All good things must come to an end, and in the case of Washington DC its the closure of SigMa DC, the all-volunteer male BDSM, kink, and fetish organization which is dissolving after a nearly 40-year run.

The group was founded in 1984 as an outgrowth of a regular gathering of BDSM enthusiasts in a private home in Alexandria, Va., SigMa. Over the decades, it has  maintained both a play space with equipment and toys for people to use, as well as educational classes and demonstrations for BDSM and kink play, toys, and techniques. 

Peter Delate, a former board member of SigMa is explains why, after a nearly 40-year run, the organization is dissolving. “Some of our classes, no matter what era we were in, were well attended, others not so.  It just depended on the interest of the week, because kink, like anything else, goes through some eras of more interest than others. Is this the year of CBT [Cock and Ball Torture]? Or is this the era of TT [Tittie Torture]? Or is this the era of flogging? It’s just where people’s interests lie.”

“Sigma provided a space where people could explore and or play,” says Delate. “And when they were at a space where there could be more nudity, [the events] were a little bit better attended.”

Delate says the decision to shutter the organization was an “easy” one. “It would seem that the interest in the organization, and helping it, was not there and additionally,  the organization faced a rent hike in pre-COVID 2020 that endangered its ability to hold on to its R Street play space.

https://www.sigmadc.org/