17.01.2004 Time Article: Bondage Unbound
The US-Magazine "Time" has published a long report about SM in the USA. The article deals with the difficult legal situation, the subculture and the meaning of SSC.

Read more here

11.10.2003 Kenner Fetish Gathering canceled
Kenner, Lousiana:
The organizer (Bob Hannaford) of the sexual fetish convention "Fetish in Fall" in Kenner, LA canceled it friday after learning of Police Chief Nick Congemi's efforts to whip up local opposition.
Fearing the event would "seriously jeopardize the family atmosphere" in Kenner, Police Chief Congemi mailed letters urging 15 motels to decline any requests to host the event". The conference, which was to feature seminars and demonstrations of bondage and other types of sexual expression, would have been held Nov. 20-23.

Read more here

06.10.2003 Student bondage club makes comeback at ISU
Iowa State University: The club, after dissolving last year, is trying to make a comeback at Iowa State University. There goal is to provide information on BDSM and fetish for interested students.

Read more here

15.09.2003 Help for Pat Califia
Since the late 1970s, Patrick has been educating outsiders about sexual minority issues (gay and lesbian, bisexual people, transgendered people, the BDSM community, sex workers, etc.). He has been one of the most prolific and outspoken voices in favor of freedom of sexual expression between consenting adults.

Unfortunately, Patrick has been unable to work full-time since September 2002. He has lived with fibromyalgia, a chroic auto-immune disease that causes muscle pain and fatigue, for several years. The fibromyalgia has gotten bad enough to cause nerve damage in his legs and hands. Perhaps because of the fibro, he currently has severe tendonitis in his arms and hands and so typing is very difficult for him.

Right now, Patrick is staying with friends in the San Francisco Bay Area and trying to set up a private practice as a therapist and continue to publish his work and attend leather community events. He very much appreciates the generosity of friends and the entire leather community, in making it possible for him to meet his survival needs and escape from social isolation.

Although Patrick is not wheelchair-bound, an electric chair or scooter and a van with a lift would make it much easier for him to participate in conferences, street fairs, and other community events. He also could really benefit from voice recognition software, Dragon Naturally Speaking, and a PC computer. (He is currently using a Mac laptop, and VSR for the Mac is of poor quality.) Used equipment is gladly accepted!

Donations to help him to continue to work and live independently would be very much appreciated.

Checks or money orders in US funds can be sent to:
Patrick Califia
2215R Market Street, No. 261
San Francisco, CA 94114

Text and more Info at Pat's Website

02.08.2003 SPAM Problem
Situation:
UCE/UBE (Unsolicited Commercial Email/Unsolicited Bulk Email) short SPAM, has rendered our mailboxes nearly unusable. About 500 eMails drop into our mailbox every day and the number is increasing each day. Tools like Spamassassin (on our mailserver) and SpamPal (on local PC) filter about 90% of them, but we still have to review them so we don't miss an important mail from our guests and friends. This has become a major task and we have less time to respond to your submmitted questions and articles.
We don't need Viagra, bigger breasts, penis enlargement (believe me, my best friend is big enough), telephone sex, table tv descamblers, printer cartridges, diet pills or any of this advertised crap. We even don't want to have a look at this cheap and crappy porn sites.

We have taken more steps to fight the increasing number of unwanted mails, but SPAM has become a real "pain in the ass". Some already speak of eMail as a useless medium.
UCE/UBE senders are about to destroy the infrastructure of the internet by increasing the cost of hosters and mail providers immensely and by annoying the people who use eMail for proper communication.

Actions taken:

• We recently installed stonger eMail filters (DNS Blacklists, Learning Bayes Filters, Regex-Filters).
  
• We have removed all eMail addresses from our site and all addresses are now protected by special feedback forms.
  
• Mail harvester which scan our webpages for eMail adresses are logged and receive a special prepared address which makes it possible with a few simple tricks to track down the originator. Additionally all harvesters are slowed down by a special "teergrube"-mechanism. Instead of scanning many pages per second it will take them days to scan our site once they are identified as harvester.
  

Appeal:

• Let's fight SPAM & those who create it!
  
• SPAM has become a local and global problem. Let's make our politicians aware of this before it is too late!
  

Resources
Information about SPAM
Tips & Help for users
spamcop.net

03.07.2003 Special Fetish Event - Atlanta
SECRETROOM.NET of Atlanta presents...

A night of eXXXtreme clubbing and the ONLY American PRE-PARTY for the SKIN TWO Rubber Ball!
--- Chamber nightclub --- Atlanta, Georgia ---, Saturday, 26 July 2003.
Come be part of a wild night of ELECTRIC EROTICISM!
www.secretroom.net

Flyer 1 - Flyer 2 - (Art Cards by TSUBASA)

For more information, contact: secretroom2003@aol.com

06.06.2003 1,000,000 Visitors
the one millions guest hit the BDSM Backroom this morning.
We would like to take the opportunity to say "Thank you" to our guests, friends and supporters. All of you have helped to make the Backroom what it is today: A great place with a friendly and constructive atmosphere which is a comfortable home for many lifestylers.
Thank you all.

23.05.2003 Sex school? Class should be dismissed
Jim Spencer, a Denver Post Columnist, rants about a Kinky Sex Club in Lakewood (The Labyrinth)
Link to Denver Post column: "Sex school? Class should be dismissed"

16.04.2003 Bound - A new book by Toya
Bound by Toya, Illustrated by Wendy, published April 2003.
"When something is written from the heart, it resonates, and Toya's latest book is clearly written from a submissive heart that has found a home. It should be required reading for dominants to further their understanding and for submissives to know that they are not alone." - John Warren Ph.D. (Author of The Loving Dominant)

17.04.2003 ROSE Project & Newsletter closed its Doors
The ROSE Project & Newsletter has closed its doors after 30 issues of the online e-zine.

