Society of Janus

The Society of Janus is the second BDSM organization founded in the United States (after The Eulenspiegel Society)[1] and is a San Francisco, California based BDSM education and support group. It was founded in August 1974 by Cynthia Slater and Larry Olsen.[2] According to the Leather Hall of Fame biography of Slater, she said of the Society of Janus,

This article is about the BDSM club. For the early homophile organization, see Janus Society.
Society of Janus Booth at the 2004 Folsom Street Fair

"There were three basic reasons why we chose Janus. First of all, Janus has two faces, which we interpreted as the duality of SM (one’s dominant and submissive sides). Second, he’s the Roman god of portals, and more importantly, of beginnings and endings. To us, it represents the beginning of one’s acceptance of self, the beginning of freedom from guilt, and the eventual ending of self-loathing and fear over one’s SM desires. And third, Janus is the Roman god of war--the war we fight against stereotypes commonly held against us."[3]

The Society of Janus is nonprofit, volunteer run and is devoted to the art of safe, consensual and non-exploitative adult power exchange. They publish a bimonthly newsletter called Growing Pains and a monthly schedule of BDSM events called Rapid Release which are mailed to members.

A group called Cardea, a women's discussion group within the Society of Janus, existed from 1977 to 1978 before discontinuing. A core of lesbian members of Cardea, including Pat Califia, who identified as a lesbian at the time, Gayle Rubin, and sixteen others, were inspired to start Samois on June 13, 1978, as an exclusively lesbian BDSM group.[4][5] Samois was a lesbian-feminist BDSM organization based in San Francisco that existed from 1978 to 1983, and was the first lesbian BDSM group in the United States.[6]

The Society of Janus was one of the founding coalition partners of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, which was founded in 1997.[7]

In 2004, the Society of Janus Hall of Fame was established.[8][9] Some of its inductees are: Guy Baldwin, Patrick Califia, Dossie Easton, Janet Hardy, Viola Johnson, Midori, Fakir Musafar, Charles Moser, Gayle Rubin, Cynthia Slater, Jim Ward, Mollena Williams-Haas, and Jay Wiseman.[10]

In 2014, the Society of Janus held their 40th Anniversary Dinner, Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Play Party, which was awarded "Best Organization Anniversary Event" at The SF Leather Community Awards for that year.[11]

In 2017, the art installation known as the San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley was installed; in it Society of Janus cofounder Cynthia Slater is honored with a metal bootprint displaying her name and a short statement about her.[12][13]

In 2018, the Society of Janus was inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame.[14]

See also

References
  1. Margot Weiss (20 December 2011). Techniques of Pleasure: BDSM and the Circuits of Sexuality. Duke University Press. pp. 8–. ISBN 978-0-8223-5159-7.
  2. "About – Society of Janus". Soj.org. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  3. "2014 Leather Hall of Fame Inductee: Cynthia Slater (1945-1989)". Leather Hall of Fame (Inductees List).
  4. Society of Janus: 25 Years (Archived at Archive.org.)
  5. Cameron, Drake (December 2002). "Drake's Event Guide for Leather Women". The Exiles. San Francisco. Archived from the original on 8 February 2005.
  6. Jeffreys, Sheila (1993). The Lesbian Heresy. North Melbourne, Vic., Australia: Spinifex. p. 130. ISBN 978-1-875559-17-6.
  7. "History of NCSF". National Coalition for Sexual Freedom. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  8. "The SINS Center Weekend with Guy Baldwin". Sinscenter.com. 2010-12-02. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
  9. "Making the Connection: Guy Baldwin | San Francisco Bay Area Leather Alliance". Leatheralliance.org. 2012-02-12. Retrieved 2019-12-31.
  10. "Society of Janus". Erobay. 2019-07-20. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  11. "Awards & Archives". San Francisco Bay Area Leather Alliance.
  12. Cindy (17 July 2017). "Ringold Alley's Leather Memoir". Public Art and Architecture for Around the World.
  13. Paull, Laura. "Honoring gay leather culture with art installation in SoMa alleyway – J". Jweekly.com. Retrieved 2018-06-23.
  14. "> Inductees". Leatherhalloffame.com. Retrieved 2019-12-31.

Further reading
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