Welcome to my virtual therapy room!  I am Dr Lori Beth Bisbey and this is Sex Spoken Here. Remember that this podcast deals with adult themes so if you don’t have privacy you might wish to put on your headphones.   Politics trigger warning:  In this episode, we talk about politics – a lot.
 
I had the privilege of interviewing Mama Vi Johnson when I was at Master slave Conference in August 2018.  Viola Johnson is a leather woman, vampire and author who has been active in the leather BDSM scene for over three decades. A mentor and confidante to many in the fetish world, she has a special fondness for the ‘boys’ of our community, and those who choose to serve as slaves and sub missives. Viola is the wife of Jill Carter, International Ms Leather 1996.
Viola had the distinction of winning the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from Pantheon of Leather and The National Leather Association, making her the only person to receive both awards in the same year. In August of 2007 she was honored with the first Lifetime Achievement Award given by Black Beat. Viola is also the recipient of the Pantheon of Leather “Woman of the Year” award, The Jack Stice Award and the Slave Heart Award.
In January 2012, Viola received within 8 days of the Master Steve’s Golden Paintbrush Awards at Southwest Leather Conference in Arizona and the Leather Leadership Award at the Creating Change Conference in Baltimore sponsored by the Gay & Lesbian Task Force. Viola is the author of two books, Dhampir and To Love, To Obey, To Serve. Currently, she is working on her third book, a follow up To Love, To Obey, To Serve
Mama Vi and her wife Jill Carter started and host the Carter Johnson Leather library.  It has a home in Indiana and a variety of outposts.  Sections of the library are taken to many events so that the public can learn from the original source material about our leather and sexual history.
 
This is part 3 and the final part of my interview.  Part one can be found on last week’s Sex Spoken Here episode – vlog on YouTube and podcast only where ever you get your podcasts.  Part 2 podcast can be found on the A to Z of Sex Ò where ever you get your podcasts or on my websites (links on the notes).
 
We started by talking about how the political situation has moved to where we are now.  Mama Vi points out ‘Evil manifests where good loves to hide’.  We talk about being at an event where people come to learn and that over the years they have learned to feel safe and take the safety back into the world because they have pride in who they are.  We have to stand up and be counted, be seen, do what is necessary and speak out to protect our communities, our lives, our history as if we don’t do this we won’t have a future. 
 
We spoke about whether people can follow through.  Mama Vi said she looks at the little triumphs – like someone grabbing a transgender boy and saying, come on, I’ll take you into the bathroom. … It’s easy to give a dime to a beggar – far more difficult to help them take the steps that will help them get themselves together.’   We spoke about the fact that the more of us who are speaking our truth, the harder it is to erase us.
 
Viola went on to talk about Texas Bill Number 6 – which was the right to nullify any agreement between legal strangers.  This has impact because if you are not married, you are a legal stranger.  We moved on to how inaction/laziness/arrogance by not voting led to Brexit.   We finished with concerns about the future of democracy in America because of the lack of trust in the system of elections.  And this brought us full circle – with Maryland wanting to go back to paper ballot so that there is a back up check. The original source material being so important.
 
Thanks for joining me for Sex Spoken Here with Dr Lori Beth Bisbey.
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