USA – Jessica, 30, from America, works as a performer at the sex club SNCTM. Jessica delves into her own sexual curiosities through her job as she gets into costume, which includes bondage and BDSM
A performer at one of the world’s most exclusive sex clubs has revealed what it’s really like putting on a show at its illustrious events.
Jessica, 30, from California, America, works as a performer at SNCTM, a sex club founded in 2013 in Beverly Hills.
The club was modelled after the film Eyes Wide Shut, in which Dr Bill Hartford (Tom Cruise) embarks on a night-long adventure, during which he infiltrates a masked orgy of an unnamed secret society.
It is Jessica’s role is to get into costume and character with various partners – which includes bondage or BDSM – allowing her to further delve into her own sexual curiosities.
She exclusively told Daily Star: “Most of the guests have kinks that fall into the realm of impact play, being tied up or group play, may it be a threesome, foursome or cuckold or hotwifing.
“As performers, we facilitate the fantasy for our guests and it’s quite normal to explore and experiment discreetly within our doors and community.”
The cast members are assigned characters for the evening with custom costumes that are themed to the night’s festivities.
She added: “The outfits are often very high fashion and edgy so I definitely look forward to seeing what the creative team has in store for each event.”
The club hosts masquerades, pool parties, classes, and dinner events for its members and guests, all with the ability for attendees to either participate or simply act as voyeurs.
But it isn’t easy to join in on the vents, as becoming a member is a competitive and expensive process.
The Dominus membership is only available to 20 people worldwide and costs $75,000 (£59,000) and if you want to be a Violet Key Benefactor, it requires a one-time payment of $1million (£790,000).
Women, on the other hand, can attend without purchase if they are accepted to their lady’s guest list. This is because SNCTM is “always supportive of intelligent and intriguing women”.
The exclusive sex club has reportedly hosted high-profile guests at its parties, including A-list celebrities.
“What I’ve found ‘wild’ was more of the high-profile guests that we’ve had join our community who I would never think of as being open to kink!” Jessica shared.
“It’s been refreshing to realise that everyone has fantasies but not everyone enables themselves to find that erotic freedom.”
The performer had already been a member of the kink community and decided to pursue performing with SNCTM after she attended a masquerade party as a guest.
Her experience at the masquerade party was liberating and granted her the freedom to explore her sexuality in new ways.
“My first evening [working there] was one of the most memorable evenings of my life. The energy of the room was electric where I saw some of the most beautiful people in one room and visually, I felt like I had walked into a movie set,” she explained.
“All the guests were incredibly warm and open-minded so it was easy to connect over the topic of sexuality and kink.
“The most challenging part about becoming a SNCTM performer was the time it took to accept my own naked body around other people. Now I embrace nudity and am so comfortable in my own skin.”https://get-latest.convrse.media/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailystar.co.uk%2Flove-sex%2Fim-bdsm-performer-worlds-most-27801587&cre=bottom&cip=31&view=web
Jessica was drawn to BDSM after exploring with partners in the past and experimenting privately built up her confidence to explore play parties outside of her comfort zone.
Once she entered, she says it felt like being around nonjudgmental people who understood her and encouraged each other in their erotic journey.
The 30-year-old added: “It’s incredibly freeing and the community is one of the most inviting and respectful groups I’ve encountered.”
Jessica explained that each cast member is on their own journey of erotic freedom and isn’t necessarily an expert in erotica.
Hairdresser Heide Victoria Bos, 37, of Melbourne‘s CBD pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Tuesday to killing 39-year-old Nicholas Cameron.
She had originally been charged with murder, but accepted an Office of Public Prosecutions deal to plead to the lesser charge.
At the time, seasoned homicide squad detective Sol Solomon described the attack against Mr Cameron as ‘extremely brutal’.
Bos’ guilty plea came after she asked Justice Michael Croucher for a sentence indication.
Her co-accused, Stuart Lindsay Heron, remains behind bars and is expected to face his own Supreme Court of Victoria murder trial next year.
While Bos’ motive for having her victim attacked remain unknown for now, an earlier hearing heard her ‘submissive’ Heron allegedly carried out the assault on her instructions.
The court heard Heron had been Bos’ ‘willing slave’ in the conspiracy to hurt Mr Cameron.
Upon her arrest, Bos told police she had never meant the attack on Mr Cameron to go that far.
During a bail hearing in July, Bos’ barrister argued that the woman – who was ‘dominant’ in the relationship’ – didn’t intend for Heron to kill Mr Cameron. News.com.au reported.
The court heard the pair had met on ‘FetLife’ – a social media site for the BDSM and fetish community.
The couple had been together for just on six weeks when the alleged murder took place.
The court heard Heron was a committed slave, paying for his dominatrix’s rent.
In messages between the pair, Bos told Heron ‘you will please your queen’ and ‘you will prove your loyalty’.
Bos’ barrister Malcolm Thomas told the court his client’s relationship was a ‘fantasy-style one of slave and mistress’.
Mr Thomas claimed Bos simply believed her submissive lover would ‘warn off’ Mr Cameron, stating she did not expect him to cause serious injury or kill him.
Bos had been expected to contest the murder charge, with her barrister at the time describing the prosecution case as ‘extremely weak’.
Mr Thomas said while Bos understood there would be ‘some violence’ against Mr Cameron, he would be alive at the end of the confrontation.
The court heard Bos claimed she was oblivious to the fact that weapons would be used in the attack.
Mr Thomas told the July hearing while Bos believed Heron had connections to outlaw motorcycle gangs, she gave him no specific instructions to murder the target.
The court heard Bos had led a faultless life before deciding to have Mr Cameron killed.
Bos had been a regular contributor to Instagram, which indicates she is the mother of a teenage son.
The court heard she suffered from post traumatic stress disorder after her previous partner died in a motorbike crash and had struggled with drug abuse.
Bos, who appeared in court on Tuesday via videolink, will appear in court in person for her plea hearing next month.
Balenciaga faced backlash after sharing a troubling new campaign featuring a child in a bondage-themed photoshoot, with Kim Kardashian being urged to speak out against the designer
Fans have been urging Kim to denounce the brand and took to Instagram to try and make their voices heard.
The mum-of-four shared a picture of herself and her sister’s ex, Tristan Thompson, spending ‘Friendsgiving’ visiting a juvenile detention facility in Los Angeles.
In the comments, her followers were focused on one issue.
“Balenciaga Kim. We aren’t shutting up about this,” one person warned.
Another commented: “This isnt going to make us forget about balenciaga!!!!! Say something,” while a third urged: “Speak up about balenciaga.”
One furious fan wrote: “Would like to see a comment about balenciaga before seeing this. Your silence on this is topic deafening.”
“Where is the statement about balenciaga?” someone else questioned.
The comments come after model Bella Hadid deleted her Balenciaga Instagram post following the controversy.
The 26-year-old had taken to Instagram to share a series of snaps from the campaign with her 56.4million followers, before hastily deleting them.
