The festival of sensual otherness is back in Prague

Prague Fetish Weekend. Three words that get the hearts (and more) of fetish and BDSM fans racing every autumn. From 14 to 17 November, chains will rattle in a former monastery in Prague’s Smíchov district, the air will be cut by stinging whips and latex will creak away happily.

A four-day party that long ago outgrew our modest country and made its name on the pan-European BDSM scene, it brings visitors a programme you will not easily find anywhere else. It has its rules, and the Hell Events team behind it takes care of the comfort and safety of visitors and of a large crew of international performers alike. Let’s walk through the programme together — this event may well cast the same spell on you as it did on us.

Thursday’s Entreé is the intellectual warm-up

The opening day of PFW is about educating visitors, whatever their experience or knowledge of the field. The programme is made up of several interesting talks and workshops on a range of topics, the bar is open, and you go home with inspiration for enriching your own play. The teaching is not aimed only at techniques, though: Thursday evening often turns to safety, to trust and respect between partners, and to honest communication. Anyone hoping for a wild pack of depraved instructors thirsting for the blood of virgins would be looking in vain. Entreé has an almost academic feel in places, and it offers a good many interesting angles on sex and on eroticism of the less ordinary kind.

Friday’s shopping frenzy

The programme continues with Friday’s Fetish Market, and it offers exactly what the name suggests: a fetish market. The beautiful halls of Gabriel Loci will be packed with stalls selling all sorts of goods, not only from the Czech Republic but from other European countries too. There will be fetish clothing, BDSM gear and toys, and specialised care products, for example for looking after latex and PVC. In short, an evening in which you can kit out an average little dungeon along with a matching wardrobe. And so the shopping does not wear you out too much, there is a supporting programme on stage. Fetish fashion shows, Japanese shibari rope bondage and much more will follow one another at a brisk pace. Where else would you go for Christmas presents?

Saturday night fever

The high point of the weekend is Saturday’s party, called (unsurprisingly) Fetish Night. This is where things get rather more serious: while you could turn up to the first two events in ordinary clothes, the security crew will not let you in here without the dress code. On one hand you have to conjure up some sort of fetish outfit, but in return you will feel among your own kind in the crowd. The evening’s programme falls into two parts. You can take in the cultural goings-on on stage — though here, besides the shows, expect harder BDSM performances too. The other option is to have fun with your partner, or, by agreement and while observing safety (SSC — safe, meaning carefully and securely; sane, meaning sober and free of mind-altering substances; and consensual, meaning with the agreement of everyone involved), with other visitors in the Play Areas. You will find a very wide range of BDSM and sex-positive furniture there, along with hygiene supplies including disinfectant, and whether you prefer watching to doing, you certainly will not be bored. Photography is strictly forbidden at the event, so even among the spectators you need not worry about your privacy.

For the survivors

Sunday’s afterparty

Anyone who has survived three days of hard graft can come and have fun alongside the organising team, who will finally get to let their own hair down a little. Besides putting your feet up, you can catch a lighter cultural programme — seduction with rope, the hip-shaking of burlesque, and who knows, spanking may get its turn too.

Has this wild ride caught your interest? Would you like to go through the whole escapade yourself? Do check the tickets on fetishweekend.cz, because they tend not to be available at the door: the event regularly sells out well in advance. Feeling a little uneasy and would like at least a rough idea of what it looks like before you dive in? There are plenty of photo reports at hellgalerie.cz. And on Vimeo, under the account Hellcz, you will find short videos. So, are you in?