BESS

BESS Baltimore Educational and Social Society Contact: Person 1 BESS Corporate Team (xxx) xxx xxxx Person 2 BESS Outreach Team (xxx) xxx xxxx (office) (xxx) xxx xxxx (home) 11/05/09 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 2 3 4 5 Planned Meeting Schedule for 2001 What is the Baltimore Educational and Social Society? What are typical educational topics? Is Domination & Submission Abuse ? Security and Sensitivity – Hotel Guests and Staff Other Hotels Nationally Successful Meetings Magazine 6 7 11/05/09 Meeting Schedule for 2001 BESS Education Meetings take place on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. In addition, a New Contributor Orientation is on the first Wednesday of the month, requiring an extra hour before the Education Meeting. BESS also holds an Orientation and Education Meeting on a Saturday once each quarter. Wednesday Night Schedule Setup (30 minutes) Orientation Meeting (1/2 hour) Education Meeting (2 hours) Clear out (30 minutes) 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Quarterly Saturday Schedule 4:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Setup (30 minutes) Orientation Meeting (1/2 hour) Education Meeting (2 hours) Clear Out (30 minutes) Wednesday September 19 Wednesday September 5 Saturday, September 29 Wednesday October 3 Wednesday October 17 Wednesday November 7 Wednesday December 5 Wednesday December 19 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. 6:30 p.m. to 10.00 p.m. 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. 11/05/09 What is the Baltimore Educational and Social Society? The Baltimore Educational and Social Society (BESS) is an education, support and social group for individuals interested in the BDSM (bondage, discipline, dominance, submission and sado-masochism) lifestyle. In support of our members, we host educational and social gatherings. Here, individuals from the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area will come together to share philosophies, technique and safety information related to BDSM. BESS is a not-for-profit organization. It is governed by a 7-member Board of Directors and a voting Contributorship. The main purpose of BESS is to provide a safe, sane and consensual place for members to explore their interest in BDSM lifestyle. In furtherance of this goal, our activities will include:  Regular meetings and parties where members can interact and discuss their interests in a safe and non-judgmental environment.  Providing information on topics of interest such as technical and safety information. This can take the form of seminars and workshops given by leaders in the community, group discussions, and group activities.  Providing support and camaraderie to those who pursue this lifestyle. Since this sort of activity is not well understood by society in general, there are often conflicting feelings on the part of members regarding their participation in it, and what they should expect from a partner in relationships that include aspects of this lifestyle. Here is what BESS is not.  We are not a swingers club. Intercourse is prohibited at any BESS function.  We are not matchmaking or a dating service. Attendance at BESS Education Meetings for the purpose of finding a partner is prohibited.  We are not a club where the public can pay money to see titillating activities. When one of our educational workshop involves nudity of any sort, we will restrict that meeting to card-carrying contributors and guests of contributors. All Contributors are required to attend an orientation meeting which outlines their responsibilities as BESS Contributors. 11/05/09 What are typical educational topics? As with most support/social/educational BDSM groups, our seminars and workshops cover a wide range of issues, and are often taught by nationally known persons in the BDSM community. Topics for the Fall/Winter 2001 BESS Educational Program are: Defining Ourselves Single Tails Ritualization Toy Cleaning and Maintenance Canes and Rods Play and Scene Etiquette Spanking Body Image Toy Making Play Slut Skills Tickling Waxing For more information on the BESS Education schedule, please see our website at BESSmd.org. As with other BDSM groups, we expect that these seminars will be very well attended. 