Night of the Senses

D. and I are lucky enough to be attending the Erotic Awards Ceremony in London next week, to support our friend Niki Flynn in her nomination for Best Writer. Fingers crossed that the judges show excellent taste and award her the title she richly deserves. Either way, though, the night promises to be a good one, as the ceremony takes place at a grand fetish ball - billed as a "sexual carnival, an erotic wonderland" - called Night of the Senses.

I'm sure we'll find something to amuse us among the various entertainments on offer - from the Roissy Dungeon to the Grope Box, the Tantric Cavern and even (apparently) Messy Cake Fights. The kinky cabaret sounds promising and I'm looking forward to discovering what the Women's Womb involves. I've never been to this event before, but Turner Prize winner, artist Grayson Perry wrote a whole page about the Erotic Awards in The Times, describing them as "The good people in a gloriously mucky business". The event is designed to promote inclusivity and diversity, not only for the queer, genderfucked, and the gloriously perverted, novices and old-timers alike, but it's one of the few erotic events to put a particular emphasis on the inclusion of disabled people.

I'll be interested to see how the event organisers cope with the spiral staircase at their chosen venue, Mass/Babalou, which is inconvenient even for the able-bodied (particularly if you're wearing fetish heels). The Erotic Awards have always had a strong emphasis on access, with an annual award being given for disability-friendly site design. In fact, the Night of the Senses is the main fundraiser for the Outsider's Trust, the charity for disabled people to enjoy sexual pleasure and form relationships.

Ticket sales are low this year; we're in the middle of a recession, after all, and it's not a cheap night out at £60 a head. However, most of that money goes on the entertainments and Outsiders, to which the event donates an average of £12,000 a year. This is possible because all the organisers, stewards and hosts are volunteers.

The Night of the Senses encourages a spirit of hedonism and autonomy. As it happens, fellow spanking blogger Natty was writing only yesterday about the prevalence of white, privileged, able-bodied, middle-class people in literary as well as visual porn. People lacking these privileges deserve porn which represents their identities and desires just as queer people, trans people, kinky people deserve porn which caters to them. These are not minorities any more than fat people are a minority, but our culture would prefer them to be invisible.

As a member of the privileged group, I find it difficult to write porn from the POV of a person of colour, or a disabled person, because I would feel presumptuous writing from supposition rather than experience. Individuals from these groups deserve to be given their own voice, not to be represented by an able-bodied white girl. I can't try to fill these gaps in the sex industry alone. But I can show support to inclusive writers such as Jacqueline Applebee, who works tirelessly to promote bisexual visibility in porn, disabled visibility, coloured visibility. Characters for whom these traits are incidental, background information rather than a central plot point. Characters for whom these traits are not quirky, not problematic, just the way that person is and part of their sex appeal. What we need are more pornographers and more writers, more spanking models and site owners, from these social demographics. We need more disabled adult models who are not fetishised for their disability, but simply expressing their desires in the same way I am. The Outsider's Trust supports the same goals.

If you're thinking of going to a fetish event this year, please consider spending your money on a good cause as well as a good time. Night of the Senses offers big reductions for groups of 5 and concessions, and the ticket price includes the Little Book of Delights as a memento of the evening. And you get the chance to meet Niki and me. I hope I'll see some of you there :)