The SSO A-Z guide to queer Sydney
B is for:
Bernie Hobbs Whoever thought science could be such fun? A year ago, Bernie Hobbs was just another science geek with a spot on The New Inventors and a voice on radio.
That all changed during this year’s Mardi Gras festival, however, when it seemed almost impossible to turn around without catching Bernie in print or on stage, being straight up bloody hilarious.
At the Great Debate on same-sex parenting, Hobbs took the side of the Baby Haters, relating stories of her own life and loves as good reasons why gay people should never have kids. There’s no doubt she gives good quote.
Before the debate, Hobbs told SSO she was gestating with confidence and that her team had all the talent and God on her side.
As recently as last week, she had this to say about Queer Screen’s funding difficulties: Where else can we see Finnish lezzos making babies then splitting up, an Iranian dyke cross-dressing for her life and a self-obsessed San Franciscan filmmaker’s journey into -“ you guessed it -“ herself?
Bondage Some of the earliest mentions of bondage can be found in the Bible. To be in bondage was to be a slave or serf, tied up, controlled, often humiliated and punished.
So how did bondage become a sexual fetish for modern men and women? Did a frisky slave get turned on when their master treated them unkindly? The contemporary idea of bondage -“ being tied up and restrained for sexual pleasure -“ has certainly been going on throughout the ages, but according to Wikipedia (the font of all knowledge) it was gay leather men who introduced bondage to western culture after WWII.
The guys, who had a fetish for black leather, started tying each other up with leather straps, rendering the bottom or slave immobile and helpless, leaving the top or master in complete control. It was in the 1960s, apparently, that the fad spread to the wider heterosexual community.
The home of bondage in Sydney is the Hellfire Club, a monthly fetish party for gays and straights. But of course these days bondophiles can easily find like minds on the internet whenever they’re in the mood.
