language of what exactly constitutes a mental disorder.
In early 2010, the new proposals for the DSM?V were publicized stating that alternative sexual behavior would be depathologized. The American Psychiatric Association's Paraphilias Subworkgroup acknowledged that you can be a fetishist, transvestite, sexual sadist or sexual masochist without having a mental disorder (in the Rationale section under each diagnosis):
These revisions have had an impact on all of NCSF's advocacy efforts in 2010—child custody, job discrimination battles, and even in the media. These proposed revisions in the DSM are helping to change the way society views us. Five years ago, NCSF's success rate was approximately 20% when it came to refuting the false contention that a parent is unfit because they're involved in BDSM, swinging or polyamory. Today, that success rate has risen to 50%.
Susan was asked by the editor of the Archives of Sexual Behavior to submit a Letter to the Editor regarding the proposed DSM changes. In the letter, entitled "Depathologizing Consensual Sexual Sadism, Sexual Masochism, Transvestic Fetishism, and Fetishism," Susan stated that the Paraphilias Subworkgroup must now reconsider what constitutes "clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning" when determining a mental disorder. The DSM must make it clear that people do suffer distress and impairment because of the societal stigma against alternative sex, but that doesn't mean they are suffering distress that is generated internally.
NCSF's DSM Revision Project will continue to respond as needed until these revisions are finalized and published in 2013.
Panel 1:
DSM Revision Project: Kinky is NOT a Diagnosis
What is consent?
For our purposes, consent is the explicit indication, by written or oral statement, by one person that he/she is willing to have something done to him/her by one or more other persons, or to perform some sort of act at the request or order of one or more other persons. In terms of sexual consent, consent may be withdrawn at any point, regardless of what has been previously negotiated orally or in writing.
Is a scene contract legally enforceable?
A scene contract is not a legally binding contract, and will not be enforced or recognized by any court.
Can someone give consent in advance? What happens if they withdraw consent mid scene?
Even if a scene has been pre negotiated, or even committed to writing, a submissive can withdraw consent at any time.That withdrawal must be honored and acted upon immediately. There really are not any exceptions.
How does use of drugs or alcohol change one's ability to consent?
Any altered state of mind affect's one's ability to consent. The consenter must be able to knowingly understand the impact of the consent given. Accordingly, the freedom of consent is directly a function of the ability to consent. Bluntly, consent obtained from someone who is too drunk or high to consent is no consent at all.
What happens if a submissive gets so into "sub space" that they lose the ability to communicate?
This can pose a potential legal problem, similar to a submissive's overuse of drugs or alcohol. The consenter may later claim a desire – but inability – to withdraw consent. The sensible solution is for the dominant partner to pay attention, and to proceed with extreme caution with any planned scene activities, particularly when the submissive partner reaches a deep "sub space".
Can someone who is mentally challenged consent?
While those who are mentally challenged certainly should have the right to sex, they may not be capable of a level of knowing consent that a court would recognize. Consequently, it can only be said that consent given by someone that has a mental disease or defect cannot be accepted with confidence.
Why is NCSF focusing on decriminalization versus legalization?
In addition to the fact that legalization is more difficult to achieve politically and socially, legalization opens the door for increased government regulation, which is not to our advantage.
What is the legal difference in using "safe, sane and consensual" versus "RACK" (Risk Aware Consensual Kink)?
"Safe, sane and consensual" is a term developed by the leather community over a period of many years `and is the basis for the BDSM versus Abuse statement. RACK is a more recent term and poses a potential legal problem for those who use this term. If something goes wrong in a scene, use of RACK suggests that one knew that the behavior that they were engaging in was risky, but chose to do it anyway.
Is BDSM consent subject to the same minimum age of consent legal rules as are applied in rape case?
Yes, they do.
Does a long term consent agreement, such as in a Master/slave relationship, constitute blanket consent for all BDSM activities?
No Again, a scene contract is not a legal contract and a sumissive can withdraw consent at any time, regardless of the M/s contract.
Consent: Best Pratices in BDSM
The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF) believes that the most important issue facing the BDSM/Leather/Fetish communities today is the consistent practice of courts and law enforcement officials to prosecute BDSM as criminal assault, with no defense of consent permitted. We know that BDSM is not assault, but rather is pleasurable, loving adult erotic activity, as long as it is mutually consensual. NCSF is leading a major national campaign—Consent Counts—to change the laws and police practices that our communities now endure, and to establish that consent is available as a defense in criminal BDSM prosecutions.
Best Practices in the BDSM/Leather/Fetish Communities
The practice of BDSM (Bondage, Discipline, and SM) consists of intimate mutually pleasurable erotic activity within the scope of informed consent. The following "best practices" have been developed by our communities to ensure that all BDSM participants meet the standard of "safe, sane and consensual":
Guiding Principles
"Safe" All participants are knowledgeable about the techniques and safety concerns involved in what they are doing, and all act in accordance with that knowledge.
"Sane" Knowing the difference between fantasy and reality, and acting in accordance with that knowledge.
"Consensual" All participants understand the nature of the activity in which they will be engaged, and the limits imposed by each participant, and respect such limits at all times.
Best Practices
CONSENT and BDSM: The State of the Law
BDSM activity, even where clearly consensual, can be and frequently is prosecuted under state criminal laws dealing with assault, aggravated assault, sexual assault or sexual abuse. Such criminal prosecution can arise in various circumstances, including:
The Critical Issue: Consent
The nature of the criminal offense here is that one person causes physical harm—injury and/or intense pain—to another person. It is important to understand that the law sees this as causing harm, not engaging in mutually beneficial conduct. This means that the law treats BDSM as violence, not as sex. That explains why the issue of consent is different in BDSM cases than in rape cases. In a rape case, the sex act is not viewed as criminal unless it can be shown that one party did not consent. In a BDSM case, however, the causing of physical harm is, in and of itself, criminal. The question is whether and to what extent the law will allow such criminal conduct to be excused by the fact that the injured participant consented to have harm done to her or him.
As long as courts and lawmakers put BDSM practice in the same category as criminal assault—which is a view that the "Consent Counts" campaign will try to change—it is not surprising that they will be reluctant to allow consent as a defense to anything more than minor harm or injury. And sure enough, that is the pattern shown by the court cases, even where a court is interpreting a statute that seems on its face to allow consent to be a defense in any case where there is "serious" injury. Moreover, the courts' reluctance to allow consent as a defense is undoubtedly influenced by the general public's misunderstanding of and adverse reaction to BDSM as a "perverse" or even "immoral" practice.
§ 2.11. Consent.
(1) In General. The consent of the victim to conduct charged to constitute an offense or to the result thereof is a defense if such consent negatives an element of the offense or precludes the infliction of the harm or evil sought to be prevented by the law defining the offense.
