WThis is a list of educational, campaigning and community organizations related to BDSM.
WThe Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives (ALGA) is a community-based non-profit organisation committed to the collection, preservation and celebration of material reflecting the lives and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex LGBTI Australians. It is located in Melbourne. The Archives was established as an initiative of the 4th National Homosexual Conference, Sydney, August 1978, drawing on the previous work of founding President Graham Carbery. Since its establishment the collection has grown to over 200,000 items, constituting the largest and most significant collection of material relating to LGBT Australians and the largest collection of LGBT material in Australia, and the most prominent research centre for gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans and intersex history in Australia.
WThe Center for Sex Positive Culture (CSPC), formerly known as The Wet Spot, is a non-profit, membership-based organization located in Seattle, Washington. It organizes events and provides space for several different sex-positive subcultures, notably BDSM, swinging, and polyamory groups. CSPC welcomes people of all sexual identities and seeks to encompass all consensual sexual practices. The Center is a 501(c)(7) recreational club; its sister organization, the Foundation for Sex Positive Culture is a 501(c)(3) charitable/educational organization.
WCome As You Are is a sex-positive sex shop located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1997 by Cory Silverberg as a worker-owner co-operative in the model of Good Vibrations, Come As You Are has an educational and community-based mandate, and provides a fully accessible store and workshop environment. Come As You Are is known for providing a safe and comfortable environment where people can access sex information and products, as well as their work making sex toys more accessible for people with disabilities.
WThe Exotic Erotic Ball was held annually around Halloween time in the San Francisco Bay Area of California and was the longest-running public adult-themed event in the world. Over three decades, the annual indoor event became a major attraction in the San Francisco Bay and was attended by nearly half a million people since its inception with steadily increasing growth in attendance each year until 2010, when the event was cancelled due to poor ticket sales and cost overruns. The 2011 ball was never planned. Due to the worldwide popularity of the event the City of San Francisco issued three proclamations for “Exotic Erotic Ball Day,” twice by Mayor Willie Brown in 1999 and again in 2001, and once by Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2004. In 2011 and 2012, similar but unrelated events, Masquerotica and the XO Ball & Expo, respectively, filled the void left by the demise of the original Exotic Erotic.
WThe Federal Association for Sadomasochism is an association of various groups and persons of the German BDSM subculture. It sees itself as an information platform in the field of sadomasochism, is recognized as charitable and benevolent, and has been since the beginning of 2005 a member of the German Society for Social-Scientific Sexuality Research and officially registered as a lobbying organization at the German Bundestag.
WFetLife is a social networking website that serves people interested in BDSM, fetishism, and kink. On its homepage, FetLife describes itself as "Like Facebook, but run by kinksters like you and me." The "Fet" in the name refers to "fetish". FetLife distinguishes itself from competitors by emphasizing itself as a social network rather than a dating site. It is on principle supportive of fringe sexual practices.
WFolsom Europe is an annual BDSM and leather subculture street fair held in September in Berlin, Germany. Folsom Europe was established in 2003 in order to bring the non-profit leather festival concept pioneered by the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco to Europe. Today this is the biggest gay fetish event in Europe together with BLF's "Easter in Berlin" which is held every Easter in Berlin. BLF is the gay leather organisation in Berlin. BLF stands for Berlin Leder und Fetisch e.V. The main area for the two fetish festivals is in Schöneberg. The Folsom Europe street festival is at Fuggerstrasse and Welserstrasse, close to Wittenbergplatz.
WFolsom Street Fair (FSF) is an annual BDSM and leather subculture street fair, held in September, that caps San Francisco's "Leather Pride Week". The Folsom Street Fair, sometimes simply referred to as "Folsom", takes place on Folsom Street between 8th and 13th Streets, in San Francisco's South of Market district.
WInsex was one of the biggest BDSM pornographic websites on the Internet and arguably the most extreme American pornographic production featuring female submissives. It was also a leading innovator in both live video streaming, pioneering the concept before broadband Internet access existed, and in the depiction of BDSM practices on the Internet. It existed from 1997 to 2005 and was run by "Intersec Interactive Inc.", a company owned by the website's creator, Brent Scott, former Carnegie Mellon professor, known as "pd". Insex developed a cult following among BDSM enthusiasts due to its uncommonly severe and realistic depiction of sadomasochistic practices. It was also known for its interactive "Live Feeds" which allowed members to make direct suggestions and requests. In late 2006, Insex ended the production of original material, citing increased pressure from conservatives within the U.S. Justice Department.
WInternational Mr. Leather (IML) is an international, though largely American, conference and contest of leathermen held annually in May since 1979 in Chicago, Illinois.
WThe National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF) is an American sex-positive advocacy and educational organization founded in 1997. NCSF has over one hundred coalition partners, and over sixty supporting members. NCSF advocates on behalf of adults involved in alternative lifestyles with respect to sexuality and relationship composition, specifically for tolerance and non-discrimination of those so identified, as well as education for adults involved in such lifestyles. The organization's main office is in Baltimore, Maryland.
WThe Other World Kingdom is a large, commercial BDSM and femdom facility, resort, and micronation, which opened in 1996 using the buildings and grounds of a 16th-century chateau located in the municipality of Černá in Žďár nad Sázavou District, Czech Republic. Although not recognized by any other country, it maintains its own currency, passports, police force, courts, state flag and state hymn.
WThe Society of Janus is the second BDSM organization founded in the United States and is a San Francisco, California based BDSM education and support group. It was founded in August 1974 by Cynthia Slater and Larry Olsen. According to the Leather Hall of Fame biography of Slater, she said of the Society of Janus,
WTorture Garden is a fetish club in London, UK. The club started in 1990 and is now Europe's largest fetish club. It features dance floors, musical acts, performance art, fashion shows, and an S&M 'dungeon'.
WThe Up Your Alley Fair, most commonly referred to by locals as Dore Alley Fair or simply Dore Alley is a leather and fetish event held in San Francisco, California on the last Sunday of July on Folsom Street between 9th and 10th Streets and on Dore Street from Howard Street to half a block southeast of Folsom Street. The streets are lined with vendors' booths, and a sound stage is located at the 10th Street end of Folsom Street.