Studio Strawberry Code of Conduct and Policies

Creating community together

We welcome everyone to our studio, regardless of ethnicity, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, body size, disability, physical appearance, age, kink, pronouns, personal space or any label/identity/presentation preference. We are both a sex-positive and body-positive space. We ask you to treat everyone with respect and courtesy while in our space. All are welcome.

This also applies to rope styles; all styles of rope are welcome in the studio. We appreciate that rope means different things to different people and this can present in very different approaches and styles. This can mean that you may see styles or approaches to rope that you personally do not like, and ask you to respect those different approaches and move on. Studio Strawberry is a sex-positive space and we are committed to preserving the erotic history of shibari and kinbaku, and as a result it is important to us that eroticism in bondage is not lost or sanitised. Therefore there may well be more erotic or sexual approaches to rope at the studio, and we ask that you do not try to sanitise the play of others.

Please treat everyone with respect and courtesy.

Harassment or aggressive behaviour for any reason towards other attendees will not be tolerated. Please make a member of our team aware of any harassment, aggressive or inappropriate behaviour.

We enthusiastically encourage those who may feel underrepresented in our community to join us at the studio. If you have any questions or concerns about feeling a sense of safety, belonging or community in our space, please reach out to us and we will do our best to make you feel safe, welcome and part of the community.

Make people feel welcome

We were all attending an event for the first time once, and we want people to feel welcome and part of the community from the first time they enter the door. Please be friendly and welcoming, and help to make everyone feel included. Tori and Fi will aim to greet everyone who attends the studio and show them around, but it really helps if everyone makes people feel welcome. Things like introducing them to another attendee at the studio can make a massive difference to someone on their first time attending.

Outside the Studio

Studio Strawberry is in the home of Torienne, and as such it is in a residential area. Please keep this in mind when you attend. Please respect our neighbours by keeping noise down when arriving and leaving, dressing in vanilla clothing when outside of the studio, and by keeping any nudity, rope or play inside the studio at all times. We also ask that you respect our neighbours’ ability to park their vehicles near their addresses, and so we will provide a map of areas we would ask that you do not park when attending. We can make arrangements in the case of disability. If this would be helpful, please talk with us and we will sort something out.

Inside the venue

We have limited space, and want to keep the environment clean and free of clutter. Please remove your shoes, place them neatly in the shoe cupboard or near the front door, and please place coats in the coat cupboard. When inside the studio, please keep your tying belongings tidy and allow other people to use a tidy space once you are finished using it. There is an area at the side of the room to store rope kits and rope-related belongings when they are not in use.

We will provide glasses for drinks, free tea and coffee, and pegs to mark your glass, but please only bring drinks into the studio itself if they are in a sealed container, we do not want you to have to mop up spills. We ask everyone attending to help us to keep the space clean, and to please wash up and clean up after yourselves.

Please do not bring drama or arguments into the space. It is really important to us that all attendees are working together to create a warm environment where all are welcome and act respectfully of one another.

A space for adults

Studio Strawberry is a space for adults over the age of 18 only. We reserve the right to ask any attendee to provide proof of age, and refuse entry to anyone who is unable to provide it.

Be responsible

Safety comes first, and it is our desire that people remain able to enjoy their love of rope and bondage throughout their entire lives. Therefore we expect that all attendees tie within their own capabilities and the capabilities and knowledge of their partner. If there is a feeling that something is going wrong, it is much better to stop for a false alarm than to cause harm, or have harm caused to you. Studio Strawberry staff reserve the right to ask you to stop any behaviour that we do not feel is appropriate in the circumstances or that we believe to be unsafe. Please remember that it is impossible to know what you don’t know, and there may well be risks you are taking with each other that you have not realised you are taking, so take it slow. You are responsible for the risks you are taking, with yourself and with your partner, and it is better to be left wanting more from the next encounter than to have gone too far this time and have regrets.

Consent

Consent is the foundation of BDSM, and is what separates what we do from abuse. The model of consent that we use at Studio Strawberry is based around RACK (Risk Aware Consensual Kink). If you need guidance in relation to this or any other aspect of consent, please ask a member of staff.

Consent is something that is voluntarily given, by someone with sufficient understanding of what they are consenting to and sufficient mental capacity to do so.

No means no. No explanation is needed, and it is a complete sentence. Respect this and move on.

We want to cultivate a culture where attendees are at ease negotiating the things they want and don’t want, stating and asking about areas where understanding is limited, and where people feel confident to say no.