(2) Consent to Bodily Injury. When conduct is charged to constitute an offense because it causes or threatens bodily injury, consent to such conduct or to the infliction of such injury is a defense if:
(a) the bodily injury consented to or threatened by the conduct consented to is not serious; or
(b) the conduct and the injury are reasonably foreseeable hazards of joint participation in a lawful athletic contest or competitive sport or other concerted activity not forbidden by law; or
(c) the consent establishes a justification for the conduct under Article 3 of the Code.
(3) Ineffective Consent. Unless otherwise provided by the Code or by the law defining the offense, assent does not constitute consent if:
(a) it is given by a person who is legally incompetent to authorize the conduct charged to constitute the offense; or
(b) it is given by a person who by reason of youth, mental disease or defect or intoxication is manifestly unable or known by the actor to be unable to make a reasonable judgment as to the nature or harmfulness of the conduct charged to constitute the offense; or
(c) it is given by a person whose improvident consent is sought to be prevented by the law defining the offense; or
(d) it is induced by force, duress or deception of a kind sought to be prevented by the law defining the offense.
For our purposes the key provision in section 2.11(2)(a), which allows consent as a defense to the infliction of bodily injury where the "injury?consented to is not serious". Thus the question that courts must decide in any given case is what is meant by "serious" injury. And on this point, the MPC offers in Section 210.0 (3) a definition that, if courts would only apply it literally, is quite helpful in the BDSM context:
Section 210.0 Definitions?
3) "serious bodily injury" means bodily injury which creates a substantial risk of death or which causes serous, permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.
Read literally, this would allow consent as a defense to most forms of BDSM practices. Breath control and certain other play might be seen by a court as creating "a substantial risk of death". And scarification and some other forms of "extreme" or "heavy" scenes might be found to cause "serious, permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of {a} bodily member or organ." But a literal application of the MPC standard would permit consent as a defense in most assault or abuse prosecutions based on BDSM practices.
The problem is that the courts—not just some courts; all courts—consistently classify as "serious" almost any injury, no matter how slight, and even in some cases interpret the causing of significant pain, even with no physical injury, as "serious injury" to which consent cannot be given.
The Cases—Courts Refuse To Accept Consent as a Defense
To date, there is not a single appellate court decision anywhere in this country that has accepted consent as a defense in an assault or abuse prosecution arising from BDSM conduct. The following overview, from Consent to Harm by Vera Bergelson, 28 PaceLaw Review 683, at p.691, is a good summary of the case law:
Since any harmful act that does not fit into the "athletic" or "medical" exception is, by definition, criminal, unless the inflicted injury is not serious, assessment of the seriousness of the victim's injury determines the outcome of many cases involving consensual harm. A typical penal statute classifies bodily injury as serious if it "creates a substantial risk of death or causes serious, permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ." Pursuant to this definition, any short-term, non-life-threatening injury should not be deemed "serious." Yet, as the MPC acknowledges, the assessment of the seriousness of harm is often affected by judges' "moral judgments about the iniquity of the conduct." Courts tend to inflate the risk and harmfulness of an activity they want to denounce. For example, any injury caused during a sadomasochistic encounter has been consistently classified as serious.
28 Pace Law Review 683, 691
An early, and typically bad, example of a pure "consent is no defense" ruling is People v Samuels, a 1967 California decision. In that case, Martin Samuels was convicted of assault based on his conduct in a film of an apparently consensual BDSM scene. The court not only rejected the consent defense, but also appeared to hold the view that any such consent would be "some form of mental aberration:
Even if it be assumed that the victim in the 'vertical' film did in fact suffer from some form of mental aberration which compelled him to submit to a beating which was so severe as to constitute an aggravated assault, defendant's conduct in inflicting that beating was no less violative of a penal statute obviously designed to prohibit one human being from severely or mortally injuring another.
People v. Samuels 250 Cal.App.2d 501, 514, 58 Cal.Rptr. 439, 447 (Cal.App. 1967)
The Samuels decision was cited as recently as 2006, in People v Febrissy. In that case, the defendant's lawyer sought to invoke the doctrine enunciated by the Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas, which held (in a sodomy prosecution) that, absent a compelling societal interest (and moral disapproval is not such an interest), the government cannot make private consensual sexual activity a crime. That argument was rejected.
An argument based on Lawrence v. Texas was also rejected in the Nebraska case of State v. Van, 268 Neb.814 (2004). Van was convicted of first-degree assault on the basis of an extended imprisonment and extremely intense BDSM/torture of a gay male submissive. The submissive initially consented to practices that were quite intense, but the evidence was in conflict as to whether he later withdrew that consent. On appeal, defendant Van argued that this was a case of "two adults who, with complete and mutual consent, engaged in sexual practices common to their homosexual, BDSM lifestyle" and as such was protected under Lawrence v. Texas.
Rejecting that argument, the court made three points. First, it noted that the Lawrence opinion contained a phrase that its doctrine only applies "absent injury to a person". Second, the court emphasized that the evidence on the issue of consent was not clear-cut. Finally, and most fundamentally, the court held—citing the other decisions discussed in this paper—that consent is not a defense to a charge of assault:
Our statutes defining first and second degree assault include no reference to consent?This court has held that "all attempts to do physical violence which amount to a statutory assault are unlawful and a breach of the peace, and a person cannot consent to an unlawful assault".
In most BDSM assault cases, the testimony of a complaining witness (the injured person) is central to the case, and often there is conflict on the issue of consent between the defendant and the complaining witness. However, even where both participants agree that the acts in question were consensual, the courts have held that consent cannot be a defense. Thus, in Commonwealth v. Appleby, a 1980 Massachusetts case, the court said:
"Grimm's consent to assault and battery upon him by Appleby by means of a dangerous weapon cannot absolve Appleby of the crime?"Commonwealth v. Appleby, 380 Mass.296, 311, 402N.E.2d 1051,1061 (Mass. 1980).
In Iowa v. Collier, there were wildly differing accounts given of a BDSM incident, but the judge refused to let the jury consider the question of consent. The Appellate Court upheld the conviction and ruled that consent was not a defense. Significantly, the Iowa law on assault was in most ways similar to the Model Penal Code.
Provided, that where the person doing any of the above enumerated acts, and such other person, are voluntary participants in a sport, social or other activity, not in itself criminal, and such act is a reasonably foreseeable incident of such sport or activity, and does not create an unreasonable risk of serious injury or breach of the peace, the act shall not be an assault.
