Binds That Tie and Other Ruminations on Pleasure

Model Paola Ponce || Photographer lvah Luz

MANIFESTATION I

A prayer for us. Every wrap and every knot transmits a memory of struggle and resilience. Held. Restrained against our body like our “paycheck to paycheck” survival. The release, a reminder of letting go, of finding pleasure in the “in-between.” In between—we laugh, we hold eachother and feed eachother enjoying the community that we choose and we build.

I began practicing rope bondage four years ago after witnessing the work of Missogina aka Constanza Castillo and other postporn cuir performers and artists using BDSM and pornography as tools for reclaiming other-ed bodies in México City. Growing up in California, in a small town of working class Black and brown people, I grew up exposed to thin white heterosexual bodies on my screen. Sexy was reserved for the cisgendered, for the heteronormative desire of phallic pleasure and cum shots. That was not my desire. I craved sweat dripping down melanated skin and the blurred slurs of spanish slipping between the rolls of pocha belongings. I yearned for hands that told stories of migration, working hands that traversed the everyday rituals of survival - hands that reassured me that yes, we love, yes, we fuck, and yes we are worthy.

Model Betty Guevara || Photographer Mayra Cortez

MANIFESTATION II

Too much for who? Too much is the amount of labor needed to feed our families, to carry the joys and sorrows of birth, and still make time for our pleasure and wellbeing. Too much held in our bellies, in our hearts that must heal time and time again with death hovering over our communities. La Santa, fueled by capitalism’s greedy hand and the constant reminder that we are nothing more than labor for your machines.

I began my journey in BDSM with rope bondage and found a home amongst other Queer and Trans Black, Indigenous and People of Color in Chicago, redefining our bodies and sexualities through sex work, performance, pornography and/or kink. Together we cultivate spaces that allow us to express our desires without judgement, without intrusion and fetishization. As working class bodies, our queer and trans bodies, our fat and other-ed bodies hold the stories of resilience, beauty and vitality. Beyond rope, I organize spaces for collective pleasure because my joy is NOT solitary. I want our bodies to have a home together where our pleasures can create new kinks, new experiences that include us in all of our manifestations.

Model Melissa Mestas || Photographer Mayra Cortez

MANIFESTATION III

We conjure our god/desses with flowers, food and desire. Together, our pleasure is a song keeping alive our humanity. I see you. In your naked fullness, worshipping your strength and fragility. The intimacy we share is a reminder of our ancestors’ stories and their dreams in fruition. Together, we witness every scar, the pain held in our limbs, and we celebrate being alive. Our trans bodies are whole, our queer desires exist amidst a galaxy of sexual needs, all beautiful and deserving.

As Co-founder of House of Huitlacooch, a Chicago-based QTBIPoC BDSM collective and porn production house, I seek to document our existence. As our communities grow, we are responsible for telling our stories and sexual realities for generations to come. Through this collective labor, we continue to create spaces for sexual liberation and manifest our desires via pornography created by us, for us.

How do we keep us safe?
How do we speak our desires?
How do we free ourselves and eachother?

I invite you to live your sexual truth and share that with those closest to you. Manifest your reality because we are all worthy, because, yes we do love, and yes, we do fuck.

Electric Blog

Binds That Tie and Other Ruminations on Pleasure