In the pictures, Bella wore a $10K office ensemble from Balenciaga’s new spring collection.https://get-latest.convrse.media/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mirror.co.uk%2F3am%2Fus-celebrity-news%2Fkim-kardashian-slammed-silence-over-28583096&cre=center&cip=22&view=web
Balenciaga issued a statement on social media regarding the photoshoot and apologised to fans for any distress caused.
“We sincerely apologize for any offense our holiday campaign may have caused.
“Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign. We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms,” the statement read.
It continued: “We apologize for displaying unsettling documents in our campaign.
USA – Luxury fashion brand Balenciaga has issued an apology after backlash over a recent ad campaign, which featured children holding teddy bears dressed in bondage gear. The ad campaign featuring little girls and bondage-themed toys was deemed ”inappropriate” and ”disturbing” by several users.
On Tuesday, the fashion label posted a statement on its Instagram Story. “We apologise for displaying unsettling documents in our campaign. We take this matter very seriously and are taking legal action against the parties responsible for creating the set and including unapproved items for our Spring 23 campaign photoshoot. We strongly condemn the abuse of children in any form. We stand for children’s safety and well-being,” the statement read.
In another Instagram Story, the brand said that the “plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign” and added that images of the campaign have been removed from all of the brand’s platforms.
The fashion label posted a statement on its Instagram Story1
Luxury fashion brand Balenciaga has issued an apology after backlash over a recent ad campaign, which featured children holding teddy bears dressed in bondage gear. The ad campaign featuring little girls and bondage-themed toys was deemed ”inappropriate” and ”disturbing” by several users.
On Tuesday, the fashion label posted a statement on its Instagram Story. “We apologise for displaying unsettling documents in our campaign. We take this matter very seriously and are taking legal action against the parties responsible for creating the set and including unapproved items for our Spring 23 campaign photoshoot. We strongly condemn the abuse of children in any form. We stand for children’s safety and well-being,” the statement read.
In another Instagram Story, the brand said that the “plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign” and added that images of the campaign have been removed from all of the brand’s platforms.
The advertisements, which were originally posted earlier this week, were being used to promote the site’s holiday gift shop. The pictures featured children posing with teddy bears dressed in bondage gear, including fishnet tops, collars with lock and ankle/wrist restraints.
The photos drew sharp criticism online, with many accusing Balenciaga of sexualising children. Many called out the ”problematic” campaign and slammed the brand while questioning the appropriateness of the photos.
Even after the brand apologised for the pictures, some online users said that they are not buying Balenciaga’s apology. One user reacted to the apology and said, “Nice try Balenciaga. Let’s just get rid of all law enforcement and have apology enforcement. Imagine that kind of world? Ho wait we are in it NOW! Enough with child exploitation! Balenciaga- leave the children ALONE or pay the LEGAL CONSEQUENCES.”
Another user questioned why the brand chose to post the apology on their Instagram stories instead of posting it on their page. He wrote, “Is Balenciaga dodging accountability by blaming the set designers or am I trippen? What were the unapproved items? Did they JUST realize children shouldn’t be involved after being called out? lmaoo this apology solves nothing.”
USA – LOUISIANA – A former priest has pleaded guilty to an obscenity charge after he was caught having sex inside a church in Louisiana, with an archbishop describing his “desecration of the altar” as “demonic”
A former priest has pleaded guilty to a charge of obscenity after he made a sex tape of him having “demonic” sex on an altar with a dominatrix duo.
Travis Clark, 39, made the confession as part of a plea bargain, according to his attorney.
He committed the act at his church in Pearl River, Louisiana, on October 1, 2020.
The offence came to light when a person passing by noticed the lights on in the church. A witness then told police they saw Clark and the two women carrying out sexual acts in front of a camera placed on top of a tripod.
Prosecutors say Clark was seen stripped on the holy table with two women wearing high-heel boots and corsets.
Police seized camera and lighting equipment as well as sex toys. He was also alleged to have defecated on the carpet.
Clark received a suspended three-year prison sentence along with three years of supervised probation and he was also ordered to pay a fine of $1,000 (£870), reports NOLA.com.
After the 2020 offence came to light, Archbishop Gregory Aymond said the altar was desecrated and ordered it to be burned. Clark was also defrocked by the church.
Melissa Cheng also previously pleaded guilty to the misdemeanour counts ( Image: St. Tammys Parish Sheriff’s Office)
Aymond said: “His obscene behaviour was deplorable. His desecration of the altar in the church was demonic.
“I am infuriated by his actions.”https://get-latest.convrse.media/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mirror.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fus-news%2Fpriest-caught-making-sex-tape-28558119&cre=center&cip=18&view=web
At a courthouse in the city of Covington, Clark’s defence attorney Michael Kennedy said $8,000 (£6,930) had already been paid to the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
Kennedy said it was unfair that his client pleaded guilty to a crime as part of his bargain, while those on tape with him faced lesser charges of institutional vandalism.
USA – ANDREW DESCRIBES HIMSELF AS having a boot fetish. “I wear boots while having sex, and if my partner is open to it, they will wear boots, too,” says the 40-something living in Melbourne, Australia. “I caress and lick them or sometimes rub myself on them.” He describes this interest as a fetish—not a kink—because “nine times out of 10,” boots are required for his sexual arousal.
People often use the terms “kink” and “fetish” interchangeably. However, many sexuality experts and people within the kink community make an important distinction between the two concepts.
So, what’s the difference between a kink and a fetish?
While all fetishes are kinks, not all kinks are not fetishes, explains Justin Lehmiller, Ph.D., a researcher at the Kinsey Institute, member of the Men’s Health advisory panel, and resident sex researcher at Astroglide.
A fetish is something that’s necessary for someone to experience sexual satisfaction, the way Andrew feels about boots. Fetishes fall under the broader category of kink: “an umbrella term that encompasses any and all sexual interests, behaviors, and identities that aren’t considered mainstream,” Lehmiller says. So, a kink may be a fun, occasional addition to someone’s sexual repertoire, or something that they consistently require.
Sometimes, the word “fetish” is also used to describe the “erotic fascination with a non-genital body part, article of clothing, or inanimate object,” according to Lehmiller. But a fetish can also involve a behavior or fantasy, says Dr. Jessica O’Reilly, Astroglide’s resident sexologist.
The key difference to remember between a kink and a fetish is not the type of activity or object that’s brought into the bedroom, but whether it is necessary for that person’s arousal.
What does it look like to have a fetish?
Fetishes can involve a variety of body parts, objects, and activities, including erotic role play, handcuffs, spanking, used underwear, group sex, and voyeurism. Whatever a person’s fetish entails, if it’s “not used in sexual activity, then sexual gratification is not achieved,” says psychotherapist Veronica Lichtenstein, LMHC.
Lichtenstein, for example, had a client with a diaper fetish. “She had a sex craving outside the norm and admitted that she was not as satisfied in the bedroom unless she incorporated her baby paraphernalia,” which made it a fetish, she says. “If she reported she liked to use diapers, baby bottles, role play, etc. occasionally during sex, it would be considered kink.”
Some fetishes, like Andrew’s, involve wearing something into the bedroom. “Believe it or not, I must wear a wig in bed to become sexually aroused,” says 66-year-old Hollywood publicist and author Daniel Harary, author of the sex book Carrots. “I’ve been bald for a very long time, so when I wear a long hair wig in bed, it brings me back to my teenage years, when I had very, very long hair.”
Other clothing and accessory-based fetishes include leather, lingerie, gym gear, heels, and other shoes, says psychotherapist and certified sex therapist Dr. Lee Phillips. Another common form of fetish involves body parts, such as “navels, legs, mouth, and hair,” he adds. “We tend to see the ‘philias’ with fetishes. Some of these may include urophilia (sexual acts or activities involving urine) and coprophilia (sexual acts or activities involving feces).”
Some theorize that fetishes may relate to people’s experiences early in life or to the neuroscience of how we process pleasure (especially when the fetish is body-part-based), says O’Reilly.
“It comes from my huge crush on Ginger Spice from the Spice Girls when I was a teenager,” Andrew says of his boot fetish. “She often wore those kinds of boots on stage.”
Phillips emphasizes that “fetishes are quite common, and they are only a problem if they interfere with the person’s life—for example, a person does not show up at work because they are looking at their feet on the subway all day.”
What does it mean to have a kink?
“‘Kinky’ refers to anything that deviates from conventional sex,” says O’Reilly. “You can see from this definition that this is highly subjective.”
What’s considered “kinky” to one person, in other words, may just be part of someone else’s normal sexual repertoire. For instance, Rome, a 48-year-old retail manager in Texas, says his kink is that he likes “hairy pussy.” But for somewhere outside the modern United States, where pubic hair removal is something of a trend, pubic hair may just be an everyday part of sex.
A kink “is best defined as sexual behaviors and preferences that are not easily categorized or different from what we consider typical sexual interests,” Phillips says. “For example, a typical sexual interest, also known as ‘vanilla sex,’ would include kissing in a missionary position. Kinky sex may involve role playing where one partner is submissive (the sub) and the other one is dominant (the dom).”
Other kinks can include sensation play (e.g. hot wax or electricity), sexual acts like fisting, and bondage techniques like ropes and sensory deprivation, says Phillips. Any addition to the bedroom that can constitute a fetish can also be a kink, and vice versa.
A final word on kinks and fetishes:
Some preferences are on the border between kinks and fetishes. Amber Angelica, a 25-year-old dominatrix, says she needs to send or receive money to get aroused by virtual sexual interactions (making it more like a fetish in these scenarios), but not in-person ones (making it more like a kink).
“I would not be turned on by dirty talk, pictures, or images, but it arouses me to make a big purchase or receive money,” she says. “If I’m having sex in person, that is different, and I can be turned on by the other person!”
What ultimately matters is not what label you put on a sexual desire but how comfortable you are with it. “Healthy intimacy happens with consenting adults and is safe for everyone involved,” says Lichtenstein. “Regardless of your kink or fetish, when your sexual behavior isn’t damaging to yourself or others, the healthiest way to deal with it is to accept what you are feeling and desiring as a natural part of who you are.”
EXCLUSIVE: Aurelia van Foxx, an escort on Kaufmich!, recalled the moment her client’s wife turned up and instantly got involved with the saucy sex session at home
Princeton University will host a course this spring on “Black + Queer” bondage and sado-maschochism, drawing concern from some students who argue the class is a thinly veiled attempt to celebrate and venerate the BDSM culture.
The Ivy League course, “Black + Queer in Leather: Black Leather/BDSM Material Culture,” explores “Black Queer BDSM communities,” according to the course catalog description.
“Black Queer BDSM material culture resists contextualization in relationship to biographical narratives because of the underground elements of the community,” according to an alternate description on the Princeton Lewis Center for the Arts website, which added it will have “a significant research focus on finding and presenting new materials.”
The reading list includes “Sensational Flesh: Race, Power, and Masochism” by Amber Jamilla Musser, “The Color of Kink: Black Women, BDSM, and Pornography” by Ariane Cruz, “The Black Body In Ecstasy: Reading Race, Reading Pornography,” by Jennifer Nash, and “A Taste for Brown Sugar: Black Women in Pornography” by Mireille Miller-Young.
Miller-Young is an associate professor of feminist studies at UC Santa Barbara whose area of focus is black studies, pornography and sex-work. She got in a physical altercation with a pro-life teenager in campus in 2014 after she was “triggered” by pro-life demonstrators’ signs. She was sentenced to to community service, anger-management classes, and $493 in restitution to the teen she assaulted, The College Fix reported at the time.
Princeton’s “Black + Queer” class is cross-listed with the Program in Visual Arts, the African American Studies department, and the Gender and Sexuality Studies department. Tiona McClodden, a 2021-23 Arts Fellow with Princeton’s Lewis Center for the Arts, is listed as its instructor.
McClodden is a “filmmaker and visual artist” whose work “explores shared ideas, values, and beliefs within the African Diaspora,” which she refers to as the “Black mentifact,” according to her website. McClodden is interested in “Blackness and traversing nostalgia” and explores the themes of “narrative within social realism, re-memory” and “biomythography,” it added.
“Tell me there is a lesbian forever…,” “The Dom Drop,” and “The Hitter” are among McClodden’s previous works.
The College Fix asked McClodden for a copy of the syllabus but has not received a response.
Students express shock at Princeton-sponsored exposure to ‘highly addictive’ pornographic content, violent imagery
Some Princeton undergraduate students expressed concern about a course containing what they consider pornographic content and sexual violence.
“The primary issue I take with this course is its employment of pornography,” Princeton junior Paul Fletcher wrote to The Fix.
Fletcher is president of the Princeton chapter of the Anscombe Society, an undergraduate organization that promotes traditional views of sex, love and marriage. It “aims to foster an atmosphere where sex is dignified, respectful, and beautiful…and where no one is objectified, instrumentalized, or demeaned,” its website states.
“In the course description, pornographic content is required reading,” Fletcher wrote.
“Pornographic content of this sort is highly addictive, particularly to men and women of college age, often correlating with severe anxiety and depression,” Fletcher said via email. “Students cannot just watch it, ‘study it,’ without consuming it. This is the equivalent of a Princeton course requiring every student to smoke a cigarette each week, and ‘study’ its effects. This course has no place in a university that prioritizes the wellbeing of its students.”
“The concern here…is the university-funded imposition of something potentially harmful and addictive by faculty onto students,” Fletcher wrote.
Sophomore Julianna Lee, vice president of Princeton’s Anscombe Society, wrote to The Fix she is “shocked that such a course is being taught at Princeton. Cultural discourse and understanding are good things, but there is no need to do it in such a way that students are exposed to content that has been scientifically proven to be harmful.”
