And the Winner Is: Miss Kinky America

By Siouxsie Q Wednesday, Apr 23 2014

When I was a little girl, I would beg my mother to let me stay up late enough to watch the Miss America pageant on television. The gowns, the high heels, the rhinestones, the Vaseline sheen of their teeth — I couldn’t get enough. The talent portion was always the best. I especially loved it when one of the contestants would dance en pointe or sing a Broadway show tune. Even before I knew I was sexually attracted to women, I was enchanted by the strange pageantry and competition among the contestants. It was fascinating, bizarre, and — to my young, queer brain — unbelievably hot.

Fast forward to my adult life, and this weekend I am headed to watch another crop of women compete for a title via pageantry and sex appeal. The International Ms. Leather and International Ms. Bootblack contest and convention (aka IMsL) come to San Jose April 24–27. IMsL has its roots in San Francisco and is usually hosted here, but just like the 49ers franchise, it has relocated south of the bay. Hundreds of kinky folks from all over the world travel to this event for a long weekend of cruising, flirting, and educational workshops. The weekend culminates with an elaborate contest reminiscent of a kinky, queer Miss America pageant, and the crowning of two prestigious “Leather” titles. High heels and taffeta gowns are swapped for leather chaps and steel-toed boots, but just like a more traditional pageant, the contestants showcase their poise, skill, personality, and ability to look awesome in an outfit.

Leather culture in San Francisco was born out of gay motorcycle clubs of the 1950s, such as the Warlocks and the Barbary Coasters, that celebrated masculinity and kinky sex. These clubs evolved into interconnected social communities of bars, bathhouses, and sex clubs that made their homes south of Market Street, the same area that now hosts thousands of kinksters at Folsom Street Fair every year. The women’s leather community began to make waves in the mid-1970s when women started showing up at gay men’s fisting bars in the Mission, and leather bars throughout the city began having women’s nights. Though women involved in BDSM and leather-faced criticism from anti-porn feminists who equated consensual kink with violence against women, the community continued to gain momentum through the years. In 1987, a group of San Francisco leather women puts their heads together to select someone who exemplified the community at its best.