The Zen Of Kink

Appalachian Style Play Parties - by Joseph

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For those who are not familiar with this term, it refers to play parties held in West Virginia and surrounding areas where attendees seem to disregard the usual rules of play etiquette. For example, imagine you have arrived at a party in say, Grafton WV. You find the host and guests to be friendly and polite, and that they all seem to know each other. Within a few minutes, while conversing in the common area, someone will open their bag and pull out a favorite toy or book and begin passing it around, showing it to the assembled guests. Before long, other toys are brought out, and then you witness something not often seen in other areas of the country. Someone will try out their toy on one person, and then maybe turn to the next person and do the same. Perhaps a violet wand is brought out. The owner will demonstrate on someone handy, he seems to have plenty of volunteers, then move on to somebody else. Then someone else will step in, maybe hand him an attachment, or bring a flogger or paddle and use it on one of the people involved in this scene. Others may offer encouragement, or make jokes or suggestions.

 

What is going on here, you wonder? You’ve witnessed invasion of personal space, nonconsensual touching and play, interruption of a scene, others joining a scene without permission, and you haven’t even gotten to the designated play area. This is a local phenomenon called an Appalachian Style Play Party. There is even a fetish listed for them on Fet Life. What you have witnessed may seem to go against all the rules of civilized play, but it is not as chaotic as it seems.

The first thing you should understand is the local circumstances involved. In rural states such as West Virginia, people in the lifestyle are few and far between. It is not unheard of for any member to travel as much as 2 hours just to attend a munch. Members from all the assorted groups in the area regularly attend other groups’ events, and are well acquainted with each other, and have known each other for a long time. Add to that the hospitality this region is known for, and the fact that many of these people have never played publicly anywhere else, and you begin to understand the intimacy displayed at these parties.

 

While it may seem that contact is random and nonconsensual, there is for the most part, implied consent, as participants have usually played with each other before, and trust and respect have already been established. Since most of these parties have been held in people’s living rooms, sometimes the lines between common areas and play space are blurred.

 

This type of event does have its drawbacks, of course. Sometimes new members are not made aware that this type of play is based on established, if unseen, protocols. There are always rules posted, but what effect will they have if the behavior they see seems to contradict them? So basically they learn from what they see and assume it is the proper way to behave. Also more experienced members who should know better sometimes get caught up in the open atmosphere and approach new members in an inappropriate manner.

 

These problems are compounded when local members interact with outsiders. I have been lucky to have witnessed, in my ten or so years in the local scene, the growth of the once local and isolated groups to a loose organization that spans an entire state, and parts of a couple of others. Where it was once a rare thing for a member to attend a large event in exotic places like Columbus, now it is common for whole groups of us to travel and experience how they play in other places. 

So far, I have not heard of any major problems caused by group members in our area, and as long as we keep educating our members, I don’t expect any. There have, however, been a couple cases where visitors from other areas have been put off by the behavior they witnessed at this style of party. The reason I have written this is so that people can learn and better understand us. I realize that this kind of play is not for everyone, but isn’t that true for most types of play?