A Quick Guide to the Rubberist Community

Are you a rubberist with a newly found love for all things rubber or latex? Writer Kayla Lords is here to let you know there's an entire community to help support people from across the rubber fetish spectrum. With a quick guide to this slick community, you'll have the necessary vocab to get started and meet a fellow rubberist for a chat or some kinky play.

This may surprise you, but there’s more to latex and rubber than the condoms you (probably) wish you didn’t need to wear. An entire world exists within the kink community devoted to rubber and latex. From conventions to a pride flag, rubber fetishists have built a community for themselves that allows them the freedom to express their love for rubber and latex in a way that the vanilla (and sometimes the kink) world can’t always understand.
 

Rubber pride

The rubber pride flag (also known as the latex pride flag) is a symbol of the rubber and latex community. Peter Tolos and Scott Moats designed the flag in 1994 to represent the intense interests of the rubber fetish and community surrounding it. It features three stark colours slashed across the flag in a chevron.
 

• Black symbolises the communities love of shiny (and usually black) rubber.
• Red stands for the blood passion and strong feelings people have for rubber and latex.
• Yellow is for the community’s drive for intense play and fantasies.
• The chevron symbolises the kinkiness of the fetish and play involved.
   

A rubberist will proudly wave the rubber and latex pride flag

Rubber conventions and competitions

The rubber community may be a part of the overall kink community, but it also has its own structure, history, and celebrations. Part of this is the world of rubber conventions and competitions. Across the world, in different countries and cities, rubberists come together to celebrate their love of rubber and latex and show off their gear.
 

Rubber conventions aren’t unlike other kink-oriented gatherings. There are areas for play - in this case, you may see rubber pups playing together or plastic wrap bondage. Attendees can shop for new rubber and latex clothing, gear, and costumes. It’s also an opportunity for any rubberist to show off what you’ve made or bought, as well as learn new things about kink and rubber in workshops. Many conventions have a competition element, like Mr International Rubber, which celebrates the most creative and interesting use of rubber and latex.

A nice sunny day for a rubberist to walk their rubber pup

A rubberist can be many things

Spend any time online researching the rubber community, and three terms show up over and over again: rubbermen, rubber pigs, and rubber pups. Rubbermen is the most common term that a rubberist use to describe themselves. Within the community, they are gay men who live and love a rubber lifestyle. They may also enjoy other aspects of kink and have different fetishes, but their primary connection is with rubber.

Rubber pigs and pups refer to both the latex and rubber costumes kinksters wear as well as a certain spectrum of pet and animal play within kink. Some accounts of rubber pig play touch on humiliation play, but this isn’t necessarily the case for all fetishists. The combination of puppy play and latex or rubber is not automatic for all kinksters, and as with everything else, exists on a spectrum from full rubber gear to a few pieces like a bondage hood or mask.

Rubberist doctor role play

Rubberist spectrum

As with every other part of the kinky world, individual experiences with rubber and latex fetishes vary from rubberist to rubberist. You can still claim the title of rubberist and be a part of the rubber community even if you’re not a gay man or attend rubber conventions. Likewise, your experience with rubber can extend from just a few pieces you use in kink scenes to full encasement in rubber because it’s comforting and feels good.

The rubber community is a part of the overall kinky community but can and does exist outside of some power exchange scenes and relationships. Plenty of people love rubber for its own sake and not as part of their relationships. For others, the sexual aspect is part of the need and desire to wear rubber. Like other fetishes, there’s room for everyone within the spectrum - every rubberist is unique.

You don’t have to fly the rubber pride flag, wear a hood in public, or attend a rubber party filled with pups and pigs to be a “legitimate” rubberist. Within the overall rubber community - like much of the broader BDSM community - there is an openness and willingness to engage with people regardless of how much or how little rubber you want to wear. The community is there to help people who want to learn more, understand the fetish, and explore their desires in new and exciting ways.

Kayla Lords is a freelance writer, sex blogger, and a masochistic babygirl living the 24/7 D/s life. 
 

New to rubber and latex or are you a seasoned rubberist? Got some tips or stories to share? Get to know fellow rubber and latex fetishists by starting a thread in the Fetish.com forum.

Images: Torbakhopper, Istolethetv, Alexfvance via Flickr.com CC BY 2.0 license