I am new to the scene and decided to visit the local (Scotland) Fetish/BDSM club, Violate. I spoke to people online before attending. When the 9th of February arrived, I travelled to Edinburgh where the club was meeting that month, and found my way into the function room by following the people in fetish clothing. Once inside the dark cellar, very appropriate, I found the bar, nice prices, and waited until I recognised or was recognised by people I had met on-line. When that happened I was able to relax and enjoy myself.

I've just found a new fetish site that might be of interest - www.fantasybodywear.com. My girlfriend has bought the aptly named fanny skirt which I do like, try it out you might find something...

Thankyou to various people who've nominated us for a New Statesman New Media award in the Online Communities category - I don't suppose we'll be seeing a fetish site win any mainstream media awards anytime soon, but it's a nice thought! If you want to nominate us too, click here (try to use the same organisation name and URL as other people ('UK Fetish Info' and 'http://ukfetish.info/') as this will mean all the votes go in one place).

IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. It's a type of instant chat network that has been around for almost as long as the Internet - longer than the web, and a lot longer than ICQ, AIM, and all the other instant messenger things. This article aims to give you a quick guide to getting on IRC, and where to go once you're on there.

My partner and I attended a lovely fetish party in Paris recently - I thought I'd post a little review. The party was on Sunday 27th January - a special event was being held to celebrate someones birthday - coincidentally it coincided with my own birthday :)

Okay, so I'm exaggerating a little for effect... but basically, the guy who played Wesley Crusher in Star Trek TNG is doing a movie at the moment where he gets tied up by a pro domme at one stage... the details can be read in his own words in his weblog, and I'll include the relevant excerpt below...

A small group of us spent a quiet evening in (hiding from atrocious weather) and the talk turned to bondage. Having in my possession a copy of 'The Seductive Art of Japanese Bondage', we decided to have a go. All the people concerned had never attempted any Japanese Bondage before, so we were all rather nervous and all finger and thumbs.

I am sad to announce that Le Cage in Manchester has suffered an arson attack on Sunday 3rd February.

This is a very taboo subject which results in many men feeling very confused and isolated. It's certainly not what you would discuss with your hetro-mates down the pub on a Saturday night. But because of the nature of what I do for a living I am very aware that in reality it's a lot more common than most straight men care to admit.

Fed up with opening your newspaper on February 14th to see page after page of vomit-inducing declarations of vanilla love? Wish to see a few more thorns amongst the roses? Chains amongst the cherubs?