The Eulenspiegel Society (later also known as The TES Association) [Edit]

The Eulenspiegel Society (later also known as The TES Association) is the first BDSM organization founded in the United States. It was founded in 1971 by Fran Nowve, also known as Terry Kolb, and by Pat Bond, born Walter Allen Campbell.

Bond placed an ad in Screw magazine in December 1970, reading:

“Masochist? Happy? Is it curable? Does psychiatry help? Is a satisfactory life-style possible? There’s women’s lib, black lib, gay lib, etc. Isn’t it time we put something together?”

The ad also ran in the East Village Other. Fran Nowve, using the name Terry Kolb, was the first person to answer the ad. Bond and her began The Eulenspiegel Society in New York City in 1971, and she came up with its name. It was originally for masochists, but in August 1971 the society’s members voted to include sadists in the organization.

Some of the first few meetings of The Eulenspiegel Society were in Nowve and Bond’s apartments.

The Eulenspiegel Society’s ad that ran in Screw and the East Village Other was refused by The Village Voice, as they would not advertise SM. Bond, Nowve, and others picketed The Village Voice due to this. In May 1971, The Village Voice printed Nowve’s piece called “Masochist’s Lib”, which was a position statement for The Eulenspiegel Society and, together with Eulenspiegel‘s Creed (mostly written by Bond circa 1973) made up the political platform of The Eulenspiegel Society.

The only president of The Eulenspiegel Society was Jack Jackson, who was its president from 1973 until he died in 1983; after that, The Eulenspiegel Society continued without a president.

Nowve eventually moved to Los Angeles where she founded a chapter of The Eulenspiegel Society, though that chapter swiftly ended. She returned to New York City for approximately two years and was again active in The Eulenspiegel Society, before making a final move to the Bay Area later in the 1970s.

In 1994, Barbara Nitke attended her first meeting of The Eulenspiegel Society to see a presentation by underground photographer Charles Gatewood. The couples she met in the SM scene fascinated her, and she began photographing them in 1994. They became the focus of her book, Kiss of Fire: A Romantic View of Sadomasochism (2003). It was among the first mainstream publications to examine the subject of BDSM.

In 1996, The Eulenspiegel Society hosted the first large BDSM convention, in celebration of its 25th anniversary. This event was so well attended that the organization took over two large clubs (Hellfire Club and The Vault) as well as a disco which was converted into a club. Over 1,300 people attended. This event inspired other leather organizations to hold annual conventions as well. In 1997, this event received the Large Event of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards.

The Eulenspiegel Society was one of the founding coalition partners of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, which was founded in 1997.

In 1999, Gary Switch posted to The Eulenspiegel Society’s USENET list “TES-Friends” proposing the term RACK (Risk-aware consensual kink) out of a desire to form a more accurate portrayal of the type of play that many engage in. Noting that nothing is truly 100% safe, not even crossing the street, Switch compared BDSM to the sport of mountain climbing. In both, risk is an essential part of the thrill, and that risk is minimized through study, training, technique, and practice.

In 2002, The Eulenspiegel Society reorganized as “The TES Association.” It retains rights to its original name and historical intellectual property.

The Eulenspiegel Society has a magazine, called Prometheus.

Name

Fran Nowve came up with the name The Eulenspiegel Society. The name is taken from Till Eulenspiegel, a character described as a “foolish yet clever lad” in medieval German folklore. It changed its legal name to “The TES Association” in 2002, although it still uses and is widely known by the original name. The original name, which cofounder Fran Nowve came up with, was inspired by a passage from Austrian psychoanalyst Theodor Reik’s Masochism in Modern Man (1941), in which he argues that patients who engage in self-punishing or provocative behavior do so in order to demonstrate their emotional fortitude, induce guilt in others, and achieve a sense of “victory through defeat”. Reik describes Till Eulenspiegel’s “peculiar” behavior—he enjoys walking uphill, and feels “dejected” walking downhill—and compares it to a “paradox reminiscent of masochism”, because Till Eulenspiegel “gladly submits to discomfort, enjoys it, even transforms it into pleasure”.

In 2002, The Eulenspiegel Society reorganized as “The TES Association.” It retains rights to its original name and historical intellectual property.

Related Honors

In 1992, The Eulenspiegel Society’s cofounder Pat Bond received the Steve Maidhof Award for National or International Work from the National Leather Association – International.

In 1993, Leather Pride Night by The Eulenspiegel Society, Excelsior MC, GMSMA, Lesbian Sex Mafia, and National Leather Association: Metro New York received the Large Event of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards.

In 1996, The Eulenspiegel Society hosted the first large BDSM convention, in celebration of its 25th anniversary; in 1997 this event received the Large Event of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards.

In 2003, TES received the Large Club of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards.

In 2011, TES was inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame (under the name Eulenspiegel Society).

In 2015 The Eulenspiegel Society’s founders Pat Bond and Fran Nowve were inducted together into the Leather Hall of Fame; Fran was inducted under the name Terry Kolb.

Name

Related Honors

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