Writing Sexual Subcultures Workshop
Join one or all three of these workshops that will be using material from the UK Fetish Archive held at Bishopsgate Institute.
Will I need any equipment or materials?
All materials will be provided
Do I need previous experience or skills?
These workshops are open to all levels of ability, writing styles and identities.
See below for more detailed descriptions of each workshop.
Practical Information
- This workshop will take place in person at Bishopsgate Institute in the Courtyard Room.
- Tickets are bookable online until 2 hours before the workshop begins. If the workshop is not sold out, tickets will be available on the door at the box office, subject to availability. Please call the box office on 020 7392 9200 or email enquiries@bishopsgate.org.uk for more information.
- If you have any accessibility needs or concerns please email us at enquiries@bishopsgate.org.uk.
Need to Know
Metadata
- Time
- 15:00-17:00
- Price
- £19 / £11
- Day
- Sundays
- Duration
- 120
- Venue
- Bishopsgate Institute
- Tutor
- Matt Skully
- Max Students
- 50
Meet the Tutor
Matt Skully
Matt Skully is a London-based kink practitioner, multidisciplinary artist and writer whose work explores the erotic, the taboo, and the beautifully perverse. Rooted in fetish culture, his practice spans live performance, events, writing, photography and his curation work has brought together kink-positive artists, performers and thinkers, creating platforms for dialogue between sex work, art, and activism.
Workshop details
19/10 - Writing Sexual Subcultures: Leather
Target Audience: Writers, creatives and curious minds interested in exploring sexuality and the history of the leather community.
Workshop Description:
This two-hour writing workshop traces the hidden histories and vibrant resilience of LGBTQ+ sexual subcultures, with a spotlight on the rise and legacy of leather culture. Moving from early queer enclaves to postwar biker bars, erotic art, and community activism, we’ll explore how leather became both a subversive aesthetic and a vital force in queer liberation. Through discussion, visuals, and critical reflection, participants will uncover how subcultures like leather not only challenged mainstream norms but also shaped the political, erotic, and cultural landscapes of LGBTQ+ life.
Whether you're writing erotica, memoir, speculative fiction or articles this workshop will challenge you to consider voice, tone, research, and representation in your work. Participants will also explore how their own perspectives and experiences intersect with the communities they write about.
Key Topics Include:
- Origins post-WWII: returning veterans, motorcycle clubs, hyper-masculine codes.
- Emergence of gay leather bars in the 1950s–60s.
- Symbols: leather jacket, biker aesthetic, harness, hanky code.
- The Tom of Finland influence on erotic imagery.
- Leather contests (e.g., International Mr. Leather).
- Evolution during the HIV/AIDS crisis: leather communities as leaders in safer sex education and activism.
- Contemporary leather culture: inclusivity shifts (women, nonbinary, trans participants, POC leather communities).
Who is this workshop for?
Anyone with an interest in sex, kink, sexuality, writing, LGBTQ+ studies
09/11 - Writing Sexual Subcultures: Latex
Target Audience: Writers, creatives and curious minds interested in exploring sexuality and rubber lovers
Workshop Description:
This writing workshop peels back the layers of sexual subcultures with a deep dive into latex culture. From its roots in fetish publishing and underground nightlife to its influence on fashion, art, and popular imagination, latex has long captivated as both a second skin and a cultural statement. Blending history, visuals, and discussion, we’ll explore how latex negotiates the boundaries of desire and display, protection and exposure, and how it continues to evolve as a site of aesthetic experimentation and subcultural identity.
Whether you're writing erotica, memoir, speculative fiction or articles this workshop will challenge you to consider voice, tone, research, and representation in your work. Participants will also explore how their own perspectives and experiences intersect with the communities they write about.
Key Topics Include:
- Origins in the 1920s–40s: early fetish magazines and pulp photography.
- 1960s–70s: latex as part of emerging fetish fashion in underground queer clubs.
- Distinct aesthetics: second-skin effect
- Crossovers: latex in avant-garde fashion and performance art.
- HIV/AIDS era: latex culture and the symbolic/erotic charge of protection, safety, and risk.
- Globalisation of latex fetish communities
Who is this workshop for?
Anyone with an interest in Latex, rubber, sex, kink, sexuality, writing, LGBTQ+ studies
14/12 - Writing Sexual Subcultures: Pups, drones, sissy play and the power of transformation
Target Audience: Writers, creatives and curious minds interested in exploring sexuality and the use of transformation within kink.
Workshop Description:
This two-hour writing workshop slips into the fetish subcultures of sissification and transformation, where fantasy and flesh blur into new forms. From the frills of forced feminisation to the bark of pup play and the gleam of the rubber drone, we’ll explore how erotic narratives reimagine power, identity, and the body itself. Through guided exercises, participants will experiment with writing that captures the thrill of surrender, the allure of costume and material, and the strange ecstasies of becoming “other.”
Together, we’ll craft stories that revel in the charged possibilities of fetish transformation—part ritual, part play, part reinvention.
Key Topics Include:
- Fetish transformation historically and culturally
- Visual and material cues examine how clothing, gear, and role-play act as “second skins” that shape desire, identity, and narrative tension.
- The psychology of transformation
- Power and consent — how fetish practices negotiate authority, vulnerability and pleasure
- Writing scenes that capture the sensory, emotional, and erotic dimensions of transformation.
Who is this workshop for?
Anyone with an interest in Transformation, pup play, sissy play, power, rubber, sex, kink, sexuality, writing, LGBTQ+ studies
What We Do