11/05/09 Is BDSM Abuse ? BDSM is absolutely not abuse. Abuse is verbal, emotional, or physical violence, usually occurring in an accelerating cycle. Abuse is always characterized by the lack of consent of one person to the actions of the other. Abuse is generally characterized by the victim's isolation and lack of ability to stop the violence, lack of ability to leave, and almost always occurs in secrecy. Abuse often results in permanent emotional or physical injury. Abuse frequently occurs in combination with the use of drugs or the over-consumption of alcohol. BDSM occurs between freely consenting adults. BDSM is safe, sane, and is always characterized by the explicit consent of the participants to the actions involved. BDSM never results in permanent injury. Each person in any BDSM activity always has the right to stop the activity at any time, is always free to leave, and neither intoxication or drug use is ever allowed. Our events are fully staffed by experienced monitors to ensure full compliance with our rules. BESS is totally opposed to abuse in any form and to any activities that do not involve clear and informed consent between competent adults. We are supporters of the Statement Against Domestic Violence by the National Leather Association, and both supporters of and contributors to the third national Leather Leadership Conference's Policy Reform Project organized by members of the National Organization for Women ( NOW) seeking to gain recognition of BDSM as a non-abusive, consensual issue of freedom of expression between fully informed fully consenting adults. 11/05/09 Security and Sensitivity – Hotel Guests and Staff BESS will ensure that all Education meetings will be conducted in a manner that will ensure the comfort of hotel staff and guests, as well as the confidentiality of BESS meeting attendees. This means that the large majority of BESS meeting attendees will be dressed in nonfetish attire appropriate to a casual meeting in a hotel. In our experience, many come directly to our meetings from work and are dressed in professional suits and dresses. We will have BESS staff at the door to the meeting room to greet BESS participants, to check identification, to politely and discreetly answer question, and to divert individuals who should not be in attendance. BESS attendees will behave in an appropriate manner in public areas of the hotel. Hotel guests and staff should not be able to overtly distinguish BESS participants from any other group meeting in the hotel. 11/05/09 Other Hotels Nationally The following hotels are actively hosting BDSM organizations, although they are not affiliated with BESS. Ramada Inn Conference and Exhibition Center New Carrollton, MD ( Washington, D.C.) The host hotel for “Black Rose X” in 1997, “Black Rose „98” in 1998, “Black Rose ‟99” in November 1999 and “Black Rose 2000" in November 2000. This hotel is scheduled to host "Black Rose 2001" for over 1600 people in November of 2001. Ramada Inn - Central 1150 E. Colfax Denver, CO The host hotel for “Thunder In The Mountains”, in 1998 and 1999. “Thunder” was the largest and most successful new BDSM event in 1998 with approximately 400 people attending it that year. The Congress Hotel 520 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago IL International Mister Leather is the oldest and largest Leathermen‟s event, taking place at The Congress Hotel in 1998 and 1999 and held annually in Chicago for over 15 years. This event draws over 1000 attendees annually. Hyatt, Best Western, and Days Inn (as reported in Successful Meetings Magazine), and Holiday Inn, Doubletree, and Clarion hotels are actively booking BDSM events in many major cities. 11/05/09 An Excerpt from Successful Meetings Magazine "Drag Queens & Frat Boys & Tightwads, Oh My" Successful Meetings May 1999 by Betsy Cummings 'Three nights of dungeon parties. Leather Market, S&M Follies, Kinky Craft Show' the Internet brochure for the third annual Black Rose convention reads like RuPaul's wish list. This year's 1,200-member pansexual convention addresses serious questions, such as how to send the message to other Americans that fetishists, et al are normal people. By most standards, this isn't your run-of-the-mill group (sexuality experts report only 2 to 11 percent of Americans lead "sexually alternative" lifestyles). Nor are its members shy about their choices. And true to their forthright convention, these delegates won't find the answers while hiding out in some secluded retreat in the middle of Montana. Instead, they'll be converging on the fringe of Washington D.C. in New Carrollton, Maryland, this November. „That 1,200 fetishists, transsexuals, and others were welcome in Maryland's hotels is evidence that groups that might have once been, er, "discouraged" by wary hoteliers for their questionable image are now able to find a place at even the country's largest hotel chains: Ramada, Hyatt, Best Western, and Days Inn, for example.‟ 11/05/09