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stormiKnightBEAR -> RE: Old Guard? (8/24/2004 6:34:29 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Interesdom
A lot of people online seem to use the term "old guard" to somehow increase their apparent worth to unwary would-be submissives. The same kind of people will often grant themselves knighthoods and appear online as "Lord" someone or "Sir" such-and-such.
You need to be very cautious of terms like "Old Guard", "European School", "Training House" etc. If approached with this sort of talk, I would urge you to ask specific questions to determine just what they mean.
The oldest reference I'm aware of to "Old Guard" in relation to BDSM is a loose group of gay men in the 1950s who were into S&M. It's a military term and many of these men were ex-army. Here's a link on a variance of this by a respected English dominant: http://www.enslavement.org.uk/20040521234148134
Just to make it more confusing, SOME people calling themselves by titles or using terms like "Leather Guard" are quite OK and even have good, or at least benign, reasons. If you handle outlandish statements from men calling themselves dominant with the same degree of caution as would treat a door-to-door salesman making fantastic-sounding claims then you should be safe from being fooled.
For the most part this girl agrees. However, there is not one single person that this girl knows in her own Leather Community
that refers to themself as Old Guard even though they are highly respected and thought of being a living example of Old Guard.
Old Guard did start or have its roots begin right after WWII when the former military men came back and
were at a loss for the comradeship and structure that their young lives had found in serving their country as well as for some
getting to finally face their sexuality without ridicule. Back then there were beginnings of clubs like Hells Angels, since motorcycles
were apart of the service for some of these fellows, it was a easy flow to find uniform wearing former military men riding "bikes"
and hanging out for the afternoon or day or two or more. Plus, this made it "okay" for those men who had come to realize where
their sexuality really was. Some were married and had discovered they were gay and not alone. Remember back then if you were
gay there was something seriously "wrong" with you.
Old Guard is rooted in the protocol of the military closely. Those young men were looking for the instruction-direction-structure that
they had found in the military while serving. The motorcylce clubs had their "Majors, Seargents, Captains, and so on..." This allowed
a "submissive" man to stand at attention, respond with "Yes Sir" without ridicule.
There are Doms out there (*stormi knows first hand having met one of them face to face in the community*) that swear they were
Old Guard trained in England by such and such house or that they got their "Master's" certificate after passing the training and testing
of ... however many... in this case it was 12 highly trained English and Russian Masters. That only those with those certificates are the
true Master. (Now remember back then.... stormi was a submiissive female named sassy... who promptly pick up a napkin and wrote
certified Master of BULL____..... well you get the idea and handed it too him with tears of laughter.)
With all the discussion and yes even the disagreements that stormi has had about Old Guard, stormi truly does believe in its roots.
stormi admires the structure and like those young men, stormi blossoms under the structure. Structure is something different to
everyone and it provides something different to everyone. Just as Old Guard does, for this girl it provides a rich history of living your
life be it vanilla or BDSM with Honor, Respect for others as well as yourself, Pride in the history of Leather and in the life you're living,
Structure - for some of us when things are rough in life it's the structure that keeps us going. It's a solid foundation of passing on the
torch to the next Guard (generation).
Your warning is very warranted. But there are truly dayum few that call themself Old Guard. Most who consider themself Old Guard
refer to themself as admiring or pulling some of their protocol from the Old Guard. No one that stormi knows wears a tag, or prints
a certificate that says "OLD GUARD MASTER" of ..... bull??? LOL. Sorry sometimes the humor is still there..... [:)]
It would be fabulous if those with questions about Old Guard would attend a local National Leather Association meeting in their area,
or attend a Leather event and go to the seminars or presentations of clubs talking about Old Guard. It's an education that you will not
forget, because you'd be surprised at how much might appeal to you. But remember you are truly only Old Guard in others eyes. Referring
to one's self as Old Guard is not enough.
The highest compliment as a submissive - slave that this girl ever received was after a presentation on a panel when someone from another
community that was very well known told stormi that she did have the mind set of an Old Guard slave, that stormi's beliefs and heart blended
with those traditions. Do not misunderstand that statement, stormi is NOT perfect, unfortunately occassionally stormi's temper and over developed
sense of right and wrong get in the way, but stormi does believe that her primary position is that of slave to Master Bear.
Thank you for allowing this girl her 25 cents worth.
Thank You also Interesdom Sir for your post.
Be Well,
stormi
property of Master Bear
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