Leather (Kink)

In a kink context, leather is both a material and a cultural signifier with deep roots in gay male life after World War II. The look first emerged in Los Angeles in the late 1940s and 1950s, growing out of biker and motorcycle-club culture, then spread to New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. Black leather came to express heightened masculinity, fraternity, and sexual freedom, and it became closely tied to the development of BDSM and kink communities. Leather carries its own codes, rituals, bars, and events such as International Mr. Leather, along with a proud history of AIDS activism. Once centered on gay men, leather culture now includes people of many genders and sexualities.