Posted on
June 10, 2020
kikiTHEpuck
| What is Your Scene Name? | kikiTHEpuck |
| City and State of residence? | Renton,WA |
| Region of Residence? | Pacific Northwest |
| What are your pronouns? | They/them/theirs |
| What is your gender Identity? | Non Binary |
| What is your sexual identity? | Queer |
| What is are your racial identities? | African American |
| What is/are your ethnicities? (Culture, nationality, ancestry, language) | I’m Black. I don’t know exactly where my people are from besides Lousiana and St. Louis. English and AAVE |
| How did you first get into Leather and/or Kink? | Offline |
| Give a Brief Description of your entrance into Leather and/or Kink | S&M was a part of my sex as soon as I became sexually active. I liked giving and receiving pain. I would be 28 years old before I got into the kink scene online and venturing to my first play space. |
| What was your local scene like when you were starting? How is it now, by comparison? | My local scene definitely felt more welcoming 8 years ago then it does now. We had the Center for Sex Positive Culture in Seattle and it was like a hub for all the different groups to meet, socailize, learn and play. A few years ago when the CSPC moved, that community vibe just sort of died. There isn’t a hub and it seems like as we start pushing for more seats at the remaining tables, that the push back is even more intense now. People don’t want to make more seats or give up seats because they are afraid of losing power. |
| Who’s the most influential Black person. In your life and why? | Ms. Briq House. She is a burlesque performer/producers, sex worker, sexual healer, Goddess/Dominant, and activist in Seattle. She has created space for other people of color to explore dance, sex, and kink, while making a name for herself as a Black, queer, fat womxn. I am in owe of her. |
| What book have you read that influenced your life and why? | I haven’t found one that has influenced my life. |
| Talk about one of your favorite experiences in your local Kink and/or Leather Community. | Planning and executing my first 3 day FemDom conference in September of 2018. |
| Do you have a favorite mantra or quote? If so, please share. | Queens adjust each others crowns, not knock them off. |
| Name of Clubs you have been a part of? (Please also notate duration, leadership positions if any, and membership levels) | None |
| Are you a founding member of any club(s)? | No |
| If you answered yes to previous question please list club(s), or write n/a. | n/a |
| Are you a founding member of any organization? | No |
| If you answered yes to previous question please list organization(s), or write n/a. | n/a |
| Were there any other Black leather folks around in the leather scene when you came into the scene/community? | Maybe |
| If so, did you find that you gravitated more towards each other? If not, how did this affect your experience? Did you build your own community? Say more about your experience. | There weren’t any in the Seattle area very visible anyway until fairly recently. I haven’t had the opportunity to build a Black Leather or kink community. I have attempted to hold POC munches with very little success. |
| Do you think being Black has hampered your experience in the leather/kink community at all? | Yes |
| If it has, what kind of things did you do to try and remedy those issues? If it hasn’t, please describe. | I attempted to get on the board of the Center of Sex Positive Culture. I attempted to help the organization when they were seeking a new board. Each time I was written off. I have kept my foot in the community through hosting vendor fairs twice a year, volunteering at KinkFest in Portland yearly, and I started a FemDom events group called Diadem-Events almost three years ago. |
| Is there a specific instance where you feel your Blackness enhanced your experience in Leather? | Maybe |
| If you answered “yes” or “maybe” please explain. | I don’t really know. |
| What is a specific challenge you had coming up in Leather that was unrelated to race/ethnicity? | Being fat. Being fat and femme is hard. |
| How do you find you’re treated in the Leather community vs. the greater LGBT community? | I’m not really seen in either. I do more work in the LGBT community due to my work in the burlesque community. |
| Do you feel that the leather community and embracing blackness has a positive outlook? | Maybe |
| Please explain your previous response. | I think we have a very long road ahead of us. |
| What advice would you give to newcomers in the Leather scene who are Black? | Find your people, find people that you connect with, that you can be yourself with and not have to educate all the time. Finding people that you don’t have to use your emotional labor with all the time, that is the place that you can truly be yourself and breathe in a world that wants to take from you. |
Master Hope
KiKi is a wonderful person who practices what she preaches and stands behind what she believes.