NorthWest Master and slave

Preamble

I have been asked by my fellow board members and by those members present at our first board meeting for fiscal year 2006/2007 held on Sunday November 5th to write up some background and information about our regional Master/slave contest and more generally about the International contest it feeds. Since beginning work on this I have also solicited input from a wide range of folks on the future of the contest that report will be delivered to the board under separate cover.

It would be helpful to us all to begin by reviewing the mission statement and goals of smOdyssey Inc. I have come to appreciate the wisdom of an earlier board of directors in creating this very simple and brief mission statement and the very straight forward and clear goals for smOdyssey Inc. that derive from that mission. I also believe from speaking to the founders themselves, that this mission is very consistent with their own individual intentions when they began smOdyssey in 1998.

A condensed version of our mission and goals are simply to state that smOdyssey, Inc is an organization created for all people interested in BDSM topics regardless of age, race, creed, gender, identifiers, or orientations. We strive to provide both educational and social opportunities to the community we serve.

We should be encouraged to keep the mission and goals firmly in mind when we evaluate the incorporation of the ownership of the Northwest Regional Master/slave contest into the structure of our mutual benefit corporation.

smOdyssey is intended to be a broadly inclusive organization. We often refer to the BDSM Lifestyle or the Leather Lifestyle. I have come to prefer to refer to such things in the plural and call it the BDSM or Leather lifestyles. This plurality is actually implied in the BDSM acronym which includes the BD of Bondage and Discipline (understood to included fetishism) the DS of Dominance and submission (which is understood to include things like 24/7 TPE and Master/slave relationships) and the SM of Sado-masochism (which is understood to also include the SM of Sex Magik and a broad range of practices and techniques.)

One of the questions being discussed is the place of M/s under the smOdyssey umbrella. This has come up in at least two contexts; One, the perceived preponderance of M/s and D/s related classes at our most recent FolsomFringe and two the presence of the Northwest Master/slave contest within the FolsomFringe event and as part of the mix of smOdyssey operations and activities.

- Gregg Parsons