“The kink world is dark, mysterious, inviting and exciting”
With over 11,000+ followers on Instagram, Ant (he/him), a Canadian kinkster now based Down Under in Australia, is that rare creature many of us (secretly or otherwise) fantasise about becoming: a hot leather cowboy. I recently had the great pleasure of speaking to him about his life and his journey as a fetishist, and as you’ll find out, he is that hot leather cowboy and more!
Hi Ant! Let’s first discuss how your fetish journey started. Were you welcomed into the community with open arms, or did you have to navigate it with some difficulty? How did you find your identity as a gay fetishist in Canada?
“I had a very traumatic and compartmentalised childhood and quite the coming-out story. Being of Asian descent it was always about honouring your parents and doing what is expected of you. I was also married to a woman for twelve years – we are still friends now. I remember watching Westerns as a child and being aroused whenever the hero was captured and bound by the antagonist. So, I always knew I liked leather and boots from a young age. Back then, there was not much in terms of guidance regarding who and what you are, and it was not until my late adulthood that I felt safe to come out. People have always questioned if I knew, and my answer has always been that I may have known as a child, but as life imprints on you growing up, I also say that I lost my way and forgot what I was or could have been to make others happy. When I finally did come out in 2018, the first thing I did was go to Folsom San Francisco on my own. The community I found there was the most welcoming to me and I luckily made a handful of good friends I still keep in contact with.”
You now live in Sydney with your partner Matt. How have you experienced the local fetish scene so far?
“Yeah. Matt and I started in the fetish scene together. The bonus of that was that we had the chance to grow and explore our respective kinks and fetishes together, and it has been hands down the best journey for both of us and one which is still evolving. The scene in Sydney is a very closely-knit family of kinksters, and they have been very kind to Matt and me. We started by volunteering and found that to be a beneficial way to meet other kinksters as well. As far as the Sydney scene is concerned, it is one that is still growing, with new events like Chaps popping up, and there’s always a chance to attend an event. A great dance party to attend is Extra Dirty. We also ventured to Melbourne together and had the pleasure of experiencing an event at the Laird which is one of the premium leather/kink bars in Australia.”
What are your top fetishes and what turns you on the most?
“My main fetishes are leather and bondage. I love verbal domination and the Dom/sub dynamic. My biggest turn-on is being tied in my leather and vulnerable to my Dom. A close second goes to Power Exchange.”
You have been turning heads with your stylised content on Instagram since your very first posts a few years ago. How did you engage with your public as fabulously as you have done?
“Thank you, I appreciate that! So, like everyone, I wanted to put out content that represented my authentic self and how I viewed my fetishes. The kink world is dark, mysterious, and inviting and exciting. My content is based on my perspective of the concepts of love and romance in the leather/fetish world. This is realised in the eyes, the interaction, and the mood in which the photos are taken. They are taken with the idea that your love is the one capturing the photos. The way I see it is that social media is the business of being, well, social. I look up to a lot of people on there, in much the same way as some now look up to me.
Though it can be tough, I try my best to respond to as many messages as I possibly can. Often, I have reached out to those I look up to and get no response back. My followers – actually, let’s call them my community of kinksters – are the people who bring us up, engage with our content, and take the time to comment, like, and converse. To me it’s a matter of respect, to be really present with them and not just post for the sake of getting likes. Since starting this, the general response I get from people is, ‘Thank you for taking the time to respond’, and I want to say to them: thank you for supporting me on this journey.”
Recently, you have also started to venture into the realm of the OnlyFans universe. What were the impulses behind this, and what can your subscribers expect from you there?
“The generous kinksters that follow me often reached out to me in the past, asking me when my OnlyFans will start. These followers are of course looking for premium content, and they look at me to progress. The way I look at it is like this: it’s simply an extension of myself. More concretely, my OnlyFans account is focused on #leathereroticism, and anything creative stems from that base source. This can include posing in leather, verbal domination, to even something as specific as stepping on cake with my Wescos and having a lucky sub eat it from my boots.”
Thank you so much, Ant, and all the best for your continued kink journey!
