Leather subculture denotes practices and styles of dress organized around sexual activities that involve leather garments, such as leather jackets , vests , boots , chaps , harnesses , or other items. Wearing leather garments is one way that participants in this culture self-consciously distinguish themselves from mainstream sexual cultures.
Many participants associate leather culture with BDSM practices and its many subcultures. The emergence of gay leather as a coherent subculture can be traced back to the second half of the s and the s in major cities of the US. Later, it also developed in other urban centers in most industrialized capitalist countries.
Although there is some evidence of BDSM activities among gay men before the Second World War , this "pre-leather" scene has not been extensively researched.
Due to pathologization and criminal prosecution of homosexuality and kinkiness in many parts of the world, many practitioners were extremely cautious and secretive about their activities. As a result, only few sources have survived. The same is true for the early days of the leather scene after World War II.
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One exception is Samuel Steward β who lived in the US and extensively documented his kinky sexual encounters with other men. The formative period of gay leather subculture took place in the s and s.
