Fetishism does not lead to Violence

Letter to the editor of the TC from Ladyfish

Times Colonist

Published: Thursday, June 28, 2007

Re: "Arsonist's return frays some nerves," June 23.

As the executive director of Sagacity, a registered non-profit society in B.C. that promotes alternative lifestyle choices, I take great offence to comments made in the recent article about Manley Bing Eng.

"Mental-health experts believe he has the potential for violence because he is troubled by fetishism, transvestitism and sado-masochistic fantasies."

That sort of spurious generalization about people who practise alternative lifestyles is the sort of thing that Sagacity (and many other groups worldwide) rail against on a daily basis.

To my knowledge, there are no valid statistics in place that indicate that people who enjoy fetishes (e.g., bridge, lawn bowling, or leather), wear clothes of the opposite sex on occasion (e.g., the wife's panties, the husband's boxers), or indulge in sado-masochistic activities (e.g., spanking or being spanked) are any more violent than people who teach Sunday School or administer the law.

In fact, a few of our members actually do teach Sunday school and practise law! Are we to assume that all the members of Sagacity (almost 1,000 now) are "troubled" individuals? Perhaps a Times Colonist reporter would like to attend a Sagacity gathering. Maybe bring along the "mental health experts."

And maybe they would all leave at the end of the meeting feeling a little foolish and a little sad that they were so quick to paint so many wonderful, caring, special people with such a dirty brush.

Ladyfish (Sam Quinn),

Victoria.