Author of Urban Aboriginals | Chronicler of Leather Tribal Identity

Geoff Mains is an American author, illustrator, and cultural observer whose 1979 book Urban Aboriginals became one of the most formative and quietly radical texts in modern Leather history. Written at a time when gay male Leather culture was still largely undocumented—or actively erased—Mains’ work provided one of the earliest insider articulations of Leather as a distinct tribal identity, rather than a mere sexual preference or fashion aesthetic.

A Language for the Unnamed

Urban Aboriginals arrived during a pivotal post-Stonewall era when Leather communities were organizing, ritualizing, and seeking meaning beyond bars and bedