Brand spanking new publication provides guidelines for safer BDSM: Cutting-edge booklet geared to kinky people will help reduce HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.


    August 11, 2009: For immediate release

    TORONTO – At this weekend’s Church Street Fetish Fair, the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT) will debut the highly anticipated follow-up to its safer sex resource for kinky people: “BDSM: Safer Kinky Sex.” In addition to ACT’s information and demonstration booth at the fair, two receptions will be held to launch the publication;

    The Black Eagle, 457 Church Street
    Friday, August 14th, 6 to 7 p.m.

    Northbound Leather, 586 Yonge Street
    Saturday, August 15th, 1 to 2 p.m.

    These events are opportunities to meet the authors, ask questions and pick up a copy of the booklet.

    Originally released in the late 1980s as a one-page flyer by and for people who practise BDSM (bondage and discipline; dominance and submission; sadism and masochism), this fourth edition of the publication has now grown to a forty-page booklet. It includes expanded and updated information, new sections and stunning photographs by G. Elliot Simpson.

    “This booklet gives practical guidelines and suggestions on how to reduce the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections when people have kinky sex,” says Carlos Rivas of the AIDS Committee of Toronto.

    The approach is sex-positive and based on a risk reduction approach. From toys to restraints, the publication includes a wide range of tips to help men and women understand the risks involved in BDSM play, and how to minimize them.

    “We believe that knowledge leads to greater pleasure,” says Duncan MacLachlan, one of the editors of the publication. “While we know that many BDSM activities are relatively safe, there are special concerns with some types of play. Both our knowledge and the landscape of safer sex have changed significantly since the last edition in 1999. This resource – two years in the making – gathers reliable, state of the art information in one place.”

    BDSM: Safer Kinky Sex was funded by and written in consultation with the BDSM community in Toronto, to provide information for safe, sane and consensual BDSM activity. Distribution will be arranged by ACT in Toronto and by CATIE (Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange) for AIDS service organizations across Canada. The booklet also exists in a downloadable version which will be updated as new information emerges. www.actoronto.org/bdsm
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    For more information and interviews, please contact: Andrew Brett, ACT Communications Coordinator: 416.340.8484 x 225