Do any WAM models or producers go to Fetcon? Kinda curious if there is a WAM contingent. Might be a good place for a meet and greet with people.

Messtique and I have wanted to go (we do live in the Central Florida area), but not just for WAM. That said, I feel like there isn't any WAM presence there and that should change. Maybe not this year, but next year we can have a messy panel and/or booth there.

I've picked up a distinct vibe/impression over the years some level of hostility towards WAM in the wider fetish community (as puerile and not a 'proper' fetish). I've experienced it personally on occasion and this has been confirmed anecdotally by a number of Wammers I've spoken to whose acceptance in the fetish scene has been much by the grace of their wider divergent sexual interests.

I have an invitation to join up with a few other creators who go down there every year. It's on our radar if we ever get to the following that permits us to go down there as I would HAVE to bring 2 of the ladies with me to expo our works LOL

I mean, I might not be dealing with the personalities you mentioned (or maybe we're just different) but this hasn't been my experience at all. Maybe because you can't call us strictly just WAM? I dunno. If anything, I've found them welcoming, open, and I have shared plenty of candid dialogue with artists, producers, performers and studios despite our slight different interests. I'm actually genuinely interested in going to Fetcon if I can afford to sacrifice the time from my job to go there.

I used to go in the past, its not the same these days....

Phil

This is so funny to me cuz, in my opinion, the average person who makes their identity revolving around fetish has the most vanilla ass mainstream kinks, like latex and very surface BDSM, so to hear this cracks me up. They're elitist for absolutely no reason, preach kink acceptance/no kink shaming, yet their view of kink is so narrow. There's a fetish event in the city I live in that's got so many rules, including a dress code enforced at the door with a no refund policy if you get turned away (tickets are around $350), but it more so seems like a snob fest for rich people who think they're kinky cuz Barbara spanked Howard once and they bought a latex outfit. I wanted to go but the fact that it's "FETISH NIGHT (only latex bdsm allowed)" turned me off big time.

I mean, I've seen many of the livestreams of colleagues and other producers going and while the representation isn't up there where I thought it would be, there seemed to be a decent mix considering how large the fetish industry is and how many fetishes actually exist. It would be impossible to encapsulate all of them in a single building. Wet and Messy is just a small niche of a plethora of them out there. Of course you will have your casual fetish folks but I get it.

The larger issue would be C4S and their overall play in the matter. They have a tendency to push performers and studios that work well with them financially and that doesn't always lean towards fetish, nevermind WAM. Then people wonder why it is the same names and faces being nominated for their awards

Also, I can understand some venues going above and beyond to try to make fetish a bit more palatable to the laypeople and uninitiated. We had similar events here and the very understanding from the teams I worked with was "inclusivity". They wanted to be welcoming to the new and inexperienced and I get that and we need that. At the same time, we didn't want to be "exclusionary" in the process of catering to a single demographic or type of fetish. It was a tough balance and they made it work. The overall reception was good to great which was the best we could hope for considering the amount of work it took to put it all together

Ha! Ha! Exactly. It's not as if WAM is the zenith of our academic careers as research fetishists (or simply, 'Hulk not choose WAM - WAM choose Hulk'). I don't give a fuck if I'm not 'in' with the out crowd.

For the record, pretty much all the real WAM people I've ever met have been beautifully and absolutely pure of heart and that speaks volumes and is all that matters to me.

https://twitter.com/FetishCon/status/1683235733039923200 O no folks this year WILL be different if I have anything to say about it and BOY do I ! I have a booth space booked and ready to go, waivers printed, presentation slide show all set up and am going to be talking shop on wam and getting pied. I hosted a similar event in my hotel room last year and had a blast this year I got a booth space.

That sounds good. Vika and I and maybe Alana will be there.

Looking forward to seeing some of my fellow wammers and sharing my knowledge with the curious and of course getting pied.

Looking forward to meeting any and all WAMmers at FetCon. I'll be visiting the booths on Friday afternoon and of course the pool parties on as many nights as possible.