The court's moralistic tone in rejecting the consent defense is a good illustration of the type of thinking that seems to underly most judges' handling of BDSM assault cases:
The foregoing discussion compels us to conclude that, in the present case, the legislature did not intend sadomasochistic activity to be a "sport, social or other activity" under section 708.1. We are hesitant to give a precise definition of this term and believe it is more appropriate that its meaning be interpreted on a case by case basis. However, it is obvious to this court that the legislature did not intend the term to include an activity which has been repeatedly disapproved by other jurisdictions and considered to be in conflict with the general moral principles of our society. In fact, the statutory provision in question specifically excludes activities which would "create an unreasonable risk of serious injury." There can be little doubt that the sadomasochistic activities involved in this case expose persons to the very type of injury deemed unacceptable by the legislature. Were we to follow defendant's broad interpretation of "social activity," street fighting, barroom brawls and child molestation could be deemed acceptable social behavior, since such conduct is considered acceptable by some segment of society.
State v. Collier 372 N.W.2d 303, 307 (Iowa App.,1985)
People v. Jovanovic was a New York case involving an intense scene between a man and a woman who had previously engaged in extensive Internet discussion of their BDSM interests. The scene apparently went bad, and the woman went to the police. Mr. Jovanovic was tried and convicted of assault, sexual assault and kidnapping. The Court of Appeals, although it reversed the convictions on evidentiary grounds, very explicitly stated in a footnote that consent, while available as a defense to the charges of kidnapping and sexual assault, was irrelevant to the assault charge:
There is no available defense of consent on a charge of assault under Penal Law §§ 120.00[1] and 120.05[2] (contrast, Penal Law § 120.05[5] [where lack of consent is an element]). Indeed, while a meaningful distinction can be made between an ordinary violent beating and violence in which both parties voluntarily participate for their own sexual gratification, nevertheless, just as a person cannot consent to his or her own murder (see, People v. Duffy, 79 N.Y.2d 611, 584 N.Y.S.2d 739, 595 N.E.2d 814), as a matter of public policy, a person cannot avoid criminal responsibility for an assault that causes injury or carries a risk of serious harm, even if the victim asked for or consented to the act (see, e.g., State v. Brown, 154 N.J.Super. 511, 512, 381 A.2d 1231, 1232; People v. Samuels, 250 Cal.App.2d 501, 513-514, 58 Cal.Rptr. 439, 447, cert. denied, 390 U.S. 1024, 88 S.Ct. 1404, 20 L.Ed.2d 281; Commonwealth v. Appleby, 380 Mass. 296, 402 N.E.2d 1051; Iowa v. Collier, 372 N.W.2d 303).
People v. Jovanovic 263 A.D.2d 182, 198, 700 N.Y.S.2d 156, 169 (N.Y.A.D. 1 Dept.,1999)
It is important to note that the Jovanovic court cited the Samuels, Appleby and Collier decisions, confirming that the prevailing view is that there is a settled precedent, established by a series of decisions in state courts across the country, that consent is no defense to a charge of assault arising from BDSM practices.
A Few Rays of Hope
Despite the consistent refusal of state courts to recognize consent as a defense to BDSM-based assault prosecutions, there are reasons to hope that a long-term, carefully planned Consent Counts campaign can reform this area of the law.
For one thing, the U.S. Supreme Court has created a doctrine of privacy that, at least in some areas of sexual behavior, now insulates consenting couples from criminal prosecution. While the doctrine of Lawrence v. Texas (mentioned earlier in this paper) has not been applied in the BDSM context, the principle of privacy is a powerful one that works in our favor.
The Model Penal Code's quite favorable definition of "serious injury" also has the potential for use in changing the trend of court decisions. At the very least, it gives us the starting point to argue that the consequences of BDSM should be treated no differently from other injury-causing activities.
Finally, while no decision has yet explicitly accepted the defense of consent in a BDSM-based assault prosecution, at least two courts have reversed convictions on evidentiary grounds in ways that suggest that the consent of the "victim" may have played a role in their thinking. Thus, while the Jovanovic footnote states that consent is no defense to assault charges, the court's reversal of the conviction was based on failure to permit the use of evidence of consent, and the court reversed not only the sexual assault and kidnapping convictions (for which absence of consent is an element of the offense), but also the assault conviction.
And, a recent Rhode Island decision, State v. Gaspar, reversed a BDSM assault conviction on evidentiary grounds that related in part to the issue of consent. While the court did not discuss the issue of consent with any specificity, the decision contains the following assessment of the central issue in the case:
The evidence adduced at the trial of this criminal case included testimony concerning a multitude of unconventional sexual practices but ultimately presented only one question for the jury's determination: did the events of the night in question constitute a mutually consensual sexual encounter between two adults or a brutal sexual assault?
State v. Gaspar 982 A.2d 140, 141 (R.I.,2009)
This is, in fact, the core issue we face in the Consent Counts campaign: Can the courts and society be brought to understand what we in the BDSM community know to be the case—namely, that what we do "constitutes a mutually consensual sexual encounter between adults" and is not "a brutal sexual assault"? If we can get that point across, then perhaps we can persuade courts and legislatures that injuries caused by bdsm should be prosecuted only when not consensual or when the injury is so severe (the Model Penal Code definition) that it constitutes an abuse of BDSM practices.
Other Legal Models for BDSM Cases
Prosecutions that grow out of BDSM incidents are generally brought under the assault statutes. This is one of the reasons, perhaps the major reason, that courts rebel against allowing the defense of consent. The essence of the crime of assault is the attack on one person by another. The concept of consenting to such an attack is, to some extent, counter-intuitive.
Some cases arising from BDSM incidents, however, have been prosecuted under the criminal charge of battery. Battery, unlike assault, does not necessarily involve an attack by one person against another. The crime of battery is injurious touching or striking of one person by another. Thus, in battery cases, there is an issue as to the context in which the injurious touching or striking occurred. As the Court of Appeals of Indiana stated in Helton v. State, 624N.E.2d499(1993) at 514, n.22:
Consent is connected with the harm or evil sought to be prevented; therefore, if the victim consents to the defendant's touching, that touching is not rude or insolent and should not be considered unlawful unless it meets one of the exceptions to the general rule.
The exceptions to the general rule (in Indiana) that consent is a defense to battery, and specifically is a defense available in cases "involving sexual overtones", are as follows:
(1) Where the defendant goes beyond acts consented to; (2) Where it is against public policy to permit the conduct or resulting harm even though it is consented to, as, as where there are no sexual overtones and the battery is a severe one which involves a breach of the public peace, as well as, an invasion of the victim's physical security; (3) Where consent is ineffective as where it is obtained by fraud or from one lacking legal capacity to consent; (4) Where a deadly weapon is employed; (5) Where death results; or, (6) Where the battery is atrocious or aggravated. [Helton 624 N.E.2d at 514, citing Jaske v. State, 539N.E.2d 14, 18 (Supreme Court Indiana 1989).]
The concept here is that touching or striking, unlike an attack, is not inherently criminal. (Similarly, the conduct underlying the offense of rape—sexual intercourse—is mutually pleasurable conduct when consensual, and becomes criminal only in the absence of consent.) Thus, when that conduct is consensual, even where some injury is caused, it is more palatable to find that such consent prevents the conduct from being a criminal offense.
