Highlights of My Winter Flea

Everyone's 2014 Winter Fetish Fair Fleamarket was totally different. Just for starters, there were often *seven* simultaneous classes, all with tantalizing topics (including things you might never have thought of, like balloon bondage!)

But of course the real Flea happens outside the classes. This year I skipped the saturday night ball, barely went to the vendors, and didn't really meet a ton of new people, but it was a total blast and I felt like I used my time well. This is still the only giant kink event I've been to - my first time was just the Saturday last year, and thank god for that warmup - so I don't have much to compare it to, but I completely see how people can build their year around it. I'm so grateful to the hard working volunteers at the New England Leather Alliance for making this happen.

The highlights of my personal Flea:

* Meeting the nice and interesting people who stopped by the New England Hypnosis Group community table, and both teaching and learning bits of info about erotic hypnosis with them.

* An unexpected one: the shuttle rides between the overflow hotel and the con, which I had worried would be a drag. It worked, the drivers were fun, and it was great for chatting with people. On our first trip, PhotoJoseph and I met the first transgender person to serve on the front lines in Afghanistan! She had an outfit with a nifty militaristic flair, which went well with her military posture.

* On another shuttle ride, I chatted with a couple in their 70s, who had gone to their first Flea 15 years ago. "That was a real eye opener!" I asked them how the Flea had changed over the years. They noted that they didn't see much in the way of bears like they used to, specifically large populations of men in very skimpy leather loincloths. There used to be a Mr and Mrs Leather award ceremony. They said the crowd was a bit younger and nerdier, which they found to be a positive. After a little thought, the woman said, "Oh, and steampunk! That's new."

* 6 solid hours of erotic hypnosis classes! (Out of a potential 12 hours!!) On saturday I started at 9 am and the last one was at 9:45 pm. Heaven!

* Watching a middle aged ponyboy elegantly pulling a carriage through the community tables area, with a woman in cat ears riding high like a duchess.

* Getting habituated to the carriage after they trotted by a few times, only taking notice again when the woman gave a lift to another woman rocking PJs and a pacifier, riding on her lap.

* Seeing all the various interpretations of kink wear, from Comic-con worthy costumes including wings and fangs, to streetwear with just a touch of subversion. I truly could not summarize how people dressed. Although I can say that cat ears were really, really popular.

* A million versions of gender bending and gender fucking. Even I with my fairly settled, privileged identity felt a distinct sense of relief and freedom.

* Using exclusively all-gender bathrooms at the actual con, making me reflect on how traditional segregated bathrooms are sort of propaganda for the binary, and are probably a minor manifestation of rape culture.

* Meeting other hypnokinksters from outside Boston. In particular, the fierce young consent warriors and hypno researchers from what may be, very improbably, the recreational hypnosis capital of the world: a small liberal arts college in Western Mass. Hope to report more about them soon!

* Doing a trance after midnight, in a hotel meeting room that was set up as a board room.

* Meeting the sexy Rocky Horror Picture Show shadow cast.

* Getting into Midori's humiliation class just under the wire, and experiencing the charisma of that superstar presenter. The message was simple: for erotic humiliation, you figure out what are the "load bearing pillars" in someone's sense of self, and then knock out ones that are not those, like say their gender expression - which can help them to feel the strength of those core pillars (but you still put those non-load-bearing ones back at the end). But the way it was presented, including an intense and sexy mini-scene, was unforgettable.

* Making time for a hot hypno scene in between two classes, that we could only pull off in a hotel room.

* My friend talking me into letting her suspend me from a luggage cart - my first rope suspension ever. Getting mocked for singing under my breath during the tying, specifically "How Do You Know" from the Enchanted soundtrack. It was stuck in my head!

* Seeing a bunch of my Boston friends outside of their customary setting, dressed to the nines and at play. (even if sometimes stressed out) When it comes to the con experience, friends make all the difference in the world.