This week with Wicked Grounds (1/16 – 1/26)

Hello kinksters –

Some folks think kink is apolitical. By this point, it shouldn’t surprise you to find that I disagree.

Eight years ago, when we still operated a cafe & boutique in San Francisco, we participated in the January 20th general strike by being a kind of Schrödinger’s cafe: open and closed at the same time. We felt committed to participating in the strike. At the same time, we knew that we provided a critical safe space for the community, and we couldn’t bear to have the doors closed. So, we did a little bit of both. Staffed by owners and previous owners, we gave out free “support coffees” all day and refused people’s money. In the afternoon, we held safety classes for folks planning for direct action in the coming weeks. That came in handy when we later sent snacks and other support to people at the San Francisco airport who were fighting sudden mass deportations.

The fate of our communities matters. The safety of LGBTQ+ people and sexual adventurers matters. We are heading into uncertain times, and Wicked Grounds will continue to do our best to be a safe space, even virtually.

I encourage you to find out more about the ​National Coalition for Sexual Freedom​. These folks do critical work to protect the rights of kinksters, polyamorous folks, and other sexual adventurers. I suspect their work will be more important in the coming years than ever before. ​TASHRA​ is also a fantastic resource in providing the research we need to assist and defend kink communities, and I am delighted to announce that we’ll be partnering with them to provide our first class from TASHRA researchers this week. See Saturday for details!

Please take a look at all our upcoming events below for something to anchor us in community, and please be gentle with yourselves and kind to one another this week.

Upcoming multi-week workshops to plan for!

If you’d like to go deeply into the intersection of magick and power, join us in February and early March for Pentacles of Power: A Sex-Magick Intensive for Kinky People. ​Find more information and registration here.​If you need a scholarship seat, please reach out soon! We have three discounted tickets still available. Also, book before January 2 to use code BOXING for 20% off any ticket price at checkout.

This week!

Thursday 1/16

Our Month of Mindfulness continues with a live session at noon Pacific. Late registration is available. ​Learn more and sign up here.​

Join us tonight online at 6pm Pacific for part two of Kink & Trauma with BearJew. Ticketing for the two-part workshop is available through ​Forbidden Tickets​ and ​Plura​.

Friday 1/17

Our Month of Mindfulness continues with a live session at 8am Pacific. Late registration is available. ​Learn more and sign up here.​

Saturday 1/18

Our Month of Mindfulness continues with a live session at 9am Pacific. Today is the final day of late registration. ​Learn more and sign up here.​

Sunday 1/19

Join us online at 2pm Pacific for Daddy 101 with Sinclair Sexsmith! Details & ticketing through ​Forbidden Tickets​ or ​Plura​.

Monday 1/20

Being able to voice and collaborate on what you want is critical to safe, healthy, and fun BDSM scenes. But most of us don’t come into the scene with these skills already. Join us for BDSM Negotiation Basics tonight at 6pm Pacific with Miriam Green and learn critical communication skills for before, during, and after kink scenes. Details & ticketing through ​Forbidden Tickets​ and ​Plura​.

Tuesday 1/21

Want to learn some new beginner’s-level ties for rope bondage? Join Wicked Grounds and Psychokitty Ryan in San Francisco tonight for Getting Started with Rope: More Ties!. No previous experience required, although it’s helpful if you know single and double column ties. Class starts at 6:30pm in SOMA. Details & ticketing through ​Forbidden Tickets​ and ​Plura​.

Wednesday 1/22

If you’re one of our kink-identified pagan and occult lovers, please check out tonight’s class at 6pm with HG Wyndell: Making Magical Marks: Sigils and Bindrunes. Learn these techniques in an environment where our sexual adventuring can be part of the discussion. Details & ticketing through ​Forbidden Tickets​ and ​Plura​.

Thursday 1/23

If you struggle to get clear on what to ask for when negotiating, or how to get more fulfillment in relationships, please join Lilithfoxx tonight at 6pm Pacific for What Do I Really Want? Taking an Intimacy Inventory. You’ll learn how to get deeply in touch with your needs and desires. Details & ticketing through ​Forbidden Tickets​ and ​Plura​.

Friday 1/24

No live classes today but check out ​WickedGroundsAnnex.com​ for a wide range of video classes and other digital downloads.

Saturday 1/25

Consent and communication for kink varies somewhat based on our overall communication styles and strategies, and this can be different when we add in neurodivergence. Join us for one of two workshops exploring this today at 11am Pacific in Consent, Accountability, and Neurodivergence: Pt 1 with Draven and Adam.Participants can choose to participate in either workshop or both. Details & ticketing through ​Forbidden Tickets​ and ​Plura​.

​TASHRA​ is the world’s foremost healthcare research organization working to improve the physical and mental health of adults who engage in consensual and alternative sexual practices including kink, BDSM (bondage/discipline, domination/submission, sadism/masochism), and sexual fetishism. For over ten years, they have helped mental health and other practitioners gain access to grounded research about the issues affecting the kink community. Now, they are bringing some of that deep knowledge to kinksters everywhere in a set of workshops for the community. We hope you’ll join us at 2pm Pacific today for Kink, Flourishing, and Healing: Exploring the Transformative Power of Kink, our first online class partnering with TASHRA. Details & ticketing through ​Forbidden Tickets​ and ​Plura​.

Sunday 1/26

Consent and communication for kink varies somewhat based on our overall communication styles and strategies, and this can be different when we add in neurodivergence. Join us for one of two workshops exploring this today at 11am Pacific in Consent, Accountability, and Neurodivergence: Pt 2 with Draven and Adam.Participants can choose to participate in either workshop or both. Details & ticketing through ​Forbidden Tickets​ and ​Plura​.

Playing at the edges requires more care, detail, and self-awareness in our consent discussions. Please join Laura Boyle at 2pm Pacific to explore this in Bottoming Safety 201: Negotiating Edgeplay Safely as a Bottom or Submissive. Details & ticketing through ​Forbidden Tickets​ and ​Plura​.

Support. Follow. Share.

• Join our ​Patreon​ for personal benefits and to stabilize our long-term trajectory. Annual memberships now available!

• Book ​with us​ for coaching and consulting time with Mir.

• Use our ​Venmo​ for one-time donations toward our sustainability, and to help specifically with scholarship tickets.

Warmly, Mir & The Wicked Grounds Team

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