I can only speak for the community here in Atlanta, but we do watch after our own, and the first thing newbies are taught is that oft-used acronym SSC (and sometimes RACK), followed closely by the concept of negotiation, and safety (play with someone in public first, set up safe calls whenever playing in private, that sort of thing).

There are certain people who are known to the community here to act on that edge of SSC/RACK, and newbies are warned before playing with them. The waters can be pretty muddy, though — what one person sees as being safe, sane, and consensual might be none of the above to another. So there’s a blurry line between warning people of dangerous players (e.g. people who get drunk and/or high and then engage in bloodplay), and the community being a high-school rumor-mill where people badmouth anyone whose style they disagree with.

When Jay works as an expert witness, he is being paid by the defense attorney to try to create an element of doubt in the mind of the jury that perhaps the defendant did not murder the victim with an intentional, very prolonged strangle hold. Jay’s expert witness, Dr. Knight, states that it there is an expert consensus that it takes a minimum of four-to-six minutes to start to do permanent brain damage with a completely effective choke hold. Try to “choke” your own wrist for four minutes, and it will become clear that this is not something that could possibly be done by accident, or in a moment of passion. That makes it essential for the defense to try to establish that a “playful tweak” can be instantly fatal.

I’m actually drafting a post about breath play, and carotid chokes in particular, for release within the next day or so.

Also, I think a lot of doms (especially male ones) tend to be “helpful” as a guise to put themselves in a position of authority and trust, and eventually seduction. It’s interesting to watch what happens when there’s an attractive piece of new meat in the scene. “O hai! My toyz, let me show u them!”

I’m not (god forbid) advocating recklessness (perish the thought – what sort of madman…), but I can’t mention knifeplay without a forty-minute lecture on the subject by some fat, leather-panted parrot of some 55-year-old douche in Kansas with Wordperfect and RedTube as his “first-hand experience.”

Frankly, I never thought I’d see cleft assholes in a community of against-the-grain people. It’s the first sign, to me, of someone full of shit. You don’t see a lot of gun advocates who jump down your throat with a lecture on gun safety the minute you say you might like to go to the range someday.