REAF Reflections - Third Rail Kink in MeatSpace
Anyone who’s been around for a while on my SocMed pages knows I’m a Northerner—I live in Buffalo, New York (AKA Baby Canada)—and so I get to have access to all the fun shit that entails, including the Rochester Erotic Arts Festival (REAF). Usually when it comes to festivals and conventions and whatever else, I’m lagging behind on deadlines and dates because there’s so much else going on so I miss them. Not this time. I was finally able to get tickets and book a hotel and go, spending the whole weekend wandering around in a mom sweater and leggings looking like a kid on Christmas morning as my coworker and I (yes, I brought a coworker) sat in on a bootblacking seminar.
Every year, REAF takes over an entire hotel and closes it down to make sure that no minors or unauthorized persons are allowed in, checking passes at the door and keeping everything and everyone appraised of the rules and regs when it comes to photography, nudity, etc., while vendors can openly display and sell everything: monster dildos and fuck machines, diaper kink anime prints, and leather dog masks, it’s all fair game. All workshops that aren’t included in the swingers/dungeon portion of the event are free and anyone can go to anything without even having to sign up for it. From Disney Karaoke in the Little’s Room to Dramatic Erotic Roleplay with mermaid tail props, the workshops are a bundle of informative fun with absolutely zero judgment and a carefree environment to just be and be happy.
REAF was, in a word: magical. But in all the ways it was exactly what I expected, I was still a little disappointed that it was exactly what I expected. Ponies, Littles, Diapers, Leather, Electro, Cat Ears, BDSM, DDlg, Monster Cock, Dungeon-in-a-Bag, Garfield with big huge mommy milkers…but…no Nazis. Despite that there were other “Third Rail” kinks, there was just a natural lack of uniform kink. Even though it was referenced in the bootblacking seminar, there were no vendors, events, or performances that alluded to it and the only place one popped up was from the Officer Decent character in the Punch and Judy show.
In my discussions with several other festival-goers, I discovered that this wasn’t a conscious choice, it was just a natural deficit. Since the Muskapo (I’m still workshopping the portmanteau for ICE, our American Gestapo) is currently prowling neighborhoods and practically black-bagging randoms, it might just feel a little too close for most creators right now. Much like we face a relative dearth of pieces of art or fiction in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic because of the closeness to our lived experiences, it might be difficult sometimes for people to dig into their fear and pick it apart in ways that they’re comfortable openly sharing with others. It’s a lot more fun to peruse a vendor booth with colorful folded ribbon art (kanzashi) than to pick up art which might challenge you to find eroticism in the fetishization of evil. Things like this require not just the artist/author to strip away the skin of the beast, but the viewer/audience as well.
Despite this, I think I’ve decided to make the attempt to vend next year. I’ve got several little zines, the ability to make vinyl stickers, and the rizz to make it happen…at least, I hope I do. I had several chats about Nazisploitation and, gotta be honest, things just aren’t that serious in real life. Absolutely nobody makes assumptions about you in meatspace that they would online. There’s a complete understanding that if you’re there, you’re about it, and what I mean by “it” is the principles upon which the entire event is based: acceptance, consent, and respect. I’m looking forward to it and hoping I’ll have even more projects to put on a table.