Skip to main contentPinch my tits and call me crazy, but I think I've pissed off another clique in the queer ranks. Now, I didn't set out to make anyone angry. All I was trying to do was review the movie Beyond Vanilla.
One of the films that appeared at this year's LGBT film festival, BV is an explicit documentary that analyzes the gay (and non-gay) world of BDSM. Here's a snippet of my review as it appeared in WW's film section: "This informative and at times gag-inducing flick tells you more than you'll ever need to know about the fetish world of bondage, domination and S/M." While that "critique" passed public dissection, a group of readers (including BV's director) have emailed to tell me that I crossed the line with my final sentence: "What it doesn't tell you is why the folks who practice this stuff are so damn ugly."
In an effort to be fair, I've decided to share a few of the choicer emails (see Mailbox, page 4, for more):
Adam slaps me with: "Although I have yet to see the film...I find Byron Beck's statement...small, little, childish, uninformed, prejudicial, ill spoken, ill mannered, unintelligent, and basically ignorant."
You haven't seen the film, but you call me all those names. Well, even though I don't know you, I have an itch to call you a clueless slut. How do you like those apples, Adam?
A Seattle "dot-dom" presses: "You, sir, because of your amazingly narrow view, are ugly. It's a crying shame that someone in a position to speak out about acceptance and understanding, instead chooses to be an utter cad."
I think we are all looking for acceptance. That's why I believe some "ugly" people are attracted to BDSM and some ugly people are into the square-dancing scene. Ugly people are everywhere, and of course it all comes down to what each person finds attractive. In my opinion, some of those I've seen (on film and in person) who participate in BDSM are indeed "damn ugly." I didn't say they were bad people or don't have the right to do what they want. They're just ugly. To me. OK, so I'm a cad.
Thom-the-name-dropper spouts: "One [of] the greatest Broadway musical creators, who is highly revered, is very much into SMBD. I am sure you would coward [sic] to call 'damn ugly' to his face.... I think, Master Byron (that is the title we give a boy before his adolescence), that you have allowed yourself to interject into your journalism your own preferences."
I'm guessing "Master Byron" would've much preferred watching a show by one of the so-called "greatest Broadway musical creators" than seeing some pierced-half-to-death guy take a fist up his ass.
And now a word from Darklady, a Libertarian candidate for the state House: "I'd like to believe that a supposedly alternative publication such as Willamette Week would be less bought into the culture it's supposedly being an alternative to...or is WW really just a more successful version of the Downtowner?"
Oh, no! You found out my secret. For the past few years, I've been a spy for Downtowner/Our Town publisher Maggi White. Today, we destroy the alternative thoughts provided by Willamette Week and the BDSM community. Tomorrow, the world!
WWeek 2015