“Plenty of people would be vehemently opposed to the idea of glorifying domestic abuse or gun violence, so why is it okay to have a class dedicated to concepts that promote unsafe sexual practices?” Lee said via email.
Lee noted she has never seen the university offer a course dedicated to traditional understandings of sexuality.
“I have not yet seen a single course here dedicated to exploring what it means to love in such a way that minimizes damage, including a clear dating timeline and how to truly will the good of another,” Lee wrote to The Fix.
Gretel Pinniger, aka Madam Lash, bought the gothic building, known as The Kirk on Cleveland Street, Surry Hills in Sydney from the Methodist Church in 1986 for just $205,000.
The church went on to house burlesque shows and countless wild experimental parties.
Rock hall-of-famers AC/DC filmed the music video for one of their signature songs at the church – Let There Be Rock.
But the church fell into disrepair and Ms Pinniger had to constantly erect fences or change locks on the property to prevent squatters from occupying it and potentially setting it on fire.
In April this year Ms Pinniger, now 76, won approval to convert The Kirk into a 26-room boarding house, which became part of its marketing appeal for commercial property agents JLL.
At the time she said she wanted The Kirk to again become a place for musicians and artists to ‘have all the fun we used to have’.
Her $5.6million plans to redevelop The Kirk gained council approval despite objections from NIMBY neighbours worried about the size of her development, the noise, privacy and parking.
The Kirk drew over 200 enquiries when it hit the market, was inspected 30 times and eventually six registered bidders fought it out to secure the iconic 578sq metre building.
The building has now been approved to be turned into 24 residential studios.
It went up for auction on November 3, with opening bids at $4.5million and sold for $6million.
Ms Pinniger became a celebrity advocate of whipping and bondage for rich and powerful male clients, including James Packer’s uncle Clyde and businessman Gordon Barton.
She was also a successful artist, twice having works entered in the prestigious Archibald Prize.
She also used The Kirk as an art space and once said ‘I never took an acid trip without doing a painting’.
Ms Pinniger also ran for the Senate at the 1996 election, representing the Extra Dimension Party.
The former dominatrix now lives in Palm Beach, in Sydney’s northern beaches, and had previously rented out The Kirk on Airbnb for events including hens’ and bucks’ parties.
USA – A little slap and tickle – kinky or otherwise – has been good medicine for us down the ages. Public consumption of the practice of BDSM (Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, Sadochism and Masochism) really came into its own during a ‘golden age’ of fetish art in the mid 20th century. Fetish art has satisfied an enduring need to capture and privately preserve a subject too risqué or taboo for polite conversation. Voyeurism, through lavishly illustrated ‘instruction manuals’, was also a key ingredient of the practice; not only were they creative but also a book of rules: how far, how much and for how long. But richly illustrated records on the subject, albeit in limited quantity, have been around since the time of the ancients, surviving from some of the world’s oldest scriptures, frescoes and even tombs.
The tools of BDSM (whips, chains, masks, gags etc) have little changed over the millennia, with the good ol’ whip remaining a key icon. There is psychological arousal both for the dispenser of the ‘punishment’ and also for the receiver. Equally the light action of whipping and spanking activates blood circulation and gets the body more sensitive and releases endorphins, stimulating those parts and creating a pleasure rush in anticipation of sex. The oldest known image of this nature is hidden away in a dark 5th century BCE Etruscan tomb at the Necropoli dei Monterozzi in Italy.
Two naked men are pictured rather politely whipping a naked woman’s backside, while she in return pleasures both. A few centuries later and a little more public, in the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii, a painted plaster wall fresco wraps around a room’s walls showing a descending winged whip-handed female figure apparently dispensing a flagellation ritual to new bride. In this case, it’s thought the whip is not only a symbol of the future male-dominated marriage, but may also be the iconography of a rite of passage, from a carefree maiden to the spinning mistress of the household with the spindle-thread a metaphorical whip-lash.
From the same period, around the 3rd century CE, the Hindu Kama sutra from India celebrates erotic love. Whilst we are now so familiar with the 2,000-year-old guide by Indian philosopher Vatsyayana, within its pages you can also find a section describing “four different kinds of hitting during lovemaking, the allowed regions of the human body to target and different kinds of joyful cries of pain practiced by bottoms”. The ancient Indian Sanskrit text is thus considered “one of the first written resources dealing with sadomasochistic activities and safety rules”.
European art of the 18th and 19th centuries produced many one-off hot and erotic works captured in pencil and oil. With developments in printing, erotic material could be more easy copied and distributed. Do we even need to open the can of worms that is Marquis de Sade’s dungeon fantasies? Lesser-known and mostly visual and voyeuristic, perhaps the best exploration of the bondage theme was Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s Venus in Furs, published in 1870. In this book not just the physical relationship of sexual power is explored, but also the political and psychological. It claims that until there is true equality, women will remain man’s ‘enemy’. The concepts of ‘enemy’ and ‘entanglement’ both physically and emotionally drive BDSM culture.
Fast forward to more modern times, with the industrialisation of printing and photography, fetish imagery could be easily and cheaply supplied to all who were interested. In America, Charles Guyette (1902 –1976) is regarded as the godfather of fetish art, producing and distributing film, fashion and print.
He would also be the first to go to jail for charges of indecency in 1935. Later crowned the “G-String King,” his key contribution was fetish photography featuring thigh-high boots, sharp heels and gartered fishnet stockings with supporting props of whips and hand-cuffs. Guyette was largely unknown in his own lifetime and operated under umbrellas of aliases, but those American and Canadian exponents who succeeded him – Irving Klaw, John Willie and Eric Stanton – would become part of an infamous circle of patrons, publishers, and subculture personalities described by fetish art historian Richard Pérez Seves has designated as the “Bizarre Underground.”
John Willie, British born John Alexander Scott Coutts (1902 –1962), was an artist, fetish photographer, editor and the publisher of the first 20 issues of the now legendary fetish magazine Bizarre, which ran from 1946 to 1959. He had a taste for photographing women in towering stilettos, but also had a hand in creating the fashion they wore. By 1945, he’d created his own line of ‘exotic’ footwear called, “Achilles,” perfected the G-String tie that even Houdini hated getting out of, and created a series of fetish fantasy characters like “Sweet Gwendolyn” and her dominatrix, “the Countess”.
John Willie’s art is accomplished and his published layouts graphically strong, the content lying somewhere between fashion and fetishism; with ladies impossibly balanced on their stilettos, they sport super-tight hourglass waisted corsets, displaying their bulging breasts and gartered legs. The gags and gear are what could now be considered high fashion items: corsets from the best lingerie stores, immaculate bodysuits, endless silk stockings and lacy garters.
Whist Bizarre Magazine was rich with John Willie’s own artworks, it also included photographs, often of his own wife. The magazine folded due to paper shortages of WWII. When he retired, he destroyed most of his archives, except for a few surviving shots.
