LadyShoshin -> RE: Am I alone? (10/21/2004 4:15:46 PM)
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ORIGINAL: UtahGoddess <sighs> First of all I want to thank you for listening to my rant and considering my question. I was asked by a local girl (sub) to introduce her to people in the Community so I agreed to take her to a local munch. She is brand new to the lifestyle and uncertain about what to expect. Based on her schedule we agreed to attend a local coffee. The coffee went well. So well in fact we decided to join the group at a local restaurant for after coffee dinner. (Warning....rant starts here) About 20 - 25 of us decend on a local diner. Half way through dinner the DOMS start tossing french fries accross the room at each other, escalating up to lettuce. I was appalled and embarrassed. To make it worse, one of the participants looked at me laughingly and said "This is how we get kicked out of restaurants!" (As if it were a merit badge) I got up and made my exit. Though I was annoyed, embarrassed and yes...ashamed...a deeper feeling settled into me as I turned it over in my mind. A feeling I can't quite put into words. Language is sometimes so limiting. I felt the members and leaders in my community were making a mockery of my beliefs. That I had become a part of some Bizzaro world. Now....some will accuse me of taking things too seriously. They may be right. I do feel a responsibility to be an example to others. I feel a duty to represent my community in a dignified way, especially to outsiders. I require of myself the same protocol and standards I expect from my boys..... maybe even moreso. Perhaps my ideas and aspirations are too romantic and idealised. But I see this lifestyle as one filled with nobility, honor, dignity, chivalry..... peppered with courtly behavior and protocol. It is how I treat others and how I expect to be treated (both Dom/me and sub alike). It upsets me greatly to be seen as side show freaks, clowns or deviants....especially when it is members of my own community that project that image. Don't get me wrong. I like to play and have fun as much as anyone else. But when I am in the public eye, I try and project the best image possible of what this lifestyle is about. I want people to see us and say to themselves "I want to be a part of that" not be horrified (or amused) by juvenile or inappropriate behavior. Am I alone in my thinking? Is it wrong of me to expect a certain level of maturity? Ms Sandi It is one thing if we are in a venue that is kinksters & only kinksters to kick up our heels. Telling jokes, laughing, no problem, but when community members begin acting like 5 year olds in public, they have crossed the line. I wouldn't let my 4 year old grandson behave like that in public. We gripe about the image the vanilla world has of us, we try one person at a time to debunk the stereotypes. Unacceptable behaviour isn't helping our cause at all. And it certainly won't make the group welcome back at the restaurant. I run a munch, people behaving in that manner would be taken aside quietly and told to behave or leave. I would have been mortified as you were. And never return to that munch.
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