Folsom Street Fair (FSF) is an annual BDSM and leather subculture street fair, held in September that concludes San Francisco's "Leather Pride Week". The Folsom Street Fair, sometimes referred to simply as "Folsom", takes place on the last Sunday in September, on Folsom Street between 8th and 13th Streets, in San Francisco's South of Market district.
Folsom Street Fair
A mixture of kink and leather subcultures mix at the festival. The man on the right may be into uniform and military attire, while the other fair-goers seem to be interested in animal roleplay, including a bare-chested "rider" with his "pony".
Men wearing leather clothing at the Fair, 2007
Photo shows a submissive woman bound to Saint Andrew's Cross whipped at Folsom Street Fair 2010. The red marks on her body are from the whipping.
Leather subculture denotes practices and styles of dress organized around sexual activities that involve leather garments, such as leather jackets, vests, boots, chaps, harnesses, or other items. Wearing leather garments is one way that participants in this culture self-consciously distinguish themselves from mainstream sexual cultures. Many participants associate leather culture with BDSM practices and its many subcultures. For some, black leather clothing is an erotic fashion that expresses heightened masculinity or the appropriation of sexual power; love of motorcycles, motorcycle clubs and independence; and/or engagement in sexual kink or leather fetishism.
One of three prototype leather pride flags, created by Tony DeBlase in 1989, on display at the Leather Archives & Museum.
Leathermen at Cologne Pride, 2014
Cockring, now closed, was a popular leather and sex club in Amsterdam's Warmoesstraat.