Inspired by John Willie, the self-named the “Pin-up King”, Irving Klaw was a “merchant of sexploitation” who operated a mail-order fetish art business in New York for movies and kinky photographs. Klaw’s work in BDSM media was mainly post-war, a series of striptease and burlesque movies featuring the likes of 50s pin-up girl Bettie Page. Hugh Hefner himself alludes to the domino effect Irving had on her career and ultimately pop culture: “She became, in time, an American icon, her winning smile and effervescent personality apparent in every pose. A kinky connection was added by Irving Klaw’s spanking, fetish and bondage photos, which became part of the Bettie Page mystique; they were playful parodies that are now perceived as the early inspiration for Madonna’s excursions into the realm of sexual perversion.”
In the late 1950s, amidst a new wave of media censorship, a career-ending McCarthy-style hearing branded Klaw as a degenerate pornographer. Bettie Page retired from modeling soon after and Klaw destroyed an estimated 80% of his negatives (while his sister Paula secretly saved some of his work).
Perhaps one of the most influential cartoonists to feature in Klaw’s material was Eric Stanton, another American underground cartoonist and fetish art pioneer who helped shape the movement before its acceptance in the 1970s. Artists like Banksy, Allen Jones and Madonna, among others, took inspiration from his the work, but interestingly, for a decade, Stanton also shared a working studio with Marvel Comics legend Steve Ditko.
Printed comic books in the 20th century saw an exotic pantheon of godlike characters: Batman, Superman and the likes, all tightly wrapped up in their clingy costumes and sporting fetish whips, chains and straps. Superman had been created in 1938 by artist Joe Shuster, who had also published a series of bondage magazines illustrated very much in the same drawing-style as those of the early Superman comics. The bondage magazine work is darker, openly portraying more pain than pleasure for the recipient. The art is more direct than John Willie’s softer crafted fantasies. Gorgeous girls and sometimes men are held captive, awkwardly chained and bound in dark cellars, near naked in the skimpiest of lingerie while tools of torture are wielded by twisted goblin-like men.
Following in the superhero track, the seemingly uncomfortable combination of feminism and fetishism spills out of William Moulton Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman who, incidentally was also the inventor of the polygraph and in his private life, practised polygamy and BDSM. From her earliest adventures beginning in 1941, she was inevitably bound and gagged by her captors, but always managed an escape to eventually ensnare her enemies with her golden lasso. William Marston wanted to see this as her emancipation, tearing off the bonds of men. Catwoman, Batgirl and the rest have followed suit, whether in leather or PVC – torn or otherwise – bringing fetish fashion to the table.
Fetishism has become commonplace and an intrinsic part of modern Western culture – from Madam Whiplash on the evening news to Allen Jones’ bondage mannequin furniture, the theatre of bondage are played out in the public realm. Even Harvard University has an approved a BDSM student sex club. And if you’re curious to learn more, Chicago’s Leather Archives and Museum is an excellent institution dedicated to preserving leather, kink, fetish, and BDSM history and culture and making it more accessible to the public.
SCOTLAND – A court has heard how Isaac Bunce went too far and left his partner with a scar, after she didn’t consent to the use of knives during their games.
A man admitted slashing a woman’s buttock when he went too far during a bondage sex game. Isaac Bunce, 53, tied up, blindfolded and gagged his partner before hanging her from a hook.
A court heard yesterday how the couple took part in BDSM – bondage, domination, sadism and masochism – sex. But on one occasion Bunce took a knife to the woman’s backside, leaving her with a scar.
Bunce, who was in a relationship with the woman, admitted assaulting her and cutting her on the body with a knife at a house in Inverness. The case had been delayed due to Covid and Bunce had been due to stand trial before a jury.
Fiscal depute Pauline Gair told Sheriff Sara Matheson: “The relationship involved BDSM behaviour and included the use of ropes, whips, and other implements by consent but never knives.
“On one occasion he told her that she had to be punished, tied her up, gagged her, blindfolded her and attached her to a hook on the ceiling. He was whipping the woman who complained it was sore and he stopped.
“She then felt blood running down her leg and saw a small knife. It appeared to have been used to inflict a four-inch cut to her right buttock. She did not seek medical attention and it has left a scar.”
Defence counsel Lorenzo Alonzi told Inverness Sheriff Court: “The relationship did continue for a short while afterwards. And that night he repeatedly said he was sorry.” Bunce had bail continued pending reports.
USA – Throughout history, Black women have seldom benefited from their own over-sexualization.
The Jezebel is a trope that stems from slavery that paints Black women as hyper-sexual and immoral. Critical race theorist Gloria Ladson-Billings wrote this stereotype is: “synonymous with promiscuity,” having “an insatiable sexual appetite,” and “someone who uses sex to manipulate men.”
Over time, this view of Black girls and women has remained a hallmark of their lived experience. In what experts have deemed “adultification,” teachers, law enforcement officials, parents and other grown figures often view young Black girls as less guileless and more adult-like than their white counterparts.
This is something Venus Cuffs can personally attest to. At just seven years old, she was sexually assaulted by a family friend and forced to relive the trauma, because nothing was done about it.
“He was still around for years, so I really didn’t understand the magnitude of what happened to me because everything went on like normal.”
Cuffs shared she grew up in a dysfunctional household between Los Angeles and New York City that was led by her single, hard-working mother and uncle who both grew up in foster care where chaos was commonplace. At the time of her assault, Cuffs said she was on the cusp of prepubescence and found it difficult to identify with the physiological changes happening to her in comparison to kids her age.
“I only started to process it when I was a teenager,” Cuffs shared told ESSENCE, explaining that as her schoolmates gained awareness of their growing sexual urges, she was forced to rethink her own experiences.
“In junior high and high school, people are like, ‘hey, are you a virgin?’ I never knew how to answer that question because it was like, technically, I guess I’m not. But at the same time, I was because it wasn’t consensual.”
She said this disjointed understanding sparked a need to take control of her sexuality, as well as gain a deeper understanding of consent. At 17, she did just that.
“I was invited to my first kink party then,” Cuffs said, referring to a type of gathering where attendees participate in consensual sexual acts in a safe, controlled environment. “I really enjoyed the way everyone seemed to feel. z That was really the beginning of it all.”
A short time later Cuffs turned 18, so she was of legal age to attend more kink parties where she said she was able to explore more. It was at one of those gatherings she met a “submissive,” or a person who submits to another, usually under the framework of BDSM lifestyle.
“It was incredible because almost immediately, he became a client and I became their pro-domme,” she said.
A pro-domme is in reference to a professional dominatrix, or a person who is trained in the art of female domination for BDSM role play in exchange for a fee. After doing some research, Cuffs said she realized the role was ideal in helping her gain agency over her body. It was also a great way to earn money.
“Initially I didn’t know what a pro-domme was, but he offered me $200 to step on him, and I was like, yeah, I guess I’m a pro-domme,” she said laughingly. “I thought, if I can make money doing this and kind of, like, pull myself out of poverty, then why not? That’s the route I decided to take. At that time, it was survival. I wasn’t doing well in life. I wasn’t where a 17, almost 18-year-old would normally be.”
