Guy Baldwin
Encyclopedia
Guy Baldwin, M.S., born 1946, is a Los Angeles-based psychotherapist, author
, activist and educator specializing in issues of particular relevance to the BDSM
and leather
communities, and more generally in issues relating to non-heteronormative
practices. He asserts that consenting sexualities which include non-injurious elements of sadomasochism (bondage, flagellation, domination, submission and others) do not by themselves confirm mental illness or psychosexual dysfunction.
He is co-founder with Race Bannon of an internet-based professional referral resource, the KAP list, now administered by the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom. He continues to teach at various lifestyle events across the U.S. and Canada.
He has written three books, as well as numerous articles for such magazines as Drummer Magazine, Frontiers, Checkmate, International Leatherman, and The Leather Journal.
and International Mr. Leather. He is the only person to have held these two titles in the same year.
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, activist and educator specializing in issues of particular relevance to the BDSM
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
and leather
Leather subculture
The leather subculture denotes practices and styles of dress organized around sexual activities. Wearing leather garments is one way that participants in this culture self-consciously distinguish themselves from mainstream sexual cultures...
communities, and more generally in issues relating to non-heteronormative
Heteronormativity
Heteronormativity is a term invented in 1991 to describe any of a set of lifestyle norms that hold that people fall into distinct and complementary genders with natural roles in life. It also holds that heterosexuality is the normal sexual orientation, and states that sexual and marital relations...
practices. He asserts that consenting sexualities which include non-injurious elements of sadomasochism (bondage, flagellation, domination, submission and others) do not by themselves confirm mental illness or psychosexual dysfunction.
He is co-founder with Race Bannon of an internet-based professional referral resource, the KAP list, now administered by the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom. He continues to teach at various lifestyle events across the U.S. and Canada.
He has written three books, as well as numerous articles for such magazines as Drummer Magazine, Frontiers, Checkmate, International Leatherman, and The Leather Journal.
Leather Titles
In 1989, Baldwin held two leather titles: Mr. National Leather AssociationNational Leather Association International
National Leather Association:International is a contemporary BDSM organization based in the United States. NLA-I is a pansexual organization with chapters all over the United States and Canada. It is an association of leather peoples with a common philosophy...
and International Mr. Leather. He is the only person to have held these two titles in the same year.
Awards
- 1994 received a Pantheon of Leather West Coast Regional Award
- 2000 named a Centurion by the Leather Archives and MuseumLeather Archives and MuseumThe Leather Archives & Museum , based in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, USA, has much information and details on the beginning of the leather subculture and BDSM community...
. - 2001 received a Pantheon of Leather Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2007 recognized as a forebear of the leather sceneLeather subcultureThe leather subculture denotes practices and styles of dress organized around sexual activities. Wearing leather garments is one way that participants in this culture self-consciously distinguish themselves from mainstream sexual cultures...
- 2008 awarded the Leather Leadership Award by the National Gay and Lesbian Task ForceNational Gay and Lesbian Task ForceThe National Gay and Lesbian Task Force builds the political power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community from the ground up. The Task Force is the country’s premier social justice organization fighting to improve the lives of LGBT people, and working to create positive, lasting...
Conferences
- 2008 opening keynote address at Arouse! 2008 Leather Leadership Conference
- 2009 and 2010 special guest at the Master/slave Conference
Essays
- "A Second Coming Out." Frontiers Magazine (1990). Reprinted in
- "Old Guard": Its Origins, Traditions, Mystique & Rules, in Rear View Mirror..
- "Radical Rite" in .
Short Fiction
. Reprinted in .- "Lord of the Snow" in . Reprinted in .
Introductions and Forwards
- Forward by Guy Baldwin, M.S.,
- Forward by Guy Baldwin
Interviews (in print)
- "The Exiled Self" in
External links
- Leather History Timeline at the Leather Archives and MuseumLeather Archives and MuseumThe Leather Archives & Museum , based in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, USA, has much information and details on the beginning of the leather subculture and BDSM community...
- Interview with Sensuous Sadie