Leather Tribes and Families

slave paul

After yesterday’s blog, a reader asked me to expand on my explanation of leather families and tribes. I define leather families and tribes as groups of leather folk that live together or have lines of obedience that include more than two people. Included in this definition is the fact that these persons participate in BDSM activities,


Leather families are groups of people that have a emotional bond that is tied to their BDSM activities. This emotional bond unites the family to care and correct tits members. Let me give you an example of what I mean.

I know a Master that was a roommate with a submissive. The submissive was not his boy. They became friends. About five years ago, the submissive almost died. The dominant that he had did not take care of him. The Master continues to take care of him. The Master visits him in a nursing home three times a week. This is what it means to be part of a tribe and family. The Master in the story is my Master and the boy is boy john. Boy john cannot speak or walk but he does communicate with Master and me. He is part of the leather tribe. He is in need and we help him out.

My leather family consists of Master, myself, boy Jake, and boy Joey. If you would like to make it sound like the straight world, Master is my Sire. Boy Jake and Boy Joey are my sons. They are also grandboys to Master. The emotional bond between us is very strong. I cannot choose my biological family but I choose to call each of these individuals a blood relative.

Because we share that bond, there is an extra burden placed on the Dominants in the family. We also have to concern ourselves with the happiness of the family. This sometimes entails punishment. As anyone in a leather family will tell you, play is play and punishment is something that you never want again.

There are several large leather families out there. Their continued success is a success for all of us in the community. “Per Unitatum Vis” feels appropriate. It means “Through Unity Strength”.