Our communities certainly do not view BDSM as an attack by one person on another. Rather, we see BDSM as mutually pleasurable conduct, the details of which are negotiated in advance and generally subject to agreed safe words and other protections. If we could persuade courts to adopt that view of BDSM, we might also persuade them that such cases are not appropriately prosecuted as assault, but rather as battery. Thus consent would normally be a defense—as is true in battery cases with "sexual overtones"—subject to the exceptions listed above.
This would not necessarily eliminate the moralistically motivated tendency of courts to seek reasons not to allow consent as a defense, however. In Govan v. State, 913 N.E.2d.237 (Indiana Appeals Court 2009), the defendant (Govan) was convicted of both assault and battery, based on a BDSM incident in which he "punished" the victim (A.H.) by branding her with a hot knife and whipping her with an electrical extension cord. The appellate court rejected Govan's argument that A.H.'s consent was a defense to his conduct. First, it ruled that consent could not be a defense to the assault charge. Second, although the court acknowledged that consent was a valid defense in a battery case having "sexual overtones", it found that the use by Govan of a knife invalidated the defense:
Turning to the case at hand it is undisputed that it involves sexual overtones. Notwithstanding those overtones, A.H.'s consent is not a defense to the crime because Govan's actions involved a deadly weapon,...namely a knife, and therefore A.H.'s consent is not available as a defense to battery. Govan, 913 N.E.2d at 242-243.
In summary, one approach that could increase our communities' access to a consent defense would be to persuade the courts that BDSM incidents should be prosecuted, if at all, under battery statues rather than as assault. Even in battery cases, however, we need to find ways to deal with the moralistic prejudices that lead courts to stretch for reasons to reject consent as a defense.
The DSM Criteria—Changing Psychiatry's View
It is important to note that, in parallel with the Consent Counts project, the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom is working to change the way BDSM is understood by the psychiatric profession whose views influence the attitudes of the public and the courts toward our communities. Until 1994, BDSM was classified in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (the "DSM") as a form of mental illness. With the adoption of DSM IV in 1994, this classification was modified so that today BDSM—along with cross-dressing and fetishism—is a mental illness only where it substantially alters a person's life in a negative manner. The Association is currently engaged in a new revision, referred to as DSM V. NCSF is actively involved in this process, working to further reduce, if not remove entirely, the stigma attached to BDSM. Importantly, this new revision may result in a distinction between consensual and non-consensual BDSM. This, of course, would be consistent with and would give impetus to our political and social advocacy in the Consent Counts project.
EOP Training Update
We have so much that is exciting in our EOP!
We haven't done training since 2003 and it was time!
We have recruited and diversified the number and kind of presenters we have and we now have good coverage across the country. Post training, we will have more than 10 active professionally trained presenters.
It's hard to imagine that less than 5 years ago, we only had 6 workshops or programs we offered. Here's the current line up:
And that doesn't even begin to cover all the handouts and documents available!
In 2010, over 47 EOP presentations and workshops were giving across the country. If your local group or event hasn't had an NCSF trained presenter come up and do one or more of these workshops, it's time to get on board!
Incident Response Program? 2010 Report
Submitted by Leigha Fleming
In 2010, the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF) again took the lead in defending the rights of individuals and groups in the SM?leather?fetish, swing and polyamory communities. NCSF's coalition of over 40 educational and social groups is committed to creating a political, legal, and social environment in the United States that advances equal rights of consenting adults who practice forms of alternative sexual expression.
NCSF's Incident Response team is directed by Director Leigha Fleming. In total, over 482 individuals, groups, attorneys, prosecutors, and businesses contacted NCSF for help in 2009. Each incident sometimes required only one or two phone calls, but some evolved into much larger projects.
It is difficult to categorize many incident requests as clearly falling into one camp or another. Many overlap in categories. For example, many of our custody/divorce related issues involve at least 2 of our core constituent groups (i.e. SM/leather/fetish and poly for example). In trying to do a statistical breakdown of the requests, we placed it in the category it most clearly matched.
2010 saw an increased number of requests around criminal and domestic violence or SM/abuse related issues. NCSF worked with more than 53 attorneys representing defendants in criminal cases. In addition, we worked with more than 17 district attorneys and prosecutors related to SM issues. The vast majority of these criminal cases revolved around domestic abuse or consensual sex/play issues. There is a clear need for education within our own communities about the role and limits of consent and for education to police authorities on the differences between SM and abuse. Our Consent Counts project hopes to address some of these issues. There is a great need for educational within our own communities regarding consent and a great need for change in laws related to consensual adult sexual expression.
The implementation of KAP under NCSF's administration resulted in fewer requests for referrals because we were able to refer the request to our site. The new administration tools for KAP in our website overhaul will also make the use of this tool much more efficient for both user and professional. In addition, NCSF has implemented new criteria for incident response. The document outlining the changes is included in the packet.
We continue to receive a number of requests for assistance from groups, businesses, and other support organizations who want information about how to operate legally, do law enforcement outreach, file for nonprofit status, deal with the media or the press, do hotel/event outreach, or do research around zoning or other legal issues.
We also continue to receive requests for assistance involving parents who were engaged in child custody and divorce cases. Parents continue to experience difficulties gaining child custody due to their interest in SM, swing or poly activities. NCSF worked with a number of attorneys representing parents accused of being unfit because of their alternative lifestyle interests. In many cases, because of information we were able to provide, the courts decided that alternative sexual expression alone was not cause to impugn a parent's ability to be a good parent. We have developed new workshops / FAQs for parents dealing with custody/divorce and child protective services.
NCSF's implementation of SalesForce has helped us manage our Incident Response requests in a significantly more professional and consistent way. It provides for direct access by someone needing help through a new customer service portal and it allows NCSF staff/volunteers to track and log all calls and action on any given request.
NCSF is here to help you -- the SM, swing and polyamory communities. If you have a problem with discrimination, persecution, or harassment because of your sexual expression, please call NCSF for assistance.
Candidates for Elected Board Seats
Jim Fleckenstein
Mr. Fleckenstein was a founder of the Institute for 21st Century Relationships, which became the NCSF Foundation in 2006, and has served on the NCSF Board since that time. He had a nearly thirty year career managing charitable and membership nonprofit organizations, and his expertise has benefited more than 40 nonprofits through his service as chief executive, staff member, volunteer leader, speaker, writer, consultant, or instructor. He is also a co-founded of the Chesapeake Polyamory Network, which has been a Coalition Partner of NCSF until CPN's disbanding in 2010.
He holds a Bachelor's degree with honors in Mass Communications/Politics and Public Affairs (double major) from the University of Miami, and a Certificate in Association Management from the University of Maryland. He is presently enrolled in the Master of Public Health degree program of the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco.
