Coming to Power

Coming to Power is a landmark anthology documenting the early development of lesbian S/M communities through the voices of the women who helped create them. Edited collectively by members of SAMOIS, the volume brings together essays, political analysis, educational articles, erotic fiction, historical reflections, interviews, practical guidance, visual art, and personal testimony to explore the relationship between feminism, sexuality, consensual power exchange, and lesbian identity.

Rather than presenting a single ideological position, the anthology reflects the diversity of thought that existed within the emerging lesbian Leather community. Contributors discuss consent, fantasy, safety, political conflict, community building, identity, eroticism, relationships, and the tensions surrounding lesbian feminism and S/M during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The result is a rich and sometimes challenging portrait of a movement negotiating its own values while confronting external criticism and internal disagreement.

The collection is particularly significant because it preserves primary voices from one of the earliest organised lesbian BDSM communities. Rather than analysing the movement retrospectively, Coming to Power captures its participants actively defining their own language, ethics, practices, and political identity. As such, it remains one of the most important historical sources for understanding the origins of modern lesbian Leather culture and the broader evolution of consensual BDSM communities.

First published in 1981, Coming to Power emerged during a period of intense debate within lesbian feminism concerning sexuality, pornography, power, and sadomasochism. The anthology was produced by SAMOIS, the first organised lesbian S/M group, founded in San Francisco in 1978. At a time when many feminist organisations viewed BDSM as inherently incompatible with feminist principles, members of SAMOIS sought to articulate an alternative perspective grounded in consent, mutual respect, erotic autonomy, and sexual self-determination. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}

The anthology documents these debates from within the community itself. Rather than defending BDSM solely against outside criticism, its contributors engage critically with questions of fantasy, ethics, safety, political identity, and the relationship between personal desire and feminist values. This willingness to record disagreement alongside solidarity gives the work lasting historical significance.

Today, Coming to Power is recognised not only as an influential publication within lesbian Leather history, but also as one of the foundational primary sources for the study of modern BDSM communities, feminist sexuality debates, and the development of consent-based power exchange.

The anthology explores the emergence of consensual lesbian S/M through historical documents, political essays, personal narratives, educational writing, erotic literature, and community reflection. Principal subjects include lesbian Leather culture, consensual power exchange, feminism, sexual politics, consent, erotic fantasy, community formation, identity, coming out, safety, relationships, activism, Leather history, BDSM education, freedom of sexual expression, and the development of ethical consensual BDSM within lesbian communities.

Its central contribution lies in preserving the voices of one of the earliest organised BDSM communities as they defined their own identity, values, and practices, making the work both a historical document and a cornerstone of Leather literature.

Coming to Power is one of the most significant historical documents ever published within the Leather and BDSM community. Its greatest strength lies in its authenticity: rather than examining lesbian S/M from an external academic, medical, or journalistic perspective, the anthology allows members of the community to define themselves in their own words. The result is an exceptionally rich primary source that preserves the voices, concerns, aspirations, disagreements, and lived experiences of women who helped shape the modern lesbian Leather movement.

The diversity of the collection is another of its defining qualities. Essays, political analysis, practical educational material, interviews, fiction, poetry, visual art, and historical reflections coexist within the same volume, illustrating that consensual power exchange is not simply a set of practices but a cultural community with its own intellectual, emotional, artistic, and political dimensions. Rather than presenting a single doctrine, the anthology embraces disagreement, recognising that healthy communities are built through dialogue rather than ideological uniformity.

The volume is equally remarkable for its historical courage. Published during a period of intense conflict within segments of the feminist movement, Coming to Power openly addressed subjects that many organisations preferred to silence, including erotic fantasy, consensual dominance and submission, Leather identity, pornography, and the legitimacy of consensual sadomasochism. In doing so, the contributors created one of the earliest sustained defences of consensual BDSM grounded not in provocation but in autonomy, consent, personal responsibility, and feminist self-determination.

Finally, the anthology remains invaluable because it preserves the formative language of a movement. Many concepts that later became central to BDSM education—community responsibility, negotiation, safety, consensual power exchange, and the importance of self-definition—appear here while still being actively explored and debated. The book therefore serves not only as a historical record but also as an intellectual foundation for much of the literature that followed.

Coming to Power reflects the historical context in which it was written and should be understood as a document of its time rather than a comprehensive guide to contemporary BDSM practice. Published during the late 1970s and early 1980s, many discussions naturally reflect the language, political debates, and cultural assumptions of that period.

The anthology also focuses specifically on lesbian S/M communities in the United States, particularly those surrounding SAMOIS in San Francisco. While many of the themes explored remain universally relevant, the experiences documented cannot be assumed to represent every Leather tradition, every BDSM community, or every cultural context.

As a collective anthology, the quality, tone, and style of individual contributions vary considerably. Some essays are historical or political, others educational, while many pieces are intentionally literary or erotic. Readers approaching the volume as a practical manual may therefore find its structure less systematic than modern instructional works.

Finally, although the anthology discusses safety, communication, and consent, it predates many of the educational frameworks, terminology, and risk-management models that would later become standard within BDSM education. Contemporary readers should therefore understand the work primarily as a historical and cultural source rather than a modern instructional handbook.

Leather historians, BDSM historians, FemDom practitioners, lesbian Leather practitioners, community educators, researchers in sexuality studies, feminist scholars, students of BDSM history, archivists, and readers interested in the historical development of consensual power exchange communities.

Coming to Power is widely recognised as one of the foundational publications of the lesbian Leather movement and remains one of the most important primary sources documenting the emergence of consensual lesbian S/M communities during the late twentieth century. More than an anthology, it represents the collective voice of one of the earliest organised BDSM communities, preserving debates, aspirations, educational efforts, and cultural expressions that would profoundly influence subsequent generations.

The anthology played a significant role in challenging the assumption that consensual BDSM and feminist thought were inherently incompatible. By articulating an alternative vision grounded in consent, autonomy, mutual respect, and sexual self-determination, the contributors helped reshape discussions surrounding sexuality, power, and identity within both BDSM communities and broader feminist discourse.

Its influence extends well beyond lesbian Leather history. Many of the questions explored throughout the anthology—including consent, community responsibility, sexual autonomy, identity, and ethical power exchange—continue to inform contemporary BDSM education, academic research, and historical scholarship. Today, Coming to Power remains both a landmark publication and an indispensable historical document within the intellectual heritage of the Lifestyle.

The Library of The Cellars preserves works that shaped the history of the Lifestyle, and few books fulfil that role more completely than Coming to Power. This anthology is not merely a collection of essays or stories; it is a living record of a community finding its own voice during a period of profound cultural and political change.

What distinguishes this work is its refusal to separate lived experience from intellectual reflection. Personal testimony stands alongside political analysis, educational writing beside erotic fiction, and practical discussion beside artistic expression. Together, these voices reveal that Leather culture was never simply about practices or protocols, but about people seeking language, community, and legitimacy for desires that mainstream society—and often their own political allies—struggled to understand.

Within The Library of The Cellars, Coming to Power is preserved as a primary historical source. It reminds us that the history of consensual power exchange was not written solely through manuals, organisations, or academic research, but through the courage of individuals willing to document their experiences and preserve them for those who would come after. Its pages continue to speak not because they offer final answers, but because they capture the moment when a community chose to tell its own story.