Master Black Zeus - October 2007

Name: Master Black Zeus

Age: 66

Orientation: Dominant

Marital status: Divorced

Do you currently have a sub or play partner:  Currently I have a leather family.

Zeus. The King of the gods. The god of thunder. Tell us why Greek mythology holds such a great importance to you.
I remember I began to read The Odyssey by Homer in junior high school and I didn't finish because I was too involved in baseball and girls. Well, in the 12th grade, the English teacher said we could choose our own book for our last book report assignment and I chose The Odyssey. Not only did I complete it, but I got really into the story and Greek mythology. (By the way, I received an “A” on that book report.) I entered the lifestyle in 1986 and as I was being mentored, I was concerned about my identity in the vanilla world and my family. Having a high profile job, I had to find a scene name which I could be comfortable with, and thus, the birth of Zeus because he was about the most dominant figure I had ever read about. But, while I appreciated the Greek mythology, I had to add my own touch, so the “Black” was added. As I journeyed through those early years and on into my retirement, the name “Black Zeus” stuck and I never tried to insist on my real name being used. And I like it.

Your introduction into the lifestyle and subsequent mentoring was by a friend who just happened to be a leatherman. We’re curious… How did your friend know you’d be interested in BDSM? Yes, you are right. My introduction into the lifestyle came from an early childhood friend who later in life was a member of the same motorcycle club that I belonged to. I was introduced by this friend, who was a Black gay leatherman. He knew I was the manager of a large department of over 140 persons of which 98% were female. He had seen me at work, and he pointed out that I had a particular style, which he recognized as dominant. He told me about the lifestyle and suggested that I consider it.

Do you believe it is important for Dominants to train as bottoms when they first enter the lifestyle?
I feel that the mentoring process is very necessary. Especially when a new Dominant is beginning to learn how to use tools as a Top, he or she should feel some of the sensation or pain associated with those tools. To be mentored is a form of submission, for the mentor expects that there is a bond of loyalty in the mentoring process and in pure essence the mentored is subordinate to the mentor.

A mentor can also be helpful when a Dominant is transitioning from a private bdsm lifestyle existence into the bdsm community at large. Many of us heterosexual POC (people of color) Dominants might not want to recognize that we are relatively new to the larger community and that there are a lot of protocols that exist in this community which are relatively unknown to us. Mentoring can ensure that the process by which Dominants become introduced to the larger bdsm world is harmonious and smooth.

As for my own journey, I feel I have evolved and I continue to evolve as I work to improve my mastery. When I think back to my entry into the community at large, I remember countless errors or practices, which I feel I have either corrected or at least improved. I will admit that during my journey I have not been a saint. My personal mentoring process was a long arduous task and it is still ongoing.

Before you discovered the lifestyle, how were you able to express yourself sexually as a dominant-or did you? As I think back, I remember that early in my sex life I loved to spank my partners during sexual encounters. As I grew older, the pulling of hair became more prevalent in my actions along with the spanking. Of course, my actions did not always endear me to all of my sexual partners, but I found more than 3 quarters of them loved the hair pulling and spanking. Then I started to experiment with name-calling and humiliation, and it turned out a lot of my partners liked that too. So, yes, in retrospect, I was expressing myself as a dominant. I guess I knew I was kinky at a young age.

You’ve noted on your website (blackzeus.net) that you still feel it necessary to be somewhat anonymous in your “vanilla” life. What do you feel would be the repercussions if somebody should happen recognize you?
As far as my being anonymous and its importance in the vanilla world, I am only concerned with a few persons in my family. In particular, I am mindful of my aunt who is the matriarch of my family and is of an age where this (my lifestyle) is just not something she should have to concern herself with. In fact, since I have retired, I have started to revamp my website and update it, and I have removed some of the anonymous aspects. I still use the name “Black Zeus” as scene name because it has stuck with me.

Why do you feel training and mentoring are so important for new members of the BDSM community? I guess to answer this question, I have to come back to the fact that I was mentored. I had the opportunity to learn and to feel the lifestyle and to realize that the lifestyle is special and very much different than the world in which I was living. And the learning process is not just for those who are new to our community. I am continuously learning from the many different conferences and workshops that I often travel to attend. It is definitely important that both dominants and submissives know themselves as well as their place in the lifestyle before committing themselves to any aspect of sadomasochism or d/s relationships. This is important for safety and legal reasons as well as for ensuring personal fulfillment. A submissive must learn to ask desired dominants all of the necessary questions and to expect answers to

Do you have any advice to give new lifestylers on how to find real-time training or mentoring? What types of precautions should they take?
Before new lifestylers can seek a real-time mentor, they first have to acquaint themselves with the community. Most often this happens online, which can be good, and presents a challenge also. It's good in that there are select sites and message boards which can refer newcomers to committed mentors and to real time community. (Like Dark Connections!) The flip side is that the internet can make it easy for predators to offer themselves to the unknowing as mentors. I should mention here that several years ago I began to offer an online resource, "Black Zeus Conference Workshops." My idea is to bring interesting topics, good information, and experienced, knowledgeable presenters to an accessible online video conference. Recently, I collaborated with Mistress Max Rulz to create ISA (Intellectual Sexual Alternatives) Network. Through the ISA Network, the video conference rooms are now available to the lifestyle community to further this effort. In general, I recommend asking around to get references from others inside the community for those who say that they train/mentor. Try to obtain the personal integrity of those who profess to mentor. Ask questions. I recommend that new submissives seeking a mentor consider the difference between a mentor who is offering to train you for his/her service vs. a mentor who is willing to train you for the lifestyle. Know that in the leather world, mentoring is just a normal way of doing things, in my opinion, it should be seen as a resource for our entire community.

