Perverts Wear Purple this International Fetish Day

Every third Friday of January is International Fetish Day, an annual #kinktastic celebration of all things fetish. But what's it all about, where did it come from and why should we all be wearing purple? Let Victoria Blisse enlighten you.
 

What is International Fetish Day?

A day to celebrate everything fetish. It's a meaningful way to acknowledge the fetish community, how amazing it is and how it's normal to have a fetish while at the same time opposing the UK law that criminalizes owning 'extreme pornography'. It started out in the UK back in 2008 and was simply the National Fetish day; it was 2009 when it went international. 
 

Why was International Fetish Day established? 

On the 26th January, 2009 section 26 of the UK criminal justice and immigration act was enacted. This legislation makes owning ‘extreme pornography’ illegal. It covers several things that could happen in BDSM and fetish scenes, such as mutilation of breasts and genitals and consent isn’t taken into account at all. 

International Fetish Day started as an opposition to this law, making a celebration of fetish, BDSM and all things kinky to take away the stigma of having a fetish because as we all know at Fetish.com - it’s okay to be kinky! 

The importance of International Fetish Day

This isn’t a holiday driven by commercialism, and there is no pressure to buy a card or a present for your Mistress, Master, top or main kink partner. Its sole purpose is to celebrate and destigmatize having a fetish. It’s often seen as something creepy or wrong, but this is only because people don’t understand what it really means. 

We all know that having a fetish isn’t a bad thing, and it doesn’t make you a criminal or a weirdo, it just means you love a certain thing that turns you on. You know yourself, you embrace your desires, and you celebrate that. Many people never get the chance to embrace their fetishes either because they're scared to do so, because of the views of their peers and society in general. 

How to celebrate International Fetish Day? Wear Purple!

A subtle way to join in is to wear purple. The day was established with the tag line ‘perverts wear purple’, which is a way to show your fetish nature, but keeping things vanilla enough not to get yourself kicked out of work, for example. 

Some people don’t like the use of the word 'pervert' because of its negative connotation where others in the community embrace it and try to claim it back, taking the sting out of a much-used insult. It doesn’t matter if you identify with the pervert tag or not, wearing purple is a way to celebrate your fetish even in completely vanilla settings.


Squeeze in some fun this International Fetish Day.  Image: Torbackhopper via Flickr Creative Commons licence.

Many fetish events all over the world celebrate International Fetish Day, look up one in your area or throw your own party to celebrate! This way you can dress up in any way you like and truly indulge in your kinky nature. 

If you can’t get out, then stay in and indulge your kink by watching fetish porn or chatting to like-minded kinksters or if you can do your fetish on your own, give it a go! Make sure everything you do is risk aware, though. Self-bondage might sound fun, but make sure you know what to do if things go wrong! 

So having a day to celebrate the freedom we fetishists and kinksters have to enjoy ourselves is very important. And it's a way we continue to battle against the view that what we do is somehow wrong or harmful when done right; it’s neither of those things at all. 

Wear purple on the third Friday of every January to show off your fetish pride, but we all know that you can be proud of being kinky every day of the year! 
 

Victoria Blisse was an erotic author and sex-positive Reverend. She helped shape fetish.com and FET from the very beginning and we're eternally grateful for her passion and creativity. Sadly, she passed away in January 2024. We hope that whenever her articles are read, she'll be honored.
 

Meet new kinksters this International Fetish Day (or any day of the year). Discover kinky people in our forums, BDSM chat rooms, or create a personal ad   
 

 Cover image: Elmo Love via Flickr Creative Commons (CC by 2.0). All images (unless stated) via Shutterstock.