July–August Class Series
Kinky History
About the Series
VIRTUAL: Sundays July 12, 19, + 26 and August 2 + 9 at 7–9pm ET / 4–6pm PT. Can’t make class time? Recordings will be sent to students who register in advance.
You can register for the whole series (at a discount) or just the classes you want.
We survived Pride! And we’ve survived a lot more. This series explores the history behind our communities and sub-subcultures, delving into disputes, traditions, big events, and social trends that shaped the way we live and play today. We’ll begin with an overview of kink, BDSM, and related practices that often exist alongside each other but don’t always overlap, including essential (and often conflicting!) attitudes about how we navigate consent, safety, community, and relationships. Then we’ll dive into major topics in our communities’ intersecting histories, from Leather contests and pageants to safer-sex activists, Master/slave traditions, and burly bears on bikes. This series is for everyone, especially people who:
love playing in the present and want to know where it came from
feel like they know “their lane” and want to learn what’s outside it
feel drawn to queer & kinky history and want to dive in
feel intimidated by some aspects of queer or kinky subculture and want to understand it
These five classes work well together, but you can enjoy them separately! Each class is sliding scale, and you get a discount when you sign up for the full series.
Please note: I’m trying to shift to a sliding-scale model to make my classes accessible to more people! If you want this model to stick around, please consider paying above the suggested price, which helps me cover costs while keeping prices low for those in need.
Learn about individual classes below, or register here.
What Are We Even Doing? All About Kink & BDSM
— with Dagger
Sunday July 12 at 7–9pm ET / 4–6pm PT
This class is an enthusiastic overview of play styles and lifestyles outside the vanilla world. More than a 101, it’s designed to be useful for both beginners who want a roadmap and experienced players who want to re-ground themselves in their favorite traditions. We’ll take a tour of essential, different-but-related practices like kink, fetish, BDSM, and power exchange; explore conflicting theories (and personal hot takes) about what makes this play (ab)normal, (un)ethical, or (un)safe; and answer some of my favorite frequently asked questions, like Why are people into ____?, What’s the difference between bondage and shibari?, What counts as edgeplay?, and Does pegging even count as kinky?
Register here.
Servant, Leader, or Figurehead? Leather Title History
— with Akasha Eden
Sunday July 19 at 7–9pm ET / 4–6pm PT
What does it mean to wear a back patch, stole, sash, or medal? We often view Leather titleholders as community celebrities, but their roots are in political activism, community organizing, and radical service. This class strips away modern glamour to explore these servant-leaders and their complex, nuanced, sometimes delicate, and always fascinating history. We’ll examine our shifting expectations of titleholders — to be humble servants and fundraisers, political leaders and guides, aesthetic figureheads, and more. And we’ll trace their evolution from bar-based fundraisers and motorcycle clubs to local, national, and even international institutions that shape our communities’ past, present and future.
About the instructor: Akasha Eden (she/they) is a Leatherwoman, griot, and community servant whose work blends spirituality, mental health advocacy, and academic rigor. International Ms. Leather 2026, 2026 Scholar-in-Residence for the Carter Johnson Library and Collection and Women of Drummer, Vice President of ONYX Pearls NY/NE, Northeast slave 2024, 2023 MAsT International Presenter of the Year, and author of Diary of a Leather Rope Bunny and Dance of the Shadows, Akasha works tirelessly to arm the community with the power of knowledge. Rooted in Black femme resilience, she teaches and presents in hopes of helping her community discover joy, embodiment, and systems navigation in Leather, BDSM, and WIITWD.
Register here.
The Great Schism: How Leather & M/s Lost Each Other
— with Akasha Eden
Sunday July 26 at 7–9pm ET / 4–6pm PT
Leather and Master/slave (M/s) are often viewed as separate subcultures with their own spaces, rules, and traditions. If you belong to one, you might not even have heard of the other! But it wasn’t always this way. This class, based on archival research, traces the Great Schism, an event that fundamentally reordered the S/M landscape. We’ll explore how the devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic not only claimed a generation of leatherfolk but also sparked a bitter sociological divide between public, political “cruising” culture and risk-averse long–term relationship culture. Together, we’ll learn how this ideological split drove Leather and M/s apart and fractured their oral and written histories.
Register here.
How to Have Sex in an Epidemic: BDSM, AIDS, & Inventing Safer Sex — with Dane Stewart
Sunday August 2 at 7–9pm ET / 4–6pm PT
When HIV/AIDS emerged in the early 1980s, public health authorities had few answers and governments were unwilling to act. In response, queer activists began developing their own approaches to sexual health, borrowing lessons from kink to create some of the earliest safer sex campaigns. This class examines two major publications — Play Fair! (1982) by San Francisco’s Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and How to Have Sex in an Epidemic: One Approach (1983) by Berkowitz, Callen, and Sonnabend — that helped lay the modern sex education. If time permits, we’ll also dive into the controversial gay comic book that ended up on President Ronald Reagan's desk... and produced backlash against queer communities across the U.S.
About the instructor: Dane Stewart (he/him) is a Montreal-based writer, documentarian, and queer history nerd whose work explores the forgotten stories of people affected by HIV/AIDS. He created and hosts Resurrection, an award-winning documentary podcast that has reached listeners worldwide. Outside of his artistic practice, Dane has been active in the pup and leather communities for more than a decade. He was the first Pup Montreal and later served as IPC International Puppy 2018. He might be a golden retriever, but he's got just enough braincells left to teach this class!
Register here.
Bear Community History
— with Delta Diogenes
Sunday August 9 at 7–9pm ET / 4–6pm PT
Bear weekends, bear contests, bear clubs, bear magazines and pornos and merch of all shapes and sizes… but how did it all start? Join history nerd Delta Diogenes for a dip into the Bear Soup of wholesome, sexy, and drama-ridden stories of how the Bear Community as we know it today came to be (dial-up connection not required).
About the instructor: Delta Diogenes (he/him) is an easily excited, helplessly extroverted pup with a passion for the history and philosophy of Leather, Petplay, and queer and kink communities more broadly. Delta served as Route 66 Pet, a national, education-focused title, and teaches classes across the USA as well as local queer spaces and events at home in Madison, Wisconsin.
Register here.
Register for the full series (at a discount), or pick just the ones you want.
What to Expect:
All virtual classes are live on Zoom. You’ll receive everything you need via email as soon as you register. Most are two hours long, including time for Q&A. Can’t make the class time? As long as you register by class time (or for a series, as long as you register by the final class), you’ll get access to the recording. Recordings will be available to watch until the next series of classes begins. After that, the only way to access them will be via the recorded class library on Patreon. (Classes get added there two months after the original series.) For more information on recordings, check the FAQ.
Get Licked! is for everyone: queer, straight, trans, cis, binary, non, monogamous, polyamorous, kinky, vanilla, and all other folks are welcome. Be kind to each other and help each other learn. We are here in community.
Many classes include activities to help you grasp material and build skills. Participation is encouraged, but never required. Listen to your body, and do what feels good for you.
Still have questions? Reach out using my contact form here.