Note 1: this is based on a draft I originally wrote in 2016. I have edited it lightly, and changed the title from the original “Toxic titles.” I didn’t publish it at the time, because I felt that certain things were still too raw in the UK leather community, but three and a half years later, I think it’s worth airing.

Note 2: this is strictly a personal view. As an organisation, BLUF isn’t going to get involved in running or organising title contests, but we’re always happy to work with titleholders to get their messages out, including publicising events or groups for them.

Leather titles have been with us for a long time, especially in the US. In recent years, it seems there has been something of a resurgence of interest in Europe too, with local and regional competitions, and Mr Leather Europe becoming much more prominent than they have before.

It seems now as if people are not even just going along to a competition in a spirit of fun, and hoping to wow crowd and judges on the way. In some cases, they’re campaigning, long before a competition, almost as if they’re a politician, running for office.

In the UK, the title scene has had ups and downs – we’ve seen the Mr Leather UK competition resurrected after a hiatus, with different people deciding to organise it at different times, all too often springing their plans on everyone else without any notice. Some previous winners have been left to more or less fend for themselves, with little support from organisers – and in some cases, not even all the promised prizes.

Most alarmingly, the organisation of the competitions themselves has become politicised in the UK, to the extent that different groups have laid claim at the same time to the Mr Leather UK title. Despite attempts by various parties to mediate, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that  a lot of bad feeling has been created behind the scenes – and some of it persists, years after this post was originally drafted.

Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of contests myself. I can see why, especially in the US, with their very different type of society, title holders can have a prominent role as fundraisers. Several recent title holders across Europe have also done great work in making the wider public aware of leather culture. However, I remain to be convinced of a real, pressing need to elevate one person amongst so many, in a beauty competition.

It is perfectly possible to do good things for the community, without being a titleholder; the vast number of clubs and events are organised, in fact, by people quietly getting on with it.

Have we reached a point, now, where the effect of titleholders is in danger of being a net negative? Besides events in the UK, other competitions have resulted in moans of dissent from people who felt the “wrong” candidate won. As people take competing for a title more seriously, do we run the risk of the winners being more likely to be those with the right connections, or the cash to campaign better?

Is this really where we want to be? Has elevating one person with a sash become so important to us as leather people that it’s worth all the stress it now entails? How many more titleholders do we want to spend their time in office dogged by people talking about organisations and intrigue, or questioning their legitimacy, instead of the work they do?

I’ve seen good, honest people in UK clubs worn out and despairing at the amount of time they have to spend dealing with things that are taking away from the energy that could be better used in helping to build a leather scene and community that benefits everyone.

The scene deserves better than this – and if that means no one else gets to wear a sash for a while, that’s a small price to pay.