Mr. Fleckenstein is a member of both the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT) and the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS), and has been selected to present at four AASECT national conferences and at the 2003 SSSS Eastern/Mid-Continent Region Conference. He co-founded AASECT's AltSex Special Interest Group. He is the author of the section on polyamory in the United States chapter of the Continuum Complete International Encyclopedia of Sexuality, and co-edited NCSF's pamphlet, "What Psychology Professionals Should Know About Polyamory."
Kevin Carlson
Mr. Carlson currently serves as the director of NCSF's KAP program and as the IT/Web director as well as an active board member. He also currently serves as a board member and events coordinator of Boise Pride. In the past he has served in several positions for BBDSMS (Boise BDSM Society), as President, he successfully applied for 501(c)(3) status. Additionally, he has served on the board of TCC, a local GLBT community center and other non-profit organizations, Ducks Unlimited and the Idaho Retriever Club, which he had been a part of since his youth.
Professionally, he currently owns a construction company that focuses on residential and commercial remodeling. Past positions include owner of a property management company, facilities management and computer network consultant.
His focus in the communities is on acceptance and bringing the voice of acceptance to all. Part of what is going to provide acceptance is education to those who may not be aware. Without education tolerance is out of the question. We are just people like anyone else, with jobs, families, friends and all those bills. I believe in the voice of the NCSF and its activities to further acceptance for all.
John Baku
John Baku is the founder and owner of Fetlife. With a commitment to developing a safe space for all people involved in all facets of consensual adult BDSM, leather, fetish, and alternative sexuality, Fetlife has a membership worldwide well over 600,000 people and it's growing. Fetlife has been a long time supporter of NCSF and the work it does. John has technical and business expertise and would be a welcome addition to the NCSF board.
Currently serves as the Executive Director of CPI in Nashville (www.themarkbycpi.com) and has served in that capacity since this 501(c)(7) non-profit was incorporated in 2003. In this capacity he was the driving force in opening "The Mark" as a top-tier BDSM community center, open every Friday and Saturday night and operating in the black since its inception in August of 2005. Munches, educational events, lending library, and outreach programs to mental health professionals all derive from his desire to foster a stronger Middle Tennessee BDSM family.
In addition, Mercury has served the wider community as a regional speaker, having presented to a fourteen groups in eight states, DomCon, Frolicon, and LLC; and he runs the CPI website, yahoo group and related social networking vectors. In fact, he currently assists the NCSF as the caretaker of its FetLife group.
Professionally, Mercury serves as a Corporate Sales and Marketing Program Manger, but past work titles have included Director of Business Development, Director of Engineering, Principal Technologist, and President with companies ranging from large established aerospace firms to entrepreneurial high-tech start-ups.
Julian Wolf
At the turn of the century, Julian Wolf discovered and quickly became involved with the alternative community. Participating and performing at her first event, she quickly found her passion for service.
In 2003 she co-founded New Mexico: the Next Generation (NM:TNG) and ran the business of the group as Chairman for seven years before stepping down before her 30th birthday. Julian served as the first Ms. Rio Grande Leather (2004) and has assisted with every annual conference in various capacities. In 2005, the New Mexico Leather League (NMLL) was formed.
A charter, and still current member, Julian served on the board for five consecutive terms. In 2006, she won Albuquerque Pride's title of "Ms New Mexico Pride" and met or exceeded the goals for that year. In 2008, Julian took a position as Administrative Assistant with Equality New Mexico (EQNM), New Mexico's statewide LGBT advocacy organization and served full time until she left in good standing.
As a wordsmith, Julian writes Carnal Conundrums, a Sex Positive Advice Column for New Mexico launched online in early 2009, is a freelance writer for the Weekly Alibi and is contributes both a column (the Hedonist Dandy) and the occasional article for Fearless Press. In 2010, she also started working on-call for the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF). Julian is also a educator; offering classes and workshops locally, nationally, and as a member of the Kink Academy faculty, virtually.
An egalitarian sadomasochistic dandy, Julian is a heavy switch who loves to play and has a particular affinity for impact in addition to fetishes for feet and hair. Julian looks to surround herself with fun loving, intelligent people who know how to ask for what they want and are serious about their passions. Please feel free to peruse www.JulianWolf.net to learn more.
Forms Library Report
In December of 2009 the Board and Coalition Partners started sending me different forms to add to our "Document Library", this library will be in a CP only area of the new website for the use of our Coalition Partners. So far I have received 19 forms; some are the same type of document, but with different phrasing. I have been going through the documents and removing the originating group names and trying to put them into a consistent format as they come in. These documents will be a wonderful tool for everyone. While a lot of them deal with legal issues, there is always the disclaimer to check with your attorney to make sure that whatever document it is matches your local laws.
Types of documents that have been sent for the Library:
Web/It Report , Annual Meeting 2011
From: Kevin Carlson
This has been a busy as well as complex year for our website. The short of it, we have a total new look and feel on our website.
The long of it, we have made a long series of changes and are in the home stretch!
ONE: First, we upgraded the website software from Joomla 1.0 to Joomla 1.5, and also changed hosting companies, in order to come into compliance with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) security regulations necessary to process credit cards online. Our website now meets security standards and routinely passes a full security intrusion scan from a PCI authorized security vendor. NCSFreedom.org is now a secure website with the corresponding certifications needed. If this initial website upgrade had not been completed, we would not be able to legally accept credit cards online under our merchant processing contract.
During this first project, we also had to reformat the website with a new template that was compatible with the upgraded software. This gave us our site a minor face lift. The new template made things clearer overall and provided a lot more flexibility as to what and how we could handle content.
TWO: Once first project was done, the website team performed two public surveys, one centered around general website feedback, the other on the Kink Aware Professionals Directory. The survey was made available online, and distributed to all in our mailing list in Constant Contact, including our KAP listings. The survey provided valuable feedback and ideas regarding the future look and feel of our site. This was the beginning of the planning of what we see today in the new site design and organization.
THREE: Next, we imported the Wordpress blog into a Joomla blog, and converted all of the existing entries into the new format. Our staff was trained on how to use the new Blog integrated directly in the website. We no longer have site visitors going just to Wordpress, but instead coming to the main website where they can learn much more about our organization and activities.
FOUR: For the next project, we totally overhauled and re-designed the KAP section of our site. Many hours went into the design and reformation of data to accomplish this. For a more detailed account of what happened, see my KAP report in the annual meeting packet. A lot of the changes were driven by the survey results. The information now available to the public is so much more expansive and accurate it is amazing to me; we now present a very professional looking face. The KAP section of our site is the most used resource we offer, with by far the highest visitor rate each month. The KAP is now something we can effectively take to market and by such increase our number of listings and exposure to the world.
