Bob Buckley [Edit]

William Robert (Bob) Denis Buckley (1935-1991) was an Australian writer on leather and SM.

Bob Buckley was born in Cairns on 11 August 1935. From 1960 Buckley began working as a draftsman with the Snowy Mountains Authority, living in Cooma, south of Canberra. Between 1962 and 1989 Bob lived in Canberra, working in the Commonwealth Public Service, during which time he began to write a series of articles on gay SM, for which he became widely known in the United States of America and Europe. Although not as well known in Australia during his lifetime, his first article, ‘Some thoughts on gay S/M : by a male practitioner’, was presented at the 8th National Conference of Lesbians and Homosexual Men, Canberra 1982 in Canberra in 1982.

In describing himself for the Ball Club Quarterly in 1988, Buckley wrote the following: “Tattooed pierced Biker. Internationally known Topman, 53, 5’9”, 165lbs. Safe sex devotee. I enjoy corresponding, supplying ideas and techniques and meeting fellow members here in Australia (in Canberra or, perhaps Sydney), or when I am traveling overseas.” Of particular note in terms of Buckley’s SM techniques was ‘erotic abrasion’, which he undertook demonstrations on when traveling, including at Chicago Hellfire Club Inferno events.

Buckely was diagnosed as HIV positive in February 1985 and died of AIDS-related illness on 27 August 1991.

Buckley’s life and writings have been commemorated in the Sydney Leather Pride Association‘s Bob Buckley Memorial Lecture, a key event as part of Sydney Leather Pride Week. Buckely’s papers are preserved by the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives (ALGA).

Select bibliography

• Some thoughts on gay S/M : by a male practitioner, National Homosexual’s Conference, Canberra 1982 [revised, December 1987]
• The road goes ever on an on, 17 August 1985
• Abraision, 15 June 1987
• Fisting, 26 December 1987
• Living in truth, 23 June 1988 (also published version in DungeonMaster, No. 36)
• The dreizehn address, 14 September 1988
• Seropositive status, sex and SM, 30 September 1988
• SM ego, 22 December 1988
• Ageing tops: ageing bottoms, 17 February 1989
• SM: bases, parameters, experience, meaning – some thoughts, 13 September 1989
• SM role models, 18 December 1990
• On being a top: an SM odyssey, 24 December 1990
• The potter and his clay, 1 March 1987, Australian Leather Men, n.1 (1990), p.14 [revised 25 January 1991]
• Humour in SM, 17 May 1988, revised 30 January 1991
• SM confidence, 31 January 1991
• The great art, 12 February 1991
• Exquisitely excruciating experiences,18 February 1991