ROB RUTT & MJ PALMER
Fetish “club daddy” Rob Rutt, 46, and fellow promoter MJ Palmer, 35, feel the, ahem, rub as they address any stigma around the kink scene
When did you discover your soft spot for fetish? M: I was about 11. I saw a Tom of Finland picture in a gay magazine I’d stolen from the shop I did a paper round for. I was fascinated.
R: I’d say the tight leather in the Guns N’ Roses video for Sweet Child O’ Mine. What appetites do your different club nights satisfy? R: “Rut” is the only strict leather/ rubber party in London. We check what people are wearing before they get in, you have to make an effort. It has a nice vibe, though.
M: “Jock” started in Manchester three years ago.
Now it’s in Birmingham as well, and it just launched in London. It’s also going to Glasgow and Liverpool. It’s an entry into the fetish scene. Do you think there is a stigma attached to fetishism? R: Gays in general can be sneer- y about lots of things.
M: Some of my friends look at me as if to say: “What are you doing?” I enjoy it. It’s liberating.
R: If it’s not your thing, it’s not your thing. Some people have no things. With a whole world of kinks to turn you on, if nothing flicks that switch in your head, that’s really a little bit sad. M: It’s hella boring.
For some people, there is still an element of shame around sex.
M: If you’re into fetish, people automatically assume you’re a slut, whereas you might just enjoy wearing it.
R: But you probably are, to a degree, mentally liberated enough to wear it. What does Pride mean to you?
M: In Manchester, Birmingham and London, Pride is very much a party, but in smaller cities, it’s more important. I’ve walked down the street in Lancaster in the past five years and been called a faggot, whereas that never seems to happen in big cities.
R: On my Facebook feed in the past couple of days, somebody posted their “rules” for Pride, and the last one was, “Don’t dress up in fetish and kinks because people bring their children and it will upset them.” You’ve got the assimilation crowd, then there’s a group of people who want to emphasise the queerness of it in the broadest sense. We’re sexually different, we’re more in your face. jockparty. club rut. me. uk