FIVE: Today what you see is the brand new, just launched website design. It is a total overhaul and re-design, with a good amount of the changes being provided from the survey we did and feedback from our board. NCFreedom.org has come a long way from the fairly simple format a year ago that was very difficult to work with and limited in its capability, particularly in respect with images, video and other forms of media. Today we have launched a media rich, searchable, well-thought out site with a total new face to the public. It's a more dynamic look and feel, and provides a significantly improved sitemap for our website guests. We have went from just a basic manual link system to software that now allows us to keyword and tag almost all of our content, providing a very interlinked site. What this means for us, we can now by keyword include content from one gathering page not only on that page but several other pages that are of similar content based on keywords. In many cases, portions of the site will auto-populate based on the keywords used, reducing site maintenance. In example, we do for Consent Counts a page containing legal resources and reports. By keywording this content, not only does the content appear on the Consent Counts page, but also can be more easily displayed on our library page and legal resource pages. Also, the ConsentCounts.org content, where appropriate, has been brought into the new NCSFreedom.org website.
A few highlights:
Our new header for all our pages is a brand new, bolder look, with a more modern navigation system that doesn't drop down and cover up the content.
The front page, with keywording, will be able to give brief summary and immediate updates for the Blog, newsletters, programs and other important initiatives. We also have the ability to choose a few "headlines" that can show up in a banner right under the menu, providing a simple way for people to stay current with us and what we are doing.
To better share the important work that NCSF does, our homepage also includes a Tabs area where important content can be accessed quickly for Consent Counts, Media Updates, and more. From this tab, you can get directly to the program as well as its latest content by the tags within the tab.
I can go on and on about the changes, these are only a few of the highlights. The most important goals were to meet the needs that were revealed by the web design survey – a website that was simple to navigate, able to handle multi-media, and manage content in an effective productive way that promoted our individual programs and NCSF as a whole.
SIX – Pulling it all together: Our project priorities for the next few weeks after the Annual Meeting, which will close the website project out completely, are:
National Coalition for Sexual Freedom
Why Should You Care?
Because your sexual expression:
What We Do:
Who We Are:
What is Consensual Alternative Sexual Expression?
Consensual alternative sexual expression includes the full range of non-traditional sexual expression practiced lovingly by millions of Americans, including sodomy, SM-leather-fetish activities, swinging, cross-dressing and various other interests. While professionals now recognize these forms of sexual expression as "normal", including the American Psychiatric Association, negative social stigmas and incorrect myths still exist. Further, these negative perceptions are fueled constantly by the radical right and sensationalized by the media and entertainment industry, making discrimination, violence and persecution against practitioners more likely. While NCSF supports a broad range of sexual freedom and sexual minority issues, our principal focus is on the large and growing SM-leather-fetish community. The 1990 Kinsey New Report on Sex found that 5%-10% of the adult U.S. population engages in SM practices. Our own 1998 Violence and Discrimination Survey found that 30% of SM-leather-fetish practitioners had suffered from various forms of discrimination, and 36% have encountered violence or harassment.
How Can You Help?
Join NCSF!
Become an Individual Member Today!
NCSF needs the support of everyone who wants to ensure that all consenting adults can express their sexuality freely and openly, without fear.
NCSF 3 Minute Speech (or less!)
The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom has been fighting for your rights for the past 14 years, and we are changing the way society views kinky people.
NCSF has taken the lead in two vital projects:
- Our DSM Revision Project has successfully lobbied the American Psychiatric Association, resulting in their proposal to depathologize BDSM in the next Diagnostic & Statistics Manual.
- NCSF also took over leadership in the nationwide Consent Counts project, working to decriminalize BDSM and create a database of relevant state laws.
And as always, NCSF helps thousands of people through our ongoing programs:
- Our Kink Aware Professionals free referral service gives you a place to find a wide range of service professionals who are accepting of alt sex.
- The Media Outreach Program gives interviews to debunk stereotypes about BDSM, swinging and polyamory, and trains our constituents to be spokespeople for our communities.
- The Education Outreach Program gives dozens of workshops around the country on how to protect yourself, your group, and your business.
- On top of all that, NCSF's Incident Response program helps almost 500 people a year who are suffering from discrimination and persecution because of their swinging, polyamory or BDSM behavior.
A dedicated group of volunteers does this work on a very small budget, with only one part?time office employee. We need your help to succeed in our fight for our rights, so please give a donation or throw a fundraiser for NCSF.
NCSF supports you, now it's time to support NCSF!
When you need help and don't know where to turn, NCSF may be able to help. Our Incident Response program helps hundreds of people every year. We make a difference for individuals and organizations facing discrimination, legal crisis and other important life events related to their kink interests.
Every year, Leather SINS produces two national BDSM events in Chicago: Kinky Kollege and SINSations in Leather. Ever since the Concerned Women for America attacked five Midwest BDSM conferences in 2002, Leather SINS has consulted with the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom to ensure that our events would not face the same problems if we were attacked by religious political extremists.
Leather SINS has consulted with NCSF about a variety of issues while producing our events. We asked Susan Wright to accept the position as our media spokesperson, posting her phone number on our website so she can respond instantly to any media inquiries. Susan checks every page of our website for each event, looking for statements and phrases that may need clarification or may possibly cause problems if taken out of context by the media.
Leather SINS has gratefully named NCSF as one of our "WE CARE!" charities (along with LA&M). We're proud to be a Coalition Partner of NCSF, and would urge any group to take advantage of NCSF's knowledgeable Incident Response program consultants when producing an event.
In leather heart and soul,
Master Z
Leather SINS President & Event Director
We contacted the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom to access the Incident Response program. Within hours, we spoke with a highly trained and knowledgeable media and PR consultant for support. In addition to her moral support, we received a meticulous training for our Board of Directors and staff, preparing us to better manage these attacks. Also, the program consultant was able to field all media inquiries - and serve as a positive voice for our community - during our events, so that we could focus on our production duties. We can't thank NCSF enough for their good work and for being there when we needed them.
Executive Director
Folsom Street Events
My relationship with the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF) began like many others do. I was neck deep in a conflict that was based in my free expression of my sexuality through my writing. I was asked to leave my teaching position, an agreement was reached and I left quietly without creating a scene. I used to teach in a small, private school in North Carolina, where my daughter also attended school. When I left my teaching position I was assured that it would not affect her last and final year of middle school.
Months passed, and we were within days of her returning to the 8th grade when I received a call from the Head of School that he had decided to rescind his offer to allow her to go to school there. After heated debate, he agreed that she could attend school, but if and only if I could secure a $1,000.00 expense fee to cover her field trips and lunches in advance. It was a bullshit fee, to be honest. It's not required of any other parent. He knew that we would not be able to come up with $1,000 in a matter of days. This was his way of keeping her out without risking litigation.
