Mollena Williams-Haas (born 1969), formerly Mollena Williams, is an American writer, BDSM educator, [1] actress, and former International Ms. Leather (2010). [2] [3]
Mollena Williams-Haas (born 1969), formerly Mollena Williams, is an American writer, BDSM educator, [1] actress, and former International Ms. Leather (2010). [2] [3]
She was born Mollena Lee Williams on June 20, 1969, at New York Hospital in Manhattan. Her parents, Marion and James Williams, met in 1968 while using Project TACT, one of the first dating services established in the United States. [4]
In 1973, her father took her to see the Broadway musical Hair [4] over her mother's objections. At the close of the show, she told her parents that she wanted to be an actor. Within three years, she obtained a professional talent agent and began a performance career.
One of Williams-Haas' first performances was singing backup to Lena Horne on the song "Believe In Yourself (reprise) " on the soundtrack of The Wiz , a 1978 movie, in her childhood. [5]
In 1992, she moved to Los Angeles, where she appeared in several independent films, including Skin and Bone . She co-starred in the independent cult movie America's Deadliest Home Video, developing the script in collaboration with Jack Perez. The movie is considered one of the grandfathers of "found footage" movies, predating Man Bites Dog and The Blair Witch Project . [6] Her performance in it has been described as "brilliant." [7]
While in Los Angeles, Williams also began exploring BDSM. She subscribed to newsletter of the Society of Janus and explored kink and fetish in what was then a newly burgeoning world of online chat forums. [8] She has been involved with the leather subculture and BDSM since 1996. [9]
In 2009, she was named Ms. San Francisco Leather. In 2010, she was named International Ms. Leather. [9]
She contributed the essay "BDSM and Race Play", which was published in Rachel Kramer Bussel’s book, Best Sex Writing 2010. [10]
In 2011, she published The Toybag Guide to Playing With Taboo. [11]
Her short film IMPACT, which involves her participating in BDSM scenes, was released in 2012. [12] [13]
Also in 2012, Williams-Haas was awarded the Jack McGeorge Excellence in Education Award by Black Rose, a BDSM organization. [12] [14] She won the National Leather Association International’s Cynthia Slater Non-Fiction Article Award in both 2012 and 2013 for "Tables Briefly Turned" and "On Collars And Closure and Owning Myself", respectively. [15] Also in 2013, she shared the National Leather Association International's Geoff Mains nonfiction book award with Lee Harrington for Playing Well With Others: Your Field Guide to Discovering, Exploring and Navigating the Kink, Leather and BDSM Communities, which they co-authored. [16]
In 2014, she was a guest on Season 1, Episode 6 of the Sunny Megatron show on Showtime, speaking on and demonstrating the fetish commonly referred to as race play. [17] [18]
In 2016, The New York Times published an article about her BDSM relationship with her husband Georg Friedrich Haas. [19]
She has been inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Society of Janus.[ citation needed ]
Williams-Haas is married to composer Georg Friedrich Haas, [20] who is the dominant partner in the couple's BDSM relationship. [21]
Leather subculture denotes practices and styles of dress organized around sexual activities that involve leather garments, such as leather jackets, vests, boots, chaps, harnesses, or other items. Wearing leather garments is one way that participants in this culture self-consciously distinguish themselves from mainstream sexual cultures. Many participants associate leather culture with BDSM practices and its many subcultures. For some, black leather clothing is an erotic fashion that expresses heightened masculinity or the appropriation of sexual power; love of motorcycles, motorcycle clubs and independence; and/or engagement in sexual kink or leather fetishism.
Male dominance, or maledom is a BDSM practice where the dominant partner is male. A sexually dominant male in BDSM practices is also known as a maledom. Maledoms can be professional as well as non-professional. The term ProDom is used for a professional male dominant who earns money by working as a professional dominant as part of the sex industry. A maledom who role-plays a paternal figure is also known as Daddy Dom.
The Eulenspiegel Society, also known as TES, is the first BDSM organization founded in the United States. It was founded in 1971 and based in New York City.