Understandably, the then teen had to grow up fast to adapt to the fast-paced adult entertainment industry. At one point she even found herself homeless. But she quickly learned the ropes.
Through her pro-domme work, Cuffs put herself through college debt-free, earning a finance and business management degree. It was through the coursework Cuffs learned she had a knack for organization and project management. She then started throwing her own kink parties, organized large scale sex-positive events, and years later transitioned out of BDSM work into the nightlife industry full-time.
“Over the years, everyone kept telling me how safe they felt at my kink parties, and they wanted to see more from me, so I branched out into traditional nightlife.” It was a seamless transition, mostly because of the core concepts she’d learned in her pro-domme work.
“There’s something in BDSM called negotiations where you go back and forth talking to each other to communicate how they’d like the sexual encounter to flow, or the way they want to be touched, and concepts like that.” Through those conversations, she said she learned how to bargain and affectively communicate what she wanted, even in business.
Over time, Cuffs has made it her mission to help dispel harmful misconceptions about BDSM and sexual taboos in the Black community.
“When I was single, men I connected with didn’t understand my career,” she shared. Although Cuffs is now happily married, she reflected on the times her profession was misconstrued for prostitution by those she dated. “They would be like, ‘dominatrix? No, you fucking people for money.’ No, I’m not, actually. I’m getting paid to dominate somebody. I’d have to kind of like break it down and explain it. And believe it or not, some of the Black folks I’ve dated in the past actually got into this lifestyle through me by just learning and being open to things we think are just for white people. So there’s this idea that, ‘oh, that’s white people shit. We don’t do that. They do that. But we can own our sexual selves too.”
Now, Cuffs owns a class space that teaches people, and has owned two BDSM dungeons in years past. This is notable as the sexual entertainment industry is largely gate-kept by non-minorities. Cuffs also curates parties for people to not only explore sexually but to have fun in a myriad of ways.
“I’ve always wanted to create the type of environment for others I didn’t always have growing up: a safe and inclusive one,” Cuffs shared. “I’m in the business of breaking all the barriers. Owning what Black women were told we shouldn’t. I’m plus-sized, Black, queer and a former domme,” she said, pausing. “My message is specifically for Black women. Don’t listen to these clowns. Keep doing you and make your money.”
Fox, now 32, started working in a ‘basement dungeon’ at age 18, where she would be paid to fulfill men’s fantasies
While she didn’t have intercourse with her clients, she said the ‘humiliating’ job made her ‘disassociate’ and left her looking at sex as a ‘one-sided’ and ‘trivial’ act
She said she ‘doesn’t see the point’ of getting intimate if she ‘doesn’t need anything’ from the man. Ratajkowski, on the other hand, said that she ‘likes sex’
Fox said she gets more joy out of taking the plant-based psychedelic ayahuasca – a drug that’s brewed into a tea and can cause one to hallucinate
Fox added that the job taught her she could ‘get money or recourses from men’ at a young age, and left her ‘damaged’ because of the ‘power’ they had over her
She also said that since having her son in January 2021, she feels like she ‘doesn’t need to put up with the bulls**t that comes with being around guys’ anymore
USA – .Kanye West‘s ex Julia Fox said she doesn’t like sex and is ‘desensitized’ to it because of her past career as a dominatrix – and revealed she’d rather take the plant-based psychedelic ‘ayahuasca and see God’ than be intimate.
Fox, now 32, previously revealed that she started working in a ‘basement dungeon’ at age 18, where she would be paid to fulfill men’s fantasies.
And now, she has opened up about how the ‘humiliating’ job forced her to ‘disassociate’ as a ‘survival mechanism’ – which left her looking at sex as a ‘one-sided’ and ‘trivial’ act even now, years later.
‘Sex for me always has been one-sided but I think all women can say that. So it’s like, if I don’t really need anything from you, I don’t see the point,’ she told her pal Emily Ratajkowski during a recent appearance on her podcast High Low with EmRata.
‘I’m really desensitized to sex, too. Like it just, it’s not thrilling for me.’
Ratajkowski, on the other hand, said that she ‘likes sex,’ to which Fox added, ‘See, I don’t. I can go without. I’m like, so good.’
‘I think when you’re sexualized so young, people think you’re really sexual,’ Ratajkowski added in response to Fox’s claims about intimacy.
‘And that’s always been a thing [since] you were a dominatrix and everything.’
Fox explained that she gets more joy out of taking ayahuasca – a South American drug that’s usually brewed into a tea and can cause one to ‘trip’ or hallucinate.
‘I wanna take ayahuasca and see God. To me that’s thrilling,’ she added. ‘That’s cool. [Sex] just seems so trivial to me.’
According to Healthline, ayahuasca is made from the leaves of the Psychotria viridis shrub along with the stalks of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine.
‘This drink was used for spiritual and religious purposes by ancient Amazonian tribes and is still used as a sacred beverage by some religious communities in Brazil and North America, including the Santo Daime,’ it explained.
‘The main ingredients of ayahuasca – Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis -both have hallucinogenic properties.
‘When combined, these two plants form a powerful psychedelic brew that affects the central nervous system, leading to an altered state of consciousness that can include hallucinations, out-of-body experiences, and euphoria.’
While the actress never had intercourse with her clients, she admitted that the ‘transactional’ relationships with them taught her that she could ‘get money or recourses from men’ at a young age, but left her ‘damaged’ because of the ‘power’ they had over her.
‘It’s tough because yeah I’m OK, you know? But there’s been a lot of damage done,’ she continued.
‘I pretty much, in my teens, learned that I was a commodity and that I can get money or resources from men, so then it just became this game of, OK, how do I become more desirable so I could get more money and I could be like that b***h.
‘It’s still them giving me the power. It’s not my own power, you know? So it’s a humiliating kind of position to be in or humbling, rather.
‘Especially when you’re not in it anymore and you look back and you’re like, “Oh my god, I can’t believe…”‘
She said she was even forced to ‘disassociate’ during some of the interactions, adding, ‘It’s crazy but it’s a survival mechanism. We do it to live, which is insane.’
Fox previously told Paper magazine that during her job as a dominatrix, she was asked to perform as various roles like an ‘evil teacher, domineering mother, nun, or nurse.’
‘The headmistress – who’s like a manager -she would be like, “He has this specific fetish,” you know, whatever,’ she told the outlet.
‘Sometimes you get to meet them beforehand in a little consultation room, but a lot of the time, not really.
‘You just go in blindly with a little bit of knowledge and you just stretch it and make the most of it, you know?’
She added to Paper that the job did have some positives, as it taught her ‘self worth and self esteem’ because the men would treat her like a ‘f**king Goddess.’
‘My clients adored me — literally let me piss on them and do whatever I wanted,’ she said.
‘And then on top of that, they’d pay me and bring me gifts and treat me like a f**king goddess.
‘Like, I didn’t even know what to do with that. I had been treated like s**t by men my entire life, so I didn’t know that there was more.’
