Rules And Values

Asylum Underground stands for:

Respect

Members are expected to grant one another respect whenever interacting in any venue controlled by the Organization (whether physical or digital), and/or whenever acting in any organizational capacity.  In their other dealings, members are expected to behave with at least a basic modicum of respect for the humanity of other persons. This excludes any situations where prior consent has been granted otherwise.

Inclusivity

The Organization and its membership are expected to welcome everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, gender, orientation, disability status, body type, or age.  

Diversity in lived experience and perspective is to be encouraged in membership, staffing, and leadership.

Consent

No Member or guest may intentionally touch any other person or any of their possessions without prior consent.

Members are furthermore encouraged to learn about current practices regarding consent and boundaries, and how to best apply that understanding in all relevant circumstances.

Confidentiality

The Organization and its membership should always take into consideration that many if not most of its members may be understandably wary of their personal information (including the very fact of their membership) being exposed to the general public.

The confidentiality and privacy of Member information should always be respected and handled carefully wherever and whenever possible.

Community

The Organization should not only seek to foster a community among itself, but also foster positive relations with the greater kink, lgbtqia+, and sex-positive communities (where there is much overlap).

Community-related endeavors such as education and outreach should be included among the services that the Organization provides for its membership.

These core values are held in high regard and why Asylum Underground is in existence.

CONSENT:

In order to promote safety among our membership, we require that all new members go over the following basic information regarding consent and trauma:

Taken from Wikipedia, here are common acronym models for consent, with a basic description and explanation of their use within BDSM (there is a lot of information out there about these various consent models, we encourage you to seek out further information to help you decide what model works best for you):

SSC

Safe, Sane, Consensual
Since the 1980s, many practitioners and organizations have adopted the motto safe, sane, and consensual which means that :

  1. Everything is based on safe activities.

  2. That all participants are of sufficiently sound mind in their conduct.

  3. That all participants do consent.

It is mutual consent that makes a clear legal and ethical distinction between BDSM and such crimes as sexual assault and domestic violence.

But what is safe? How do we in the BDSM community define the concept of safety when what one considers "safe" can vary depending on the individual giving consent?
Enter RACK:

RACK

Risk-aware Consensual Kink
RACK shows a preference for a style in which:

  1. The individual responsibility of the involved parties is emphasized more strongly.

  2. Each participant is responsible for his or her own well-being.

Advocates of RACK argue that SSC can hamper discussion of risk because no activity is truly "safe", and that discussion of even low-risk possibilities is necessary for truly informed consent.

PRICK

Personal Responsibility, Informed, Consensual Kink
PRICK makes it clear that:

  1. All practitioners should take personal responsibility for their kink.

  2. Informed means (or implies) that you understand what is about to happen - risks and all.

  3. The idea being that if you take personal responsibility for yourself and you're informed, now you can truly consent.

SSICK

Safe, Sane, Informed, Consensual Kink (SSICK)
This incorporates all of the above, to preclude abuse and violation of another's well being.

  1. Safety and sanity are objective "reasonable person" standards under the circumstances of the participants and the kink.

  2. Being adequately informed is a subjective determination of one's self awareness, and another participant's awareness.

  3. Consent pertains to the continuous choice: to delegate authority for another to choose how to act in a particular manner; to accept a fiduciary duty in exercising delegated authority (placing another's interests above one's own interests); or, to otherwise interact within communicated boundaries and no more.

  4. Kink incorporates mutual responsibilities for both the foreseeable and unforeseeable consequences of the participant's choices and decisions.

What all of the above have in common, is the letter C - Consensual, which we take VERY seriously here at AU.

And lastly, would you like FRIES with that?

FRIES

Freely Given, Reversible, Informed, Enthusiastic, and Specific

This describes how to define consent.

Every person always has the inherent and inalienable power to amend consent at any time, in relation to any BDSM interaction (including any sexual activity).

How to Report a Consent Violation to Asylum Underground:

Talk to the Dungeon Monitor (DM) on duty, or find any other staff member or host of the event.

By email or direct message:
Email AU at: asylumundergroundpdx@gmail.com
OR
Direct message the AUPDX account on Fetlife.com.  

You don't have to report a CV or incident immediately. We understand that it may take some time to process what happened, or to work up the courage to speak up about it.
You can also use your own advocate to address the situation for you.

This has been a brief overview of what there is to understand about consent and trauma.

It's the minimum that we can require in an initial orientation, and barely meets the criteria of a "class."  

If you're interested in learning more about these topics, including how to negotiate a scene, there are a variety of other resources available, and we encourage you to explore the subjects further.