The leather pride flag is a symbol used by the leather subculture since the 1990s. It was designed by Tony DeBlase, and was quickly embraced by the gay leather community. It has since become associated with leather in general and also with other kink and fetish subcultures such as the BDSM community.
Folsom Street Fair (FSF) is an annual BDSM and leather subculture street fair, held in September that concludes San Francisco's "Leather Pride Week". The Folsom Street Fair, sometimes referred to simply as "Folsom", takes place on the last Sunday in September, on Folsom Street between 8th and 13th Streets, in San Francisco's South of Market district.
The Society of Janus is the second BDSM organization founded in the United States and is a San Francisco, California based BDSM education and support group.
Midori (美登里) is a sexologist, educator, author, artist, speaker, and coach. Midori wrote the first English language book with instruction on Japanese rope bondage and continues to write on alternative sexual practices, including BDSM and sexual fetishism, bondage, erotic fiction, and more. She teaches classes, presents at conferences, coaches individuals and professionals, and facilitates in-depth weekend intensives. She is based in San Francisco, California.
This glossary of BDSM terms defines terms commonly used in the BDSM community.
Roland Loomis, known professionally as Fakir Musafar, was an American performance artist considered to be one of the founders of the modern primitive movement.
Gayle S. Rubin is an American cultural anthropologist, theorist and activist, best known for her pioneering work in feminist theory and queer studies.
The Leather Archives & Museum (LA&M) is a community archives, library, and museum located in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Chuck Renslow and Tony DeBlase in 1991, its mission is "making leather, kink, BDSM, and fetish accessible through research, preservation, education and community engagement." The LA&M is a leading conservator of queer erotic art. Its permanent collection features some of the most iconic LGBT artists of the twentieth century, including most artwork by Bill Schmeling and many works by Dom Orejudos.
Georg Friedrich Haas is an Austrian composer. In a 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000, pieces by Haas received the most votes (49), and his composition in vain (2000) topped the list.
National Leather Association International (NLA-I) is a BDSM organization, based in the United States with chapters in various cities in the United States and Canada. It was founded in 1986 as the "National Leather Association" (NLA), as a national integrated organization including gay leathermen, kinky heterosexuals and bisexuals, SM lesbians and transgender sadomasochists, and representing their interests in the face of prosecutions. Adding "International" to its name in 1991, the organization staged "Living in Leather" gatherings until 2002. After a period of decline around the turn of the millennium, NLA-I has become more active again and runs a series of awards for fiction and non-fiction writing. NLA-I's records can be found at the Leather Archives and Museum.
BDSM is a frequent theme in culture and media, including in books, films, television, music, magazines, public performances and online media.
Guy Baldwin, M.S. is a Los Angeles–based psychotherapist, author, activist, and educator specializing in issues of particular relevance to the BDSM and leather communities. He maintains that inclusion of non-injurious elements of sadomasochism in a consenting sexuality does not itself indicate or confirm mental illness or psycho-sexual dysfunction.
Lee Harrington is a sexuality and spirituality educator, author, and artist, currently based in Denver, Colorado. Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, he began transitioning from female to male in 2007.
International Ms. Leather (IMsL) is an annual leather subculture fetish convention, originally focused on women but now inclusive of all genders. Since 1999, the convention has also included a Ms. Bootblack (IMsBB) contest.
Tony DeBlase (1942–2000), also known as Anthony DeBlase, was part of the BDSM and leather subcultures. He was the designer of the leather pride flag.
Cynthia Slater (1945–1989) was the cofounder of the second BDSM organization founded in the United States, a San Francisco, California based BDSM education and support group known as the Society of Janus, which she founded with Larry Olsen in August 1974. According to the Leather Hall of Fame biography of Slater, she said of the Society of Janus,
VAN is a online independent magazine devoted to classical music. Published monthly in German and English, it launched in January 2016, styling itself as "a fanzine for music lovers, music professionals and followers of the arts." Its name comes from the surname of Ludwig van Beethoven.
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