The
leather subculture denotes practices and styles of dress organized around sexual activities. Wearing
leather garments is one way that participants in this culture self-consciously distinguish themselves from mainstream sexual cultures. Leather culture is most visible in
gay communities and most often associated with gay men ("leathermen"), but it is also reflected in various ways in the
gay,
lesbian,
bisexual, and
straight worlds. Many people associate leather culture with
BDSM (Bondage/Discipline, Dominance/Submission, Sado/Masochism, also called "SM" or "S&M") practices and its many subcultures. But for others, wearing
black leather clothing is an
erotic fashion that expresses heightened
masculinity or the appropriation of sexual power; love of
motorcycles and independence; and/or engagement in
sexual kink or
leather fetishism.