Bondage 101 - Vancouver Sun 2003/10/15

The University of Victoria says it supports plans for a student-run seminar on campus -- called Bondage 101 -- that will offer students instructions on how to use ropes during sex.

"Why not?" replied David Clode, UVic's executive director of student services, when asked if the seminar is appropriate for a university campus.

"Maybe some people need some instruction in [bondage], if that's their inclination or proclivity."

Clode said the group organizing the seminar -- UVic Pride Collective -- is a thoughtful organization that sometimes takes "bold action" to educate students and promote tolerance.

"Education has a right to flourish [on campus]. Certainly no one is being coerced to attend," he said Tuesday, adding that it's better for students to learn bondage from competent instructors than from unknown sources on the Internet.

UVic Pride, a part of the University of Victoria Students' Society, says the three-hour seminar Oct. 22 -- at a location on campus it refused to divulge -- will be hands-on and interactive.

An e-mail describing the seminar advises participants to bring "100 feet of 3/8-inch braided rope, cut into 1x50 and 2x25 pieces, ends finished with whipping or burned or tape [temporarily]."

Such rope can be purchased at Canadian Tire or a marine store for about 18 cents a foot, if it's braided nylon (although hemp is strongly recommended), the informational e-mail says.

Students should bring a blanket for the floor and a kneeling cushion and should dress "in suitable attire for rope work," the e-mail says.

"Loose, baggy garments can get in the way of ropes and tight, constricting clothing is totally unsuitable. Body suits, leotards, bathing suits are all excellent choices. Nudity is fun too but won't be an option until after the workshop when you go home . . . wink," the e-mail says.

Instructors will be "local bondage aficionados/experts" from Victoria's Sagacity Group, which describes itself on its Web site as a place for those who enjoy BDSM (bondage, discipline and sado-masochism), kink and fetish.

Clode said the university would never stop the students' society from sponsoring seminars of its choice.

"They don't need my permission or anyone else's permission," he said in an interview.

"It's part of the educational process for students to be self-governing."

Although Bondage 101 might shock some people off campus, it's not a big deal on campus, he added. UVic students tend to be "ahead of the wave" and are proactive about encouraging inclusive societies.

Are parents likely to be bothered? "I don't know. As a parent myself it wouldn't bother me. My sense of it is there are a great many events that take place in a university that will challenge everyone's values."

Michael Joyce, UVic Pride chairman, said the response from students has been good, but he was surprised by off-campus interest from the media and several U.S. Web sites that have posted the e-mail.

"I don't see the newsworthiness of this at all."

The seminar will not include sex, Joyce stressed. "We're just going to be discussing the safe use of ropes in a sexualized context . . . how to tie and untie knots and make sure there's no danger."

The seminar costs $15 per couple. The group wouldn't say how many students have registered.