Kinky Klub – Imperial's newest CSP
We sit down with the Klub's chair to chat about the motivations behind it.
With more than 350 student clubs at Imperial, it might seem that there aren’t any interests not catered to by a CSP. This isn’t the case, however, and each year sees the creation of a number of clubs, driven by passionate individuals who guide their club from conception to fruition. One of the newest clubs to be placed in the New Activities Incubator is Kinky Klub, described as “a non-judgemental place where you can ask questions about the kinky world we live in”.
We sat down with Chair Alexandra Dakin to chat about the story behind Kinky Klub, and its increasing popularity on campus:
What was the driving motivation behind the creation of Kinky Klub?
Well I am a very open person by nature, so talking about sex comes very naturally to me. But lately I came to realise that there isn’t a place where people can go and ask questions about what goes on behind closed doors in a safe environment. I have found that once you start talking to someone about what they like and what they dislike the conversation becomes easy very quickly – it’s just about getting over that first hurdle of embarrassment or shyness. So I decided to create a society where that first hurdle no longer exists – where people can express themselves freely without the fear of judgement.
How have you found the process of creating the club? Was it an easy journey, or did you feel you had to justify yourself quite a lot?
The waiting period after sending in the application was quite long, and things seemed to keep getting pushed back. I honestly never thought the Union would allow it in the first place but when the second stage came around the only thing they were concerned about was how much money the society might make! They never asked for any special justification – in fact they got excited by it!
What are the main activities of Kinky Klub going to be this year?
Well our first big event will be a Sex Shop Crawl around Soho. We also want to get speakers in to do talks, as well as introducing people to the alternative nightlife of London. I have also had many requests to do a kinky tour to Amsterdam, so hopefully that will go ahead too.
What do you think the main challenges will be for Kinky Klub?
The main challenge I think will be to not get a name for ourselves as being the ‘orgy club’ – obviously if people want to have an orgy that’s up to them but that’s not what our society is exclusively for. I can give you tips for sure, but I ain’t organising one!
You’ve already got over 70 members – are you surprised at the Klub’s popularity?
I have to say I was really surprised by the support the society received from the get go. I thought I would at least hit a little bit of resistance, as nothing like this has ever been done at Imperial before, but instead people have been so excited by our societies creation. It just goes to show that everyone is a little kinky on the inside!
Tom Bacarese-Hamilton, Deputy President (Clubs and Societies), told Felix: We’re an inclusive community at the Union, we have all kinds of different student groups and we’re happy to support students to explore their interests. We look forward to reading their risk assessment, and helping them have an impact on the student body.”