So I wondered what led this man, elder in his church, who had given me his word that my child would be unaffected, to suddenly revoke something that we had agreed upon? He said that based on an email to my husband, he had changed his mind. I looked at Marky, while still on the phone, and asked, "Did you exchange any emails in the last month with the school?" Of course he had not. Well the school made a terrible error. They contacted my ex-husband, not my husband. They contacted someone who has no legal custody of our daughter, and based on that conversation had decided that I would no longer be welcome in the parent community.
This happened, I'm sure by no coincidence, at the same time that I received threatening emails from my ex-husband, who suggested that due to my deviant behavior she should come to live with him.
I reacted immediately. First, I raised the money in a raffle that was initially supported by Lochai and quickly built into a huge CommUNITY movement of kinksters who were outraged. Secondly, I contact NCSF and accessed professional advice and consultations through their Kink Aware Professionals (KAP) listing. With the help of the community and the NCSF I felt prepared for battle.
Now, coming full circle, I am honored that my PR firm, Quid Pro Quo, will be working with NCSF on the launching of a new blog. We are doing the work pro-bono to show NCSF our appreciation and to give back to an organization that protects all of us. It feels really great to be in a position to give back. So do us a favor and help us help them. We'll be asking people to re-post and tweet links and I hope you'll consider it your way of giving back to such an amazing organization.
Best Sex Bloggers
The NCSF Incident Reporting & Response Team's purpose is to provide assistance to individuals and groups within the alternative sexual expression communities who become victimized by actions of local authorities in opposition to the freedom of expression of SM, leather/fetish, or swing practices.
The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF)'s Incident Reporting & Response (IRR) Program uses three primary criteria for taking a case:
NCSF's Incident Reporting & Response was created to provide assistance to individuals and groups within the alternative sexual expression communities. If you engage in SM, fetish, swing or polyamory practices, and are being persecuted or discriminated against because of it, please contact NCSF. If your group or business is being harassed by religious political extremists or if you need help doing outreach to your local law enforcement, please contact NCSF.
The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF)'s Incident Reporting & Response (IRR) Program uses three primary criteria for taking a case:
Here are a couple of examples of how we can and do help individuals who contact us for help.
NCSF was contacted in February 2009 by a mother in the South Central US. The woman's parents became aware of her involvement in the BDSM and swing communities and initiated an action with the court to challenge the mother's fitness as a parent and the custody of her children. An allegation of abuse/neglect was made by the parents with child protective services and an investigation was opened by the state concurrent with the family court awarding temporary custody to the grandparents. The sole basis for the custody challenge was the mother's consensual adult BDSM and swing interests.
NCSF referred the mother to an attorney in her area who was experienced in working with child protective services (CPS) and those in the alternative communities. We educated the attorney about consensual adult swing and BDSM activities. We provided a referral to a kink-friendly family therapist certified by the court as an expert to do an independent parent/child evaluation. We spoke with the CPS investigator who was initially hostile and successfully convinced her to look at this family's particulars instead of prejudging the mother as negligent or abusive solely because of her consensual adult interests. As expected, the therapist found that the mother was an excellent parent, that she had not exposed her children inappropriately to adult activities and the best interests of the children would be served by returning full custody back to her. The woman's attorney advocated for her at the hearing in March 2009, a final determination of custody given by the court was in agreement with the mother, and she got custody back. The child protective services complaint was closed with no finding of abuse or neglect.
In another example, NCSF was contacted by a woman in January 2009 from the Southwest who was attempting to pursue an assault/domestic violence case against her abuser. She was having great difficulty getting her local police department and prosecutors to take her case seriously. She had been involved in consensual BDSM practices in the past with her alleged abuser and as such, the police were dismissive of her complaint. By the time she contacted NCSF, the prosecutor was stalling on moving forward with criminal charges because he didn't think the case was winnable based on the victim's prior conduct. The woman contacted NCSF for help, asking us to educate the investigator assigned to her case and the prosecutor's office. NCSF initiated contact with the victim's advocacy office assigned to the prosecutor's office. We provided education and information to the police and prosecutor about consensual adult BDSM activities. Because of NCSF's involvement, the prosecution moved forward and the abuser ended up accepting a guilty plea.
Unfortunately, due to limited resources the NCSF is only able to take a fraction of the cases that come to us. Many of the complaints we receive do not meet one, or several, of the above criteria. Even under the best circumstances, NCSF can only help a small percentage of those who merit it. All of our work is done by volunteers and we accept no payment for our services.
We are however happy to receive donations earmarked specifically for use in the IRR Program. Click here to donate, Make sure you note "Incident Reporting & Response" or "IRR" in the comment box if you want to restrict your donation. We do provide basic information as resources dictate and referrals to professionals as part of our Kink Aware Professionals database.
The criteria for acceptance listed were developed to meet the primary concerns of our voting constituencies, our Coalition Partners. When the NCSF agrees to take a case the impact can be realized by all of our constituents as a whole and therefore it is up to the policies set in motion by NCSF Coalition Partners to decide whether existing resources allow for a case to be handled effectively.
NCSF is leading a major national campaign—Consent Counts—to change the laws and police practices that our communities now endure, and to establish that consent is available as a defense in criminal BDSM prosecutions.
Copyright 2012 - National Coalition for Sexual Freedom - NCSFreedom.org
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10/30/2013 | Cray, DDN, Mellanox, NetApp, ScaleMP, Supermicro, Xyratex | Creating data is easy… the challenge is getting it to the right place to make use of it. This paper discusses fresh solutions that can directly increase I/O efficiency, and the applications of these solutions to current, and new technology infrastructures.
10/01/2013 | IBM | A new trend is developing in the HPC space that is also affecting enterprise computing productivity with the arrival of "ultra-dense" hyper-scale servers.
Ken Claffey, SVP and General Manager at Xyratex, presents ClusterStor at the Vendor Showdown at ISC13 in Leipzig, Germany.
Join HPCwire Editor Nicole Hemsoth and Dr. David Bader from Georgia Tech as they take center stage on opening night at Atlanta's first Big Data Kick Off Week, filmed in front of a live audience. Nicole and David look at the evolution of HPC, today's big data challenges, discuss real world solutions, and reveal their predictions. Exactly what does the future holds for HPC?


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Immunotherapy has the potential to treat almost any type of cancer. Learn how we are making this a reality for more patients sooner.
Cancer patients, donors, scientists, and other supporters all stand behind the Cancer Research Institute. Read their stories and learn about what motivates each of us to keep fighting against cancer.
Have a creative idea for a fundraiser you'd like to host to benefit cancer research? Or are you seeking ideas for how you can help us achieve our mission to conquer all cancers? Get inspired by our ideas and tips.
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Numerous challenges can derail progress in finding new immune-based cancer treatments. We're solving some of the biggest challenges, keeping promising new immunotherapies on the fast track to patients.