Fox’s job as a dominatrix, which earned her $250 an hour, helped her launch her career as an actress.
She told Alex Cooper on her Call Her Daddy podcast, ‘When people ask how did I get my start in acting, I’m like, “At the dungeon,” because I would have to improv multiple times a day, on very short notice.’
Fox is best known for her role in Adam Sandler’s Netflix movie Uncut Gems, but she also starred in the flick No Sudden Move and wrote and directed the short film Fantasy Girls. She has also flourished in the modeling industry – posing for big brands and magazines like Playboy, Diesel, Coach, Supreme, Vogue, V, Paper, and Interview, among others.
Milan, Italy-born Fox made headlines for her brief relationship with West, 45, which kicked off after they met at a party on New Year’s Eve in 2021. But the whirlwind romance fizzled out just two months later, in February 2022.
And she told Ratajkowski that the attention she received from dating the rapper impacted her career – but ‘not in a good way.’
‘After the big relationship, I definitely noticed a shift in the acting way, not in a good way,’ she explained.
‘I’m not getting as many offers as I was before, weirdly. There’s been a lot of weird drawbacks with reaching that level of notoriety.’
The brunette beauty said that she felt that people in the entertainment business think she might be a ‘liability’ and ‘tabloid type of person’ now. But she added that she was undeterred by temporary setbacks and just had ‘to trust the process.’
‘It’s fine, I’m so busy. I think things come to you at the right time, so that’s why I’m really not stressing. I really don’t care,’ she added.
Before she was linked to West, she was married to a pilot named Peter Artemiev, whom she shares a one-year-old son, named Valentino, with. And she explained to Ratajkowski that having a baby changed the way she looks at men.
‘Prior to having Valentino, whenever I would meet a guy or date a guy, I would always think, “OK, I could have a baby with him.” Like that was always my thought,’ she explained.
‘It was never like because I was in love or anything, if that makes sense … I was like nesting.
‘That was kind of always my end goal, so I think when I had Valentino it was like, “OK I’m done, I don’t need to put up with the bulls**t that comes with being around you guys anyway.”‘
While Fox said that she no longer cares about finding a guy, she admitted that she spent years ‘catering to the male gaze.’
‘I really do not get dressed with men in mind at all. At all, at all. Like I really couldn’t care less,’ she continued.
‘But there was a time in my life where maybe I didn’t have that thought per se, but I definitely subconsciously was catering to the male gaze, you know? But I was also like in survival mode. I had to.’
Fox’s comments about ayahuasca come hours after ESPN’s Robert Griffin III claimed that football player Aaron Rodgers’ use of the drug is the reason that his team, the Green Bay Packers have lost five straight games in a row.
Rodgers admitted to using ayahuasca during the 2020 and 2022 off-seasons.
‘In order for [the Green Bay Packers] to dig themselves out of this hole, they need the best version of Aaron Rodgers,’ Griffin told his ESPN co-hosts on Monday.
‘And right now, that ayahuasca seems like it has him in a completely different world.’
Other celebrities who have admitted to using the drug includes Chelsea Handler, Will Smith, Megan Fox, Lindsay Lohan, Miley Cyrus, and Susan Sarandon, among others.
SOUTG AFRICA – Trends and fetishes in the world of sex are common but some of these can be challenging. Peeing during sex or watching someone pee during sex is one such fetish.
So why does your partner want to pee on you or watch you pee during sex?
Let’s understand the who’s and why’s before moving on to what you can do about it!
THE PEE FETISH OR ‘GOLDEN SHOWER’
A pee fetish, also known as urophilia, is a REAL thing.
Urophilia combines bathroom habits and sex – two things society doesn’t really enjoy discussing.
Times of India reports that there are people who relate sexual excitement with urine.
Partners who don’t enjoy urinating on others may enjoy watching their partner urinate in front of them – it’s a type of intimacy many long for.
WHY DOES URINE TURN CERTAIN PEOPLE ON?
It’s not exactly clear why urine turns some people on but it could be related to the enjoyment of being defiled, as some reports say.
Another reason is that it is taboo, wild and uncommon but doesn’t have any serious risk factors or pain.
While many consider it gross, some believe it’s wanting more from a certain person.
IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO
If you’re really not keen on being peed on or having someone pee on you, seeking therapy is a great choice.
Urophilia is not considered normal and is often forbidden by many.
If you accidentally pee during sex, you can seek the assistance of a doctor who can guide you through ways of stopping this.
There are always ways to make life easier, just remember not to pressure yourself!
DO YOU PEE IN THE SHOWER? WELL, IT’S NOT AS SAFE AS YOU THINK…
In related news, it was previously reported that peeing in the shower is far more common than one would think.
Some may relieve themselves without even thinking about it and some environmentally-conscious people tend to do it on purpose.
Water conservation aside, if you pee in the shower you may think it’s safe and sanitary but this isn’t entirely true.
YOUR PEE IS NOT STERILE AND CONTAINS A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT BACTERIA
Some may relieve themselves without even thinking about it and some environmentally-conscious people tend to do it on purpose.
Water conservation aside, peeing in the shower may not be as safe or as sanitary as people believe.
A 2014 study showed that urine is in fact, NOT sterile. It contains a number of different types of bacteria.
Some of these include Streptococcus and Staphylococcus which are associated with strep throat and staph infections.
While bacteria counts tend to be lower in healthy pee, they may be higher if you are suffering from a urinary tract infection (UTI).
YOU MAY ACCIDENTALLY CONDITION YOURSELF TO PEE WHEN HEARING A CERTAIN SOUND
Another thing to note when constantly peeing in the shower is conditioning a response you may not always want.
Alicia Jeffrey-Thomas, MD, says that you may be accidentally conditioning yourself to urinate on command of the sound of the nozzle spraying, reports Best Life.
“If you pee in the shower, or turn on the faucet or turn on the shower and then sit on the toilet to pee while the shower is running, you’re creating an association in the brain between the sound of running water and having to pee,” Jeffrey-Thomas said.
DON’T FORGET TO BE CONSIDERATE IF YOU SHARE YOUR SPACE!
So if you’re the only one using your shower, you could probably be safe peeing there too – as long as it’s regularly cleaned.
If you’re sharing a shower, discuss your peeing habits before you decide to let it all out.
And if you’re using a public shower, be considerate to those who may come in after you and go straight to the loo.
UK – HAMMERSMITH – A killer who confessed to the bondage murder of a barman found naked and tied up in his Kensington apartment 42 years ago has been jailed for 19 years.
John Paul, 61, battered 42-year-old Anthony Bird with pieces of wood before leaving him unconscious and tied up in his flat in Bentley Court, Kensington Square in June 1980.
Mr Paul walked into Hammersmith Police Station and reported his horrific crime to an officer on 5 May last year.
Asked what he had done he replied simply: ‘Murder.’
Mr Paul denied murder, despite the confession, but he was convicted by an Old Bailey jury on 24 October.
The judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb jailed Paul for life and ordered he serve a minimum of 19 years in prison.
