Old Guard

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Old Guard describes the structures and the understanding of roles within the American gay leather scene between the end of the Second World War and around the mid-1980s. The counter-movement that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s is known as New Guard or New Leather .

Old Guard

Larry Townsend 's 1972 book The Leatherman's Handbook represents the connection between the leather gay scene and BDSM and describes the Old Guard's code of conduct. These rules of conduct emphasized, among other things, a strict definition and division of roles between the dominant and submissive partner ( e.g. no switching ) and formal and emphatically male behavior among each other. Other Old Guard practices emphasize values ​​such as discipline, honor, brotherhood and respect and are said to have supported a strict lifestyle and a privilege-based ranking system within the subculture. Due to the state persecution of homosexuals and the social rejection of the subculture, the Old Guard-influenced scene closed off from the outside in the form of circles.

In retrospect, this time is often transfigured, the role polarity is described as pleasant, given the increasing proportion of the subculture switching. It is unclear whether there actually was a set career that sadomasochists had to go through from bottom to top , but it is often mentioned, for example in the novel Mister Benson, which is well-known in the leather scene .

Occasionally the early gay movement is also referred to as the Old Guard.

New Guard

As a countermovement to the rigid structure of the Old Guard, the New Guard, also known as New Leather, emerged in the 1980s and 1990s. This movement was positive about switching, accepted a much wider range of erotic varieties, and promoted the number of pansexual clubs. This term is mostly used in the US, while Old Guard is also used in Europe as a synonym for the restrictive view of BDSM.

High and Low Protocol

Another linguistic distinction between the rigid and the moderate view of the distribution of roles and the rules of conduct is the group-related term high or low protocol , whereby the high protocol describes the strict conceptions of the Old Guard and the low protocol rather a moderate one and describes relaxed handling of BDSM issues.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Datenschlag - Paper Tiger: Old Guard
  2. ↑ John Preston: Mr. Benson: A Novel , Cleis Press; New Ed, 2004. ISBN 1573441945
  3. ↑ Datenschlag - Paper Tiger: New Leather

literature

  • Larry Townsend: The Leatherman's Handbook: Silver Jubilee Edition , LT Publications, 2000. ISBN 1881684199
  • Joseph W. Bean: Leathersex: A Guide for the Curious Outsider and the Serious Player , Daedalus Publishing Company, 1994. ISBN 1881943054
  • Robert Davolt: Painfully Obvious: An Irreverent & Unauthorized Manual for Leather / SM , Daedalus Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1881943194