Informed Consent. IC was started during the Christmas holidays of 1997, and has gone through several stages of evolution over the years.
It began with listings of websites, events and shops, but also had a thread of activism, as reflected in the name which stresses the consensual and legitimate nature of what we do. Even publishing BDSM listings was part of that activism in those days, as it was created when publications like Time Out and the Guardian refused to take BDSM ads, and it was genuinely hard to find people, shops, and events. In 1999 it became a free membership site with user-generated listings and blogs, and in 2005 social networking features, pictures, and web boards were added. During this time it became the largest UK BDSM website, with hundreds of thousands of members and 10,000 unique visitors per day. Skin Two. London Fetish Fair Club Alternative Sunday Market June 13th, Jul. Sugarbutch Chronicles.