Jurors had heard details of the confession during the two week trial.
Asked what happened, he told one officer: ‘I see a man, he approached me and he’s just speaking to me and just talked me into having sex with him.
‘He took me back to his place.
‘I tied him with cord. I think the cord was black I’m not sure.
‘I tied him with a cord, his ankles, his hands, his arms, on the bed naked.
‘There was a piece of wood, a piece of wood, I used the piece of wood to batter him.
‘Knocked him unconscious.’
Officers investigated whether there was a record of an unsolved killing of a man at around the same time and location as Paul was reporting, the court heard.
The unsolved killing of Mr Bird was deemed ‘worth a look’ and that afternoon, Paul was arrested for the murder.
The 61-year-old was admitted as an inpatient at Hillingdon Hospital the next day while police investigated.
Judge Cheema-Grubb said: ‘Mr Bird’s friends say he was in the habit of having sex with strangers he met on the street.
‘He met you, a 19-year-old walking around the street having recently left a borstal. I am sure that you intended to steal from him.
‘You were aware that he was after sex but you had no intention of engaging.
‘He undressed and you used a flex to tie him up at his request.
‘He was now defenceless and vulnerable. In order to ensure he didn’t cry out for help you hit him over the head until he was unconscious.
‘His death would have been caused by rendering him unconscious while in that position with his knees up and his airways comprised.
‘Mr Bird approached you looking for an intimate connection and you decided it was something you could use and exploit.
‘I take into account the enormous burden that mental illness has been to you for at least the past 20 years and will continue to affect your life and the manner in which you endure the sentence.’
The judge said she was obliged to consider what the sentence would have been if it was committed in 2022 and what it would have been if he was sentenced 20 years ago.
Paul’s defence lawyer Tama Adkien said he had shown as much remorse as was possible given his schizophrenia.
In a victim impact statement read to court, Mr Bird’s sister-in-law Gillian Bird said: ‘I was married to Tony’s brother Richard for 63 years, who sadly passed way in November 2021.
‘Myself and my family remember hearing about the murder very vividly.
‘I recall the family being at the local village fair when a tannoy came out for Richard.
‘Two policeman arrived to tell us he had been murdered, but they didn’t know who had been responsible.
‘At the time we were shocked and traumatised by the circumstances of his death.
‘We were never told any information about how he had been murdered.
‘Tony’s Mum Pauline was so shocked and upset at not being able to bury him for six months.
‘It was awful for her having to wait six months to lay him for rest. We never got any reason for this at the time.
‘Pauline died six years later. She was always a fighter and we have no doubt her death was hastened by the fact Tony had been murdered. They had always been in frequent contact.
‘Tony was a remote relative living alone in London, but it was still difficult to know his life had ended in that way, and made worse by the fact we never had any answer to what really happened to him.
‘Now 42 years on we can have some peace of mind knowing the perpetrator has been found guilty and convicted of this heinous crime.
‘Having seen Mr Paul in the dock of the court we would like to say we feel no hatred for him and feel sorry for him, having some sympathy for his current circumstances.’
‘Mr Bird lived in that flat alone,’ said John Price, prosecuting at the trial.
‘He was a homosexual man, and it was known amongst his friends that he would frequently pick up men in the street and pay them for sex.
‘His next-door neighbour whom the police took a statement back during the first investigation spoke of frequent male visitors to his flat.’
Mr Bird was out in Queensway, on 3 June 1980, when he came across some friends and told them that ‘he had his eye on a black lad’ before following him.
‘Amongst those who knew him, Tony Bird was never to be seen alive again,’ the prosecutor said.
Mr Bird was due to work shifts at the Railway Tap pub that week and that the pub’s landlord became concerned when he failed to show up.
The police were eventually called on 6 June after a member of staff received no reply when he was sent to knock on Mr Bird’s door.
‘Police officers went to the flat on that Friday and they too knocked on the door. Again, there was no reply,’ Mr Price said.
‘The front door was securely locked and so, obviously by now fearing for Mr Bird’s safety, they had to use a sledgehammer to force it open.
‘The curtains were fully drawn in the living room of the flat. The room was in a dishevelled state as if, so it seemed to them, it had been ransacked.
‘There was a sideboard with nothing on it, though they noted that there were patterns in the dust marks which indicated that objects…had recently been moved.
‘They went into the bedroom. On the bed, they found the lifeless body of Tony Bird.
‘He was naked. He was lying on his side. His knees were tucked up and his legs were crossed.
‘There was black electrical flex bound tightly around his left wrist and around his left ankle. There was also the mark of a cord around his right wrist.
‘There were numerous marks and apparent bruising to a number of places on his body.’
A post-mortem in 1980 found multiple sites of blunt force injury on Mr Bird’s body including bruising on his head, jaw, chest, thighs and the base of his penis, as well as a neck bone fracture.
Pathologist Rufus Crompton found the injuries were consistent with the use of ‘billets of wood’.
Dr Crompton also believed the cause of death was ‘manual strangulation’ but this was not the case.
The court heard fingerprints taken from the scene decades ago, which were previously unattributed, matched Paul’s prints.
Paul was charged with the murder on 27 May last year.
Porter and part-time barman Anthony Bird, 42, was found naked with his wrists bound, at his flat in Kensington Gardens Square, west London, on June 6 1980.
His murder remained a mystery for 41 years, until John Paul, 61, confessed to police last year that he had ‘battered him’ with a lump of wood.
Paul, of Maida Vale, west London, denied murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter at his trial at the Old Bailey.
It was claimed his confession to the killing was not reliable and that even if he was responsible, he did not intend to do Mr Bird really serious harm.
An Old Bailey jury deliberated for half a day before finding Paul guilty of murder.
On Friday, Mrs Cheema-Grubb jailed him at the Old Bailey for life with a minimum term of 19 years.
She said: ‘It was merciless and motivated by a wish to take that which did not belong to you.
‘I have no doubt this was a murder done for gain. You decided he was a target you could exploit.’
Previously, John Price KC said Mr Bird was last seen alive late on the night of June 3 1980, in the Queensway area of west London.
He told friends he ‘had his eye on a black lad’ and had hurried after him, the court heard.
After Mr Bird failed to turn up for work at the Railway Tap pub, police were called to his one-bedroom flat, jurors heard.
Officers used a sledgehammer to smash into the property and found that it appeared to have been ‘ransacked’, Mr Price said.
The prosecutor told jurors: ‘The officers went into the bedroom. On the bed they found the lifeless body of Tony Bird. He was naked. He was lying on his side. His knees were tucked up and his legs were crossed.
‘Black electrical flex was bound tightly around his left wrist and around his left ankle. There was the mark of a cord around his right wrist. There were numerous marks and apparent bruising on his body.’
The court was told two planks of wood were found at the scene.
Mr Price told jurors that following his confession, Paul’s fingerprints were taken and matched to evidence from the crime scene.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Bird’s family said they were left ‘devastated, shocked and traumatised’ by his death.
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