Within the community, do you feel lifestylers in general are less accepting or trusting of black, male dominants? If so, how can we change this attitude?
Tough question. My previous answers sort of indicate my desire that the Black dominant male needs to be mentored—like everyone else. Yet, I would hate to think that lifestylers in general are less accepting or trusting of the black hetero male dominants as a whole. With few exceptions, I have felt very accepted by the lifestyle community. You know, the Black heterosexual male is a new player inside the lifestyle community. When I entered in 1986, we were very few and very far between. Over the past decade or so, as we have come out of the private sector and into the community in greater numbers, it follows that we would begin to evolve our own ideas about protocols, principles, and the handling of submissive/slaves etc. The difficulty comes when the new ways of doing things are uninformed, dangerous, or too heavily influenced by vanilla values. I believe being in the lifestyle means committing to lifestyle values. For example, we must use a negotiation process with submissives; those of us interested in poly relationships must learn to how to be open and honest with our submissives about that desire; we must learn to admit when we make mistakes. I could go on with examples, but what I want to point out is that when we don’t learn and use the lifestyle values, we set ourselves up to be labeled as “players” or “abusers.” Let me assure anyone who reads this statement that I recognize that other ethnic groups make the same errors when they enter the lifestyle. I speak about the Black hetero Dominant because I am one and I care what happens to us. You have no idea how rewarding it is to see the emergence of other men like me into the community. Now that we are here, I have a desire to see us develop a strong, positive presence. There are enough places in the vanilla world where the Black male is vilified. I see no reason why we should allow this lifestyle to become another.

You hold honor and integrity as extremely important aspects of the lifestyle and you’ve stated that the company a person keeps can negatively impact one’s image and reputation. In some areas the black bdsm community is so small that we don’t have much of a choice who we associate with. What should we do in cases like that?
Yes, I do hold honor and integrity as extremely important aspects of the lifestyle, especially when we are engaged in the community. Speaking for myself, when I started in my private s/m play, I took risks that were way beyond what we see in the present day public lifestyle. (I was probably considered radical sexual slut.) I am sure that during my emergence I made many of the mistakes which I see others making today. Mistakes which erode one’s personal integrity, image and reputation. But, when I joined the community, I found it necessary to conform to many of the protocols that dictate good personal integrity. I learned how to improve and I believe those who choose to can improve also. In many of the other factions of the community, like the leather and pansexual factions there is a movement in which Masters/dominants are asked to publish a “Code of Ethics” to put themselves and their personal integrity on public display. This is one step, which can be taken and I am sure many wont take this step, but hopefully it can be taken seriously. So, to associate with persons who possess low personal integrity can in fact appear to erode your own integrity, image and reputation. At least I work on my own personal integrity by attending as many Mastery workshops and classes as I can. Many of the conferences I have attended are leather world events without many heterosexual POC in attendance. I would encourage more blacks to attend events like these where our numbers are small but where there is an opportunity to connect with the lifestyle more broadly. If more of us did so, we would see more of each other present. In the meantime, while we wait for our numbers to grow, we still have the opportunity to meet good people in the community of every color. I think it’s important to say that I am not interested in becoming a big critic. I am no saint. I love the emergence of POC into the community and I want to help us make this faction of the community the model for “love, kink, fun” for the community at large. This is my number one desire on my wish list. Because the POC community at large is growing!

We are all familiar with how the media negatively portrays lifestylers. Do you feel it is important to educate vanilla folks or dispel myths about the BDSM lifestyle, or should we even bother? I don’t think that the media portrayal of the lifestyle will ever change as a whole. In the vanilla world that still has a hard time understanding that everyone’s blood is red and that a blood transfusion from someone you hate and despise could save your life—well, it just seems that trying to educate the vanilla world would be futile. What we can do is support advocacy organizations such as the NCSF and Woodhull Foundation to carry forth their agendas into the vanilla world.

How does one attain the right to be referred to as “Master” in your opinion?
For the most part, one is given the title of Master. One has to be careful with just calling themselves a Master. In the leather world there is a relationship group, MasT (Masters and slaves together). In those d/s relationships, the dominants are referred to as “Master.” Thus, my own “Master” label came from my submissive/slaves and also from the MasT group in Las Vegas. Let me assure the readers that there are many Masters of different skills which could also carry the label of Master/ Mistress if they so choose. I know of a very skilled Master of shibari but he is not labeled as such.

If you were to suddenly gain the ability to hurl thunderbolts at your submissives, how would you do so without setting your sub’s hair on fire? WOW! I am an Aries, a fire sign, and of course my choice of color is red. With that being said, what do you think my answer would be? I want to set hair into flames to see red and hope when the fire is out the hair remains RED!