A Thought-Provoking Event

24 Days til Christmas

It is my goal this month to post a new blog every day until Christmas. Why am I making this my goal, you may be asking yourself. Well, I've decided that I have been much happier since I started blogging (more regularly) again and getting all of my thoughts and feelings out of my head and into something tangible I can understand. Plus, it makes for a nice little countdown of the days until Christmas (which I look forward to every year... even though we're broke and really can't afford Christmas presents for anybody this year).

So, anywho... onto the topic of tonight's blog...

For those who don't know, I have a part-time job in retail. So, Black Friday being the biggest shopping day of the year, I had to work a 12 hour shift (3 a.m. until 3 p.m.) at my store. Well, I was at the jewelry counter, which just so happens to be right by the main door, when I see these people walk in that were stereotypically "gothed" out in their choice of clothes. The girls were in corset-style tops and extremely short, school-girl style plaid skirts (like, short enough to see their butt cheeks hanging out from the bottom of the skirts) and the guys were in baggy black pants with chains. But the most noticeable was the black studded leashes attached to the collars around the guys' necks that lead into the girls' hands (yes, we're talking the atypically seen male subs and female Dommes). The one guy had his hands handcuffed behind his back and then cuffed to the back belt loop of his pants. The other guy, although he had handcuffs around his wrist, had his hands free and hanging down by his side. Then, when they girls were paying for their stuff, the guys knelt on the floor by the register until they were done. Once the transaction was completed, the girls tugged on the leashes and said "Up. Come." and the guys did... and followed them out of the store.

Of course, this became a major hot-topic during the entire day of Black Friday among all of the employees. A lot of people thought it was done on a dare (because, really, there are people out there that would do something like that just in order to get a reaction out of people), but I can't see it being a dare because the couples were in their 30's-ish. If they had been 18-19 year olds, I could have seen it... but not at the age of 30 or so.

Personally, I don't give a flying fuck what type of lifestyle people want to live (duh). However, this event really disturbed a lot of people at work. A lot of my co-workers that are my age had the attitude of "live how you want, just don't bring it here," but a lot of the older ones were just downright disgusted by it. And honestly, I can see the point-of-view of both groups of people. After I was done working, I had a brief conversation with the man about this, and he was all gung-ho about it... with the attitude of "if this country wasn't so ass-puckered..." (yes, those were his exact words). I can see his side of it too though. Society is still so stuck up today that anything that deviates from the "norm" is considered heinous and improper. Too many people still don't want to consider that there are different lifestyle choices and that we are all free to make whatever lifestyle choice we want.

However, I have a BIG problem with people flaunting their choices and being downright inconsiderate of other people. I have always been that way... ever since I can remember. It is my personal belief that you can be whoever you want to be and still have tact and respect for other people. I suppose part of it is my social worker side talking when I think about the impact an event like that can have on children and people who may have been abused. For goodness sakes, it's a place where families go and take their children. Yes, I think that parents have the duty to speak to their children about things like this and inform them about all the differences in the world, but at the same time, I don't think that people should flaunt their lifestyle differences in front of other people. There has to be give and take on BOTH sides... not just one side or the other.

It's like... I don't want to see a homosexual couple with their tongues down each others' throats in the middle of the mall just the same as I don't want to see a heterosexual couple with their tongues down each others; throats in the middle of the mall. I don't discriminate on the two-tongue-tango based on sexuality... it's all the same to me. Sorry, I do NOT want to see it in a public place. It's rude, inconsiderate, and just down right tacky. The event that occurred on Black Friday falls into the same category. Be tactful and respectful of others when you're in public. Period.

I even talked to my mom about it (who has similar lifestyle tastes lol), and she is in full agreement with me. There are some aspects of the BDSM lifestyle that you can take out into public... but black studded leashes and inappropriate dress is NOT one (or, really, two) of them.

So, I am going to open it up for all to speak their minds on the subject. Leave a comment and tell me what you think... and NO bashing others' opinions. We all have a right to have our own thoughts and peacefully speak our minds.

And now, I am going to bed to continually ponder this event (as I have been doing every day since last Friday...). lol

<3 Jade