This is a photoset we shot while we were being interviewed for Welsh-language feature "Hansh" (by S4C, the Welsh language
TV channel). We're not sure yet if we'll survive the censor - we hope so! We tried to be up-beat and sexy with the bondage
but demurely fully-clothed. (When they asked us if we had some clips of Ariel we could let them use shots from, I realised
how rarely Ariel chooses to keep her clothes on for the whole of an RE video!)
We'll let you know the link if this does go out.
It's inside Ariel's comfort zone to shoot stuff like this- after all, she trained as and chose a career in the entertainment industry.
Normally that means she takes on the lion's share of the talking for these things when we do them. Not this time! We had to
do the main sit-down interview section in Welsh, and whilst my Welsh is very fragmented learner Welsh, it is a lot more
than Ariel's (she can only say stuff about small bears and ice cream being delicious - we read kids books in Welsh together!)
So I had to step up and talk for both of us for a while, which was thoroughly exhausting. Glad we did it- we feel like we
have an obligation to be "PR people" for the bondage and BDSM community, because we're lucky enough to be in a relationship
with each other and have a liberal social circle and families who know what we do. The only way social attitudes towards
kink will change is by people being brave enough to be open about what they like, and for everyone to see that we love each
other and are "normal" as well. If we're not brave enough given our fortunate situation, who on earth can we ask to do that in
our place? If not us, who?
So despite me being the absolute opposite of an attention whore, that's why we keep doing these things when people
ask us to be on their programmes. Fingers crossed it will contribute in some small way to de-stigmatising BDSM for the
mainstream.