Always ask first; whether it relates to kink-related consent, hugs, physical contact, or touching anyone’s belongings and you are unsure… ask, and do not assume.

Behaviour

Studio Strawberry’s team are dedicated to providing a space that is harassment free for everyone, regardless of race, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, age, religion, or social class. We will not tolerate any harassment of, or abuse toward, attendees in any form. This means we will not tolerate continuation of any behaviour once it is known to cause discomfort, or that should reasonably be known to cause discomfort.

If you feel, or if someone indicates, that a behaviour or interaction may be unwanted, please end it. In addition, if you have asked someone whether they would like to play and the other person has declined, do not ask them again for at least the duration of that event. The person knows you are interested and if they become interested, they can tell you that this has changed.

This code of conduct applies to all attendees, and will apply to actions taken outside of the studio where necessary, whether online or offline.

Treat each other well

We believe that both partners involved in rope or kink have a responsibility to treat each other with respect, and not to take frustration out on one another. We do not want to see people berating each other, fighting whilst trying to practice, or picking at each other and putting people down. We are happy to work with couples to assist them to understand the stimuli that the other finds stressful, and to communicate and give feedback to each other in a manner that builds each other up and builds trust, rather than breaking it down.

Reporting

If you are concerned about any decisions that we have made, or actions we have taken, we will always encourage you to reach out to us, alert us about that, and discuss a way forward. We are very open to feedback and discussion.

In the event of something having gone wrong, something that has left you feeling uncomfortable, experience of unwelcome behaviour or harassment, or if you believe your consent to have been violated at Studio Strawberry, and you would like to inform the studio team and/or need further support, we encourage you to talk to a member of our team. This can be done in person, or electronically via any of our online platforms or via our website contact page.

We are here to listen to you, and dependent on the situation and what is needed, we may do any of the following at our discretion:

• Have an informal discussion with a person or persons regarding their behaviour

• Offer informal mediation (we are not trained mediators, but are willing to provide this informally if it would be appropriate and helpful to the situation, and only with consent of both/all parties)

• Issue a warning, telling a person that their behaviour is unacceptable and if they continue they will be asked to leave and this may also involve potential exclusion from the studio

• Limiting what we consent to the person doing within the studio, while they focus on knowledge, skills or positive change and accountability

• Temporary exclusion from attending the studio, while they focus on knowledge, skills or positive change and accountability

• Permanent exclusion from attending Studio Strawberry

We do believe in rehabilitation and in people taking accountability for their actions and making positive change. We will, to the best of our abilities, provide support, or signpost to support, for anyone who has been harmed to help them recover from this harm. We will also, to the best of our abilities, hold those who have been responsible for causing harm accountable, and provide support and recommend appropriate education and resources to move them towards better behaviour, such as better consensual awareness and practices or improved skill and risk awareness. Along with this, if we believe that there has been acceptance of any harm caused, and an appropriate change in behaviour, attentiveness or skill, we may review exclusions.

Play involving wax or other mess

Wax play is allowed in the studio, as long as you put a protective sheet down, and other play involving mess may be permitted but please ask to make sure (we may be able to provide protective sheets or pads, but bringing your own will avoid disappointment if we do not have one available).

Play involving noise

The studio is relatively compact, and therefore please be aware of the noise that is being made during scenes. Please keep noise to a level where it does not take away from other people’s enjoyment of the space.

Smoking and Vaping

Please keep smoking and vaping outside of the studio, and outside of the premises. We would prefer that there are not crowds of people standing outside the address smoking or vaping as it will be a cause of annoyance to our neighbours, so if you are able to go for a short walk while you smoke or vape, that would be appreciated.

Intoxication

Absolutely no recreational drugs will be tolerated in the studio, and do not turn up drunk or high as you will be denied admission.

We do allow alcohol consumption in the address, but we reserve the right to ask you not to tie if we feel you have had too much to drink. Having consumed alcohol is also something that should be specifically mentioned if negotiating play.

Privacy and Photography

Please respect the privacy of all attending the space, and do not disclose personal or private information. This includes the address of the studio, if people are booked to attend they will be given the address.

We invite you to take photographs of your work and play in the studio, but please ensure that you do not have anyone in the background of images without their explicit permission. It is not enough to edit or blur the image later if this was not consented to. Therefore, in the interests of simplicity, we suggest choosing a tying space near a wall if you do wish to take photographs of your play. Tori and Fi do consent to being photographed while teaching, but ask that videos are not taken.

Occasionally we may have an official photographer present at events.