Cléo Dubois

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Cléo Dubois
Born Paris, France
Residence Menlo Park, CA
Occupation SM Educator
Spouse(s) Fakir Musafar
Website
www.CleoDubios.com www.sm-arts.com

Cléo Dubois was an early member of the San Francisco Leather community and is now a BDSM educator, writer, documentarian, ritualist, and personal trainer in the kinky arts. Known for her fiery style and body-spirit-heart connection, she's become one of the most respected of the early practitioners.

Dubois is a guest lecturer or teacher at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, Society of Janus, The Exiles - San francisco, an invited speaker at San Francisco State University, and University of California, Berkeley.

Early life

Born in Paris, Dubois was raised Catholic. Raised in an oppressive patriarchal family[1] that was filled with classical music and opera. Her family was also quite homophobic and held right wing political values.

Late in her teens she rejected her families values and those of the church. She left France for San Francisco. Once there she studied dancing and improvisational theatre at the Blake Street Hawkeyes. Through her work in theater, she started to connect with her desire for empowerment and dominance.

BDSM Player & Ethical Domina

Cléo started her kinky life by attending the first Dominant Woman class taught by Kat Sunlove, joining the Society of Janus in 1981, as well as attending many San Francisco Leather classes taught by Gayle Rubin, Patrick Califia, and Alan Selby. She became a volunteer bottom as she was a part of the tradition that required experiencing something before doing it to others. Within a year of her coming out LIL (living in leather conferences) and soon was participating in panel discussions at such community gatherings. 1984 She joined the Outcasts and was the first door keeper of that social leather women organization. For her SM became a way to transcend the grief of all the deaths in the community from AIDS. In contrast to her oppressive patriarchal upbringing she embraced the leather subculture and supported gay rights.

Dubois was an early proponent of "Consensual Informed Erotic Power Play". With her friend Sybil Holiday she established a respected presence in the professional Dominant scene following the steps of Janus founder Cynthia Slater.

Ritualist

As a body ritual enthusiast, along with her life partner, Fakir Musafar, she conducts Spirit + Flesh shamanic ritual/workshops. She describes it as "a personal dance of ecstatic fire" and a way to experience a larger deeper reality and facilitate healing from abuse and traumas.

Educator

Dubois founded the Academy of SM Arts in 1995 in response to the growing need for a safe place to learn and explore BDSM from an experienced professional as many misconceptions and misinformation were being spread around.

In 2002, Dubois started leading erotic dominance intensives for women, with her partner Sybil Holiday. This workshop was designed to help those with some BDSM experience to increase their skills, gain confidence and expand their range of choices within a scene. Two years later she added a workshop for men.

She teaches three different intensives for men, women, and professionals with her co-teachers, Eve Minax and Selina Raven, as well as guest faculty from the community, including JD of the Two Knotty Boys.

Documentarian

In 2000, Dubois, produced a docu-film on erotic energy exchange in the dungeon.

  • The Pain Game - 2000 - The first "real" video that answers the question: Why do people enjoy erotic pain?

Premiered at Frameline film festival in 2001 and screened at New york Cinekink in 2001 followed by screening in Paris. The Village Voice remarked on the tangible caring connection between Cléo and her submissive.

  • Tie Me Up - 2002 - Answers the questions: Why do people enjoy being bound? And, how to do it safely?

Writings

  • Bells, Balls, Hooks and Fists in “Spirit 0f Desire,” edited by Lee Harrington (2011)
  • Cleo Dubois in “Reclaiming Eros,” by Suzanne Blackburn and Margaret Wade (2009)
  • Journeys to Dark Eros in “Sex Tips and Tales from Women Who Dare: Exploring the Exotic Erotic” by Jo-Anne Baker (2001)
  • Interview by Carol Queen in “Bitch Goddess: The Spiritual Path of the Dominant Woman,” edited by Pat Califia and Drew Campbell (1998)
  • Interview on Bondage and Corporal Punishment in “Different Loving,” by Gloria G. Brame, William D. Brame and Jon Jacobs (1996)
  • Cleo Dubois in Her Own Words, monthly guest column on Gloria Brame, PhD (2009)
  • The Joys and Challenges of Topping, “On Our Backs” Magazine

Awards

  • Southwest Leather Conference 2008 bestowed Living Leather Legends award to her and her partner Fakir Musafar.
  • San Francisco 2008 Gay Pride she was the Leather Contingent Marshal.

Books mentions and articles about her

  • Consensual Sadomasochism by William A. Henkin, Ph.D and Sybil Holiday, CCHT
  • Reclaiming Eros by Suzanne Blackburn and Margaret Wade
  • Spirit of Desire Edited by Lee Harrington
  • Different Loving by Gloria G. Brame, William D. Brame, and Jon Jacobs
  • Paying for it Edited by Greta Christina
  • Leather Folk by Mark Thompson

See also

References

  1. ↑ Cléo Dubois' blog - Beyond Sound Bytes
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