Education is GMSMA's most pervasive function, and one of the most important benefits of membership. It is offered through Programs, Dungeon Demonstrations, Workshops, Seminars, and SIGs (Special Interest Groups). The most comprehensive of these events are the last three types, organized yearly by the Education Committee.

Open only to members, and occasionally restricted as to size or experience level of attendees, these events are held on weekends at people's homes. Workshops and seminars are one-session events; SIGs take a single group of participants through a minimum of three sessions.

While certainly stimulating, all these events are carefully conducted from a learning point of view, and could never be confused with a sexual orgy. You may be tying a rope around someone's balls or learning to flog his back, but the context of education is very clear. Safety, technique, and the psychological aspects of each activity are thoroughly covered. Questions are encouraged throughout. The facilitators are highly prepared, and the 2-3 hour sessions fly by quickly.

On the other hand, don't think the sessions are pedestrian. The hushed atmosphere as people watch the teacher draw a knife bloodlessly across the chest of a volunteer; the whoosh of a flogger as it sails through the air toward the back of a bottom chained to the wall, and the excitement of his flexed body after receiving the blow; the ecstatic moans of a participant as clothespins are removed from him, completing the demonstration phase of the workshop, and prelude to the members pairing off and trying things on one another. Reactions like these attest to the fascination and excitement generated by our events.

Here is a rundown of GMSMA's educational offerings:

• Workshops: Over the years, our participatory workshop topics have ranged from the basic (such as Rope Bondage, Genitorture, Flogging, Shaving, Electricity, First Aid) to the advanced (such as Fisting, Fire, Sounds, Long Whips, Temporary Piercing, Breath Control) to the exotic (such as Knife Play, and the Art of the Bootblack).

• Seminars: Seminar topics have included Novices (twice yearly), Dungeon Design, Clean & Sober, Long Term Relationships, S/M Activism, Dealing With Bereavement, and Playing With the Physically Challenged. Input comes from both the facilitators and the participants.

• SIGs: Most extensive are our SIGs. These have ranged from S/M Literature (a reading group) to Bondage (6 consecutive weeks covering topics such as rope, chains, mummification, and endurance bondage) to our most intense SIG, Novices (which we have offered annually for almost 10 years).

  The Novices group for the 1997-98 season had 22 participants (everyone taking part as both top and bottom). The 13-session course went from November to June, meeting every other Sunday afternoon, with the 4-hour sessions workshopping all the basic topics plus others such as Strapping, Verbal Abuse, Body & Head Harnesses, and Temperature Torture. By the third session, the group is like a family, and by the last session, no one wants it to end.

• The New Season: GMSMA's 1998-99 season will offer about 16 workshops, including several first-time events (as always). Watch for Decorative Rope Bondage, Advanced Tit Play & Pinching, Breath Control, and "A Specialty Evening," among others. And we'll have a Master/slave SIG, our Novices SIG, and two others on the schedule.

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