A Kink Fest in Long Beach was filled with spanking, wrestling and howling on Nov. 23.
A crowd of pups, fetishists, and many others gathered in downtown Long Beach to celebrate the kink community.
Several attendees at the event identify themselves as pups which is part of a subculture where people engage in pup-play where the individual identifies as a dog and can even include having a handler.
A handler would be someone who cares for their pup just like Lupe Uribe who is a handler for Long Beach City College student Violet.
Dealing with the power exchange is an obstacle for a new member of the pup community such as Violet.
“I come from a really closed minded family, ever since my mothers passing, being a handler has been a great way for me to open up my sexuality,” says Uribe.
Other attendees included drag performers such as Anne Archy who is a Long Beach local and performs at Hamburger Marys.
The event was hosted in Long Beach and had a better turnout than expected according to one of the organizers of the event, Reina Power Violet.
“This specific event is for queer folks who get lonely around the holidays, a lot of us really feel isolated,” said Reina Power Violet, “being part of the kinky and queer makes you feel even more isolated, there is an underserved kinky and queer population in Long Beach”.
There were two performances at the event, including a lesbian trans wrestling match and provocative sadist performance.
The first event was the trans wrestling match performed by Vanessa Ness and Fern Seraphine.
The second performance included a dominatrix punishing her submissive by spanking, pinching and slapping them accompanied by music.
In the kink community, a submissive is someone who yields and engages in power exchange where they obey their dominatrices.
Some examples of this power exchange include being kept on a leash, wearing straightjackets and engaging in physical sadomasochist activities such as spanking and whipping.
One attendee, Michelle Jackson who won Miss Leather San Diego 2005, has been a part of the kink community since the late 90s and is 68 years old and is still active.
Michelle Jackson knew she had a love of leather since the age of five when she first smelled leather boots.
After getting a job as an ASL interpreter, she was hired to interpret at a leather event and fell in love with the community and began to go to kink and leather events.
“The biggest misconception is that it’s us and them, a lot of people are kinky and just don’t know it,” said Jackson.
Donations were collected and went towards the National Indigenous Women’s resource center to help cover funds used by the organizers.