LRA—a private, pansexual social club and a nonprofit organization—welcomed author and leather activist Vi Johnson for an inside look into the history of leather and kinky play; its spread; and sometimes harsh attacks and censorship from those against the lifestyle.
During the 1970s, Johnson started to explore what she termed her "kinky" side with her partner and grew a certain affinity to leather play and other fetishes. Through her exploration, Johnson collected a number of historical periodicals associated with particular fetishes, memorabilia and other art pieces. Over the course of 30 years, Johnson's collection grew to what it now known as The Carter/Johnson Leather Library, a traveling collection of thousands of books, magazines, posters, art, club and event pins, newspapers, event programs and ephemera showing leather, fetish, and S/M erotic history according to the website. In addition to Johnson's talk, guests were free to roam through Johnson's traveling library. Johnson hopes that people will leave with a better historical understanding of the leather, kinky and fetish community when coming to view her library.
"When people come to view the library, I hope they get a bit of education—if nothing else a sense of self and a sense of pride. There's a certain security in knowing that you're not alone and that you joined a very long, historical line," said Johnson.
LRA president Min was delighted to host Johnson at the organization's establishment in Edgewater. According to Min, the primary mission behind LRA is to provide education about the different facets within the leather community on both a physiology and psychological level.
"By reputation alone, we're very aware of what the library contains and what it represents—and what an iconic figure in the leather community that momma V.I. is for people. She is literally living leather history. So, to bring her to Chicago and to LRA is an honor," Min said.
New member Trystero joined LRA because of the people and the openness of discussion and dialogue in a public setting.
"I particularly like LRA because it seems that they really focus on leather pride, leather core values, the mentorship and engaging in dialogue so that people will learn about leather etiquette and how to interact with each other," said Trystero.
LRA is the successor to the oldest Chicago BDSM Dungeon and Leather Club. According to its website, LRA aims to create a safe space for all sexual identities and orientations who participate or are curious of alternative lifestyles dealing with leather, kink, or other fetishes.
Find out more at www.lra-chicago.org/index.html .
