Is there really a great need for information on fetish topics?
There will surely always be a need for information, as new people are constantly growing up and coming into contact with fetish & SM. I would never speak of over-saturation — at best of the superficial, sensation-seeking three-minute segments on tabloid TV. In-depth, sensitive and well-founded portrayals of these special and demanding forms of eroticism are still lacking. Articles in big magazines like Stern and Spiegel repeatedly prove the often shocking ignorance and lack of expertise of their authors. There is still a lot to work through …
Do fetishists suffer from their inclinations?
What does "suffer" mean? I think the number of "sufferers" is certainly steadily decreasing, since we scene publicists are apparently increasingly succeeding in talking people out of their inhibitions and scruples. At least that is what I can see from my work. The absolute number of fetish and SM enthusiasts, on the other hand, continues to grow, I believe — though more slowly than trend prophets proclaim.
Is fetishism a passing fashion?
"Passing fashion" doesn't quite capture it. Certainly the media hype has had an effect. Added to that are the increased publishing activities within the scene itself — the sold MARQUIS circulation, for example, has risen from 18,000 to over 40,000 copies since 1994. Apart from that, fetish/SM is not a fashion anyway; one rarely engages with it only briefly. Whoever has once caught fire here usually stays with it for a long time — if not for life. It is rather the new self-confidence that lets people deal more freely with their sexual needs and live them out. In my opinion there can be no talk of an "intrusion" into the public space — anyone not interested won't be confronted with it. Nobody is forced to switch on erotic or tabloid formats. Nobody is forced to go to a fetish party, or to buy an SM magazine at the sex shop.
Are fetishists restricted in their inclinations by law?
The legal situation is anything but satisfactory. The statutes are so "open to interpretation", and the case law so varied — even contradictory — that everyone in the business is, so to speak, skating on thin ice. Add to that the eternal moralists, who argue completely beside the point and are usually shockingly ill-informed. There is plenty of catching up to do here — but which politician, in times of mass unemployment, will expose himself to such unpopular issues?
All in all, it is clear to me that fetish/SM is still loaded with all kinds of taboos, misunderstandings and misinterpretations. We fetishists are neither sick, nor do we have relationship problems, nor is our life superficially geared only towards eroticism. On the contrary, we are particularly creative and imaginative people, our sex lives are richer than those of most "normalos", and our interpersonal relationships are often more lasting and profound. Alongside our fetish life we all lead a thoroughly ordinary existence, and are as a rule good taxpayers, parents and citizens. It would be time, in the spirit of a generally overdue deregulation, to leave the realm of eroticism too to self-responsible adults who know what they want. The state should concentrate on the tasks only it can handle — in our bedrooms we like to keep order ourselves.