07.02.2003 Bondage Workshop
March 9th in Attleboro Mass. 4 to 5 hot models for photographers and videographers. Releases given. Go to Photographers Workshop for all the information.

11/24/2002 Internal: New Backroom Design
After nearly 6 years the BDSM Backroom has gotten a new face.
The BDSM Backroom is going to start into its seventh year. Time for us to think about things we could improve and things which should remain the way they were. One thing for sure: We will keep up the high quality standards and we will try to make sure that we provide you with serious and great information on all topics related to BDSM and the lifestyle. Our readers feedback has shown us during the past years that we are on the right track.

We hope you enjoy the new design once you get used to it and that you will find lots of fun and interesting readings on our site
 Yous maya & Ash

11/07/2002 Kinky Barbie does not violate Copyright
A doll maker who was taken to court by toy giant Mattel after selling kinky versions of Barbie has won a preliminary ruling.
British-based Susanne Pitt was prosecuted in New York for sale of a 'dungeon doll' made with the head of 'Superstar Barbie'.
Mattel said it infringed its copyright. But Judge Laura Taylor Swain ruled in favour of the S&M doll because she found it wasn't "a market substitute for Barbie dolls.": "To the court's knowledge, there is no Mattel line of S&M Barbie," the judge said.
Pitt, who defended herself, offered the dungeon doll for sale on a Web site, which she closed down after Mattel launched its action last year. She allegedly attached big breasted doll bodies of her own making to the head of Superstar Barbie and publicised the doll in a sexually explicit story on the Web site.

08/29/2002 Texas Leather Pride X (5 Sep - 8 Sep 2002)
This year's Texas Leather Pride will again be held at the Sheraton Four Points at the corner of US 183 and I-35.
For NLA: Austin contact info, please e-mail nla1aus@attglobal.net.
More info and Schedule of Events: NLA Austin

08/29/2002 Theresa A. Reed runs for Oregon House of Representatives
Darklady, a.k.a. Theresa A. Reed, a erotic writer and confessing SM Lifestyler from Southeast Portland whose work appears in numerous adult publications, has announced that she will run for the seat on the Libertarian ticket.

Theresa A. Reed aka Darklady
Libertarian Candidate
Oregon House of Representatives
District 42
Darklady

"Friends of Darklady" [Theresa A. Reed for House of Rep. Dist. 42]
Party HQ:
12602 SW Farmington Rd.
Beaverton, OR 97005, USA

08/22/2002 Mayor of Portland honors local SM Community
Vera Katz, Mayor of Portland, Oregon published the following proclamation during the Leather Pride Week (Aug 3-11. 2002). She characterised the SM Community as an important part of the society of the city.

Original Text of Proclamation:

Whereas, The City Of Portland recognizes the importance of a diverse community; and
Whereas, the motto of "Safe, Sane, and Consensual" adopted by the leather and fetish communities is vital to all relationships between consenting adults; and
Whereas, information, knowledge and education are important factors in promoting, understanding, and maintaining healthy social and sexual relationships; and
Whereas, fundraising efforts benefiting worthy charities gives those causes further power to survive and flourish; and
Whereas, efforts toward a healthier, better educated, and diverse community sponsors increased happiness, health, and awareness;

Now, therefore, I, Vera Katz, Mayor of the City of Portland, Oregon, the "City of Roses," do hereby proclaim August 3-11, 2002 as
     Leather Pride Week
in Portland, and commend the many local non-profit organization for their work in ongoing education, fundraising and leadership, and urge our citizens to appreciate the diversity and sense of an inclusive community represented by these groups and their efforts.

04/20/2002 In Memory of Sailor
The Masters und slaves of the BDSM Backroom honor Sailor, a wonderful person and a very engaged fighter for the D/s community.

Sailor died tonight suffering from a heart attack.

Our hearts are bigger for having known him, our souls better for having been touched by him.
We will miss him.

02/07/2002 German BDSM Backroom closed
The german part of the BDSM Backroom has been closed by the Backroom Team today.
Many reasons have led to this decision.
The american part will be continued and we will provide our service to our international guests with the same passion and perfection as we always did.

11/22/2001 POWERotics Foundation moves facilities to Topica
New threats are clouding over the heads of those, using Yahoo Clubs and/or Groups to try and maintain virtual communities around their BDSM-oriented sites. Yahoo (unannounced) is currently integrating clubs and groups into one facility, but it is more than likely that this will again lead to BDSM-oriented facilities be deleted. One of the POWERotics facilities fell prey to this policy less than 24 hours ago.
As a result the POWERotics Foundation has decided to move ALL it's free facilities to BDSM-friendly service provider Topica. This is the list of the new homes for the facilities:
POWERotics Maledom/femsub discussion list
BDSM Daily News

09/21/2001 Founder of Shibari Performing Art deceased
Osada Eikichi - the "Master of the Flying Ropes" - died at the age of 80 on September 12th.
According to his dorei and performing partner Kazumi he died peacefully in a home for the elderly, where he had been spending his final years, being nursed for the inevitable consequences of growing old.
Eikichi (Sensei Osada) was the first Japanese bondage master to create more attention for the art in his home country, through performing and teaching, in the 1960s. Together with Kazumi he did hundreds of Shibari performances, giving him the nickname "the Master of the Flying Ropes", due to the fast way, Eikichi could create the often complicated Shibari bondages. Within the small, closed community for Japanese bondage masters and performers in Japan he was widely recognized as the founder of performing art and one of the few to teach non-Japanese. He withdrew from the performing scene in the 1980s for a long period of meditation.