Cancer patients are now beginning to benefit from advances in cancer immunotherapy. Watch this story of hope and survival, and be inspired to help us conquer cancer.
Browse our directory of scientific leaders who volunteer their time and expertise to help ensure that we fund the most innovative and promising research possible.
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Immune Design, NY Non-Profits Team Up To Boost Cancer Drugs, Ben Fidler
"These are things as a small private company we would not have been able to afford. [It] allows companies like ours that don't have all the tools together to have our tools being tested in combination with other companies' tools."
– Carlos Paya, Immune Design CEO
June 12, 2013
Genentech Follows Fast at ASCO as Cancer Immunotherapy Picks Up, Luke Timmerman
"We've shown immunotherapy is a valuable tool in the fight against cancer."
– Mitchell H. Gold, CRI trustee
May 15, 2013
The T-cell Army, Jerome Groopman
"You are not treating the cancer—you are treating the immune system. And it was the first drug of any type to show a survival benefit in advanced-melanoma patients in a randomized trial."'
– James P. Allison, Ph.D., director of CRI Scientific Advisory Council
April 23, 2012
Cancer Has a "Game-changing" Moment, Mary Elizabeth Williams
"We always believed these therapies could have this type of impact…We're an organization that's been doing this for 60 years, and we're in a very different space in this field now. It doesn't work for everybody, but we are seeing remarkable responses. It tells you the potential. This is a game-changing time."
– Jill O'Donnell-Tormey, Ph.D., CRI chief executive officer and director of scientific affairs
December 11, 2012


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JWKTL (Java-based Wiktionary Library) is an application programming interface for the free multilingual online dictionary Wiktionary. Wiktionary is collaboratively constructed by volunteers and continually growing. JWKTL enables efficient and structured access to the information encoded in the English, German, and Russian Wiktionary language editions, including sense definitions, part of speech tags, etymology, example sentences, translations, semantic relations, and many other lexical information types.
DKPro Lab is a lightweight framework for parameter sweeping experiments. It allows the user to set up experiments consisting of multiple interdependent tasks in a declarative manner with minimal overhead. Parameters are injected into tasks using via annotated class fields. Data produced by a task for any particular parameter configuration is stored and re-used whenever possible to avoid needless recalculation of results. Reports can be attached to each task to post-process the experimental results and present them in a convenient manner (e.g., as tables or charts).
DKPro WSD provides UIMA components which encapsulate corpus readers, linguistic annotators, lexical semantic resources, WSD algorithms, and evaluation and reporting tools. You configure the components, or write new ones, and arrange them into a data processing pipeline. DKPro WSD is modular and flexible. Components which provide the same functionality can be freely swapped. You can easily run the same algorithm on different data sets, or test several different algorithms on the same data set.
TimeMachine Scheduler is a Java scheduler which can scale and run a high volume of jobs with many different types of schedules, such as repeating on a fixed interval or based on cron expressions. The scheduler can control the job executions with thread pools, and it can persist job data into different storage receptacles. Users may use the built-in schedule server with an easy-to-use configuration file, or developers may use it as a library to extend the scheduler and write custom jobs, schedules, or user services.
OtrosLogViewer (OLV) is software for analyzing an application's logs and stack traces. It loads logs from remote servers using ftp, sftp, ssh, samba and other supported filesystems, listening on a socket, or connection to a Log4j SocketHubAppender. Logs can be gzipped, and OLV will decompress them on the fly. Many log formats are supported (JDK logging, Log4j XML, and custom patterns). OLV allows log highlighting. Automatic log highlighting is based on string matches, regular expressions, or custom Java code. Notes can be added to log events. Display of message details can be customized by message formatters and a colorizer (i.e., formating SOAP request and highlighting XML syntax). OLV can be extended by plugins (filters, log parsers, log event markers, message detail formatters, and colorizers).
QuickDic parses data from en.wiktionary.org and Beolingus to generate dictionary files that can be used offline. It currently has built-in dictionaries from English to: German (Deutsch - Englisch), Italian (inglese - italiano), Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Belarusian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Chinese|Mandarin|Cantonese, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Japanese, Korean, Kurdish, Malay, Maori, Mongolian, Nepali, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Sanskrit, Serbian, Slovak, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tajik, Thai, Tibetan, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Welsh, Yiddish, and Zulu.
Overthere is a Java library to manipulate files and execute processes on remote hosts, i.e. do stuff "over there". It was built for and is used in the XebiaLabs deployment automation product Deployit as a way to perform tasks on remote hosts, e.g. copy configuration files, install EAR files, or restart Web servers. Another way of looking at it is to say that Overthere gives you java.io.File and java.lang.Process as they should have been: as interfaces, created by a factory and extensible through an SPI mechanism.
OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) is an easy-to-use integrated penetration testing tool for finding vulnerabilities in Web applications. It is designed to be used by people with a wide range of security experience and as such is ideal for developers and functional testers who are new to penetration testing as well as being a useful addition to an experienced pen tester's toolbox. ZAP provides automated scanners as well as a set of tools that allow you to find security vulnerabilities manually.


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- 1 Girl, 10, presumed drowned in Phoenix-area lake
- 2 African land grabs put elephants under threat
- 3 TUSD appoints new principals
- 4 We're defining Tucson in 100 objects
- 5 UA basketball: Johnson, Gordon will stay busy between now and the draft
- 6 Hotel requirement dropped from Rio Nuevo mandate
- 7 Tucson in 100 Objects: Swamp cooler moistened dry desert air during Tucson's 'first summer'
- 8 Tucson drops plan to raise bus fares
- 9 Arizona Wildcats basketball: Stanley Johnson drops 24 at Jordan Brand Classic
- 10 Hot cars at this year's New York auto show
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Rick's Camaros is your one-stop shop for 1967 Camaro parts. The 1967 Camaro was a First Generation F-Body Camaro, spanning from years 1967-1969. 1967 included the Z28 Coupe, Super Sport Convertible and Coupe, Rally Sport Convertible and Coupe, and the Standard Convertible and Coupe. 1967, the Camaro's first year, was Chevrolet's response to competing against the Ford Mustang in 1964. Sharing similarities with the Chevy II Nova, the 1967 Camaro featured a unibody structure, combined with a sub-frame supporting the front end, and single-leaf rear springs. Compared to the Mustang, the Camaro had a more streamlined appearance, better noise isolation and ride quality from a partial front frame, and a unitized rear for cost savings and space efficiency. 1967 was the only first generation Camaro to have both rear shock absorbers mounted forward of the rear axle and side vent windows. It also was the only time that Camaros did not have side marker lights. In addition to carrying 1967 Camaro parts, Rick's Camaros has parts for all Camaro models available. We have all the parts and accessories you need to help restore your 1967 Generation One Camaro, at the best prices! Trust Ricks for all of your restoration and replacement needs for your racer, show car, street rod, or daily driver.
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