So today Graydancer, the ninja sex poodle and ronin of love of  Ropcast.net fame, posted a rant in his podcast that I’ve been waiting for since Sunday night of Black Rose.

You can find said “rant” HERE.

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I think “rant” I think Denis Leary and Lewis Black, not a well reasoned observation and conclusion to be responsible about what one teaches. So, on the “rant” front, kind of disappointing.

I’ll give you the Cliffs Notes for context, but you should listen to what he has to say on your own. His basic thesis is this: General Pansexual Kinky Events – such as Black Rose, TES-Fest, Dark Odyssey, etc – are not the place to teach suspension.

He gives several supporting evidence for this, such as poor control as to making sure that the people who come to the 2nd half of a class go to the 1st half. Another notable observation he makes is that people who don’t even know if they like rope at all are going to these classes, completely skipping over 101 and going right to grad school (my phrasing, not his).

Where I disagree is that the answer is (for him) to not teach rope suspension at these events at all.

My first reason for disagreeing is this – often these events are the only exposure people get beyond their tiny local scene to people who REALLY know what the fuck they are doing. It is REALLY difficult for the much group in the middle of Armpit, Virginia to afford the travel, lodging, and expenses of bringing out a BIG name to teach an all day suspension workshop. So individuals from those areas go to the big weekend events to learn all they can to bring back to the community. (more…)