San Francisco Fetish Ball 2005

One thing I've never done, not really done, is wear latex in public.

It's definitely been a fantasy of mine, and I've dabbled in it occasionally. Once or twice I have worn a catsuit discretely under street clothes on small errands for an hour or two, but that hardly counts.

So for me, the last-minute discovery that the San Francisco Fetish Ball was being held that very Saturday was a good excuse to realize this long-term fantasy in a relatively safe setting. I figured if I was going to be surrounded by fellow fetishists, there was very little chance of any "negative" experience happening. And, for the most part, that was true.

For most of the Saturday before the event started, I chatted with folks online and searched around for any positive or negative reviews of the event. I found very little un-biased information of any sort, just the event notices on the websites of the major sponsors (unsurprisingly, positive!).

In the end, I convinced myself to give the event a try, if for no other reason than to have a public experience dressed in rubber. Even if the event sucked, I reasoned, I'd still remember it fondly.

Eventually, I decided to wear a thin, 2-tone catsuit I purchased a couple years back from House of Whacks via Ebay. I figured it would stay relatively cool in a potentially crowded event, and it was a bit more interesting than just basic black. A friend suggested perhaps a bright-yellow PVC number I purchased more recently, but I didn't want to blind people, but was hoping for a little attention at least.

I toyed with the idea of "accessorizing" a bit, like a collar, wrist cuffs, or even a "tail" perhaps. Eventually, however, I convinced myself that would be too extreme or provocative for that event. I actually "whimped out" a bit by opting to wear some leather pants over the catsuit bottom. This made the catsuit look more like a latex shirt coupled with standard pants. I figured this would have the positive effect of having pockets, and I'd always have the option to take them off if the event was more full of rubber-fans than I thought.


House of Whacks 2-tone suit

So I opted for some wet silicone lube, donned the suit and the leahter pants, and headed into the City. At least, I felt very conflicted while driving in exposed fetish gear. It was already dark out, but I could sense drivers in other cars looking at me at stoplights. I felt a bit sweaty and nervous while pulling onto the freeway. Turned on, for sure, but also nervous. As I got closer to the event, I become more and more comfortable with what I was wearing. When I got to the event location, I was emboldened by seeing a line of fellow pervs lined up outside the hall, waiting to get in. I drove around the block a few times to find a good parking spot and try to get a sense of how 'extreme' the wardrobe of the crowd was, and eventually parked and walked over.

Folks in line seemed very friendly -- pretty much every sort of attire was represented. I was happy to see someone hop in line right behind me in a full black catsuit, very tight and sexy. I immediately felt a tinge of regret for having opted to wear the leather pants. Leather is really not my thing and wearing them was sort of a cop-out, I think. Seeing others flaunting nothing-but-rubber made me feel bad for not going "all the way" so to speak.

The crowd was very mixed. I'd say approximately 20% of folks had some measure of rubber wear on, only about 5% were sporting full suits or anything I'd consider "extreme". At least half the folks in line and in the event seemed to be dressing mainly to the minimum to pass the dress code for the event. In this case minimum seemed to be leather pants or chaps and a T-shirt.

Once inside the event, the main thing to "do" was basically to mill about and check out all the other attendees. There was a huge variety of sights to see, the crowd was fairly evenly gender mixed, perhaps 60/40 M/F. The fetishes on display really ran the gamut. Slaves on leashes, costumes of all types, military uniforms, leather harnesses, doctors and nurses, rubber animals, police officers, full-coverage rubber with gas masks, techo-fetish robots, even a guy wrapped in a shower curtain.

I was a bit disappointed to not see a bit more full-coverage rubber and more extreme masks or restraints. There were definitely some displays that were real turn-ons, but the vast majority of people seemed somewhat tame, or just taking their fetish in a different direction than what gets me excited. But hey, c'est la vie, it really demonstrated the variety of the "scene" in general, and you have to like that.

So that was the good part. What about the bad part. Well, I personally think the event was not very well run, and not generally that much fun for me. Or at least not a good value for the money. Even though the event was billed as "4 stories", only those with VIP passes had access to anything but the ground floor. I really despise this sort of LA-style velvet-rope syndrome. I don't want bouncers checking the color of my wrist band and saying which stairs I can go up and so on, that's just lame.

Also the music selection and lighting just didn't do much for me. The DJ was mixing what I can only describe as "1980s gay disco" mixes, I expected Donna Summer to make an appearance. I would have felt a little hard-core industrial would have fit the mood better. The lighting was a bit too stark and direct for me too, it was nice to be able to clearly see what folks were wearing, but after a while it made the place seem less like a club and more like a High School prom. You remember that scene from the Matrix (2?) at the fetish club? I wanted a bit more of that and a bit less Studio 54...

I also expected a bit more of a "show" to be put on. Perhaps they did more later, the website certainly suggested they would, but I stayed until almost midnight and nothing was really changing, just folks milling around and looking at least other. Frankly, after being there for about two hours, it just got old. I think it was perhaps a lot more fun for folks that have been part of this social "scene" for many years and attend year after year. Or those attending as a couple, perhaps they could spice things up a bit by acting out some public master/slave displays. It definitely wasn't a "sex party" or anything that would encourage that.

In total, I'd say Folsom Street was a more exciting event for me to attend. The ratio of fetish-to-street-clothes was somewhat higher at this event, but the setup of the venue and the carefully-tiered pass/vip system gave it a much less open, communal vibe. A lot of the hottest outfits I saw on display here were the same ones that caught my eye at Folsom, in fact. And hell, Folsom is $5 or something instead of $25. It made me even more despondent that I wimped out and didn't wear rubber to Folsom this year and ensured I would not make that mistake again!

One footnote - a strange thing happened after I was at the event for a while. I actually forgot that I was wearing rubber. For better or worse, being in this environment actually de-sensitized me to what I was wearing. Oddly, I think this was a negative. I had built up this fantasy or fear about being in rubber in public, but when you take away the taboo by being in a room full of like-dressed people, it also removes the thrill of things.

I definitely wish I had dressed more extremely than I did -- lose the leather pants, add a tail or a gasmask, perhaps additional bondage bits and pieces, to try to feel a little bit more shocking amongst the crowd. As it was, I almost started to feel like the "tourist". I would estimate maybe only 10% of the folks there were dressed in a way I would term "extreme" in some way, I almost immediately felt envious of them, wishing I could join their number. Definitely if I were to attend again, I would try to push the limits as far as possible to get back the thrill of pushing the envelope in an environment where that is not at all easy.