PSA: Live, free online BDSM classes!

I forgot to add in the ‘things I’ve been doing‘ list that I’ve been attending some live online BDSM classes.

If you’ve ever been nervous or scared to go to local educational events, boy do I have a bonanza of goodness for you!

Due to the lockdowns and restrictions, a lot of great BDSM educators and generous community folks have taken their previous ‘local-only’ skills and knowledge online to live webinars that they are making accessible to the global community for FREE!

Not pre-recorded videos (which can be great), but *live* events with actual for-real people, which is a more ‘human’ experience for the real-time interactions.

Some examples of available classes I’ve seen while poking around:

• Creating realistic femdom dynamics
• Negotiation 101
• The art of service
• Consent and negotiations for new kinksters
• Navigating Generational Differences in D/s Relationships
• …

I know! Amazing!

I’ve attended a few educational webinars and they can be really worthwhile, not least because you can ask questions (usually in a chat window).

As an attendee you can be anonymous and you don’t have to participate, so it’s a safe ‘toe in the water’ type situation where you can learn without having to be social. The level of sign-up required varies, but if you create a non-identifying email address and make up a user name (if you don’t have scene-specific ones already), that will be enough to access most of them.

If you want to attend an online munch (a casual get-together where people just chat) and virtually meet people, some of those are happening in different places around the world also. I expect many are looking at it as a substitute focussed on local people, but there are some that are just ‘hey, everyone’s welcome :)!’

How do you find them?

On Fetlife

There’s a new(ish) ‘Virtual’ category for events. Not all will be free and not all will be open to everyone, but if you have a look around, there are plenty that are. The search on that site is bullshit, so it’s not as easy as it should be, but still.

Here’s the link for ALL virtual events: Fetlife Virtual Events (requires Fetlife login)

• To find topics that interest you, either scroll through them or do a text search for ‘femdom’ or ‘negotiation’ or whatever you’re interested in
• To find local virtual events (which is a gentle way to prepare for going out in person), go to the link above and search for your location
  OR
  Click on your location in your profile, then browse through for virtual events (the location will show as ‘Virtual’)

Warning: Do your research on the organiser/presenter (do they have a presence in their community, a history of positive activity, pictures/writings that sound credible (especially related to the skill they’re doing classes on), local friends in their list, an informative profile etc) and listen critically. Anyone can set up these events, so keep that in mind.

Elsewhere

Here are some other high-quality, live, and free educational webinars:

• Ruby Ryder, Pegging expert and educator: The Pleasures of Pegging Series (from beginner to more experienced)
• Various guest presenters & a wide range of topics on Dating Kinky: Dating Kinky Live Events
• TES: TES events (many are presented in partnership with Dating Kinky mentioned above, but they have their own calendar)

If anyone wants to recommend other free, live educational webinars in the comments, please do :).
(please don’t suggest webinars that you haven’t personally checked out and vetted: I’d prefer not to accidentally send readers to ‘Dodgy McDodgerson, Scammer Extraordinaire’ or to ‘Join My Expensive 6 Week Training Program To Actually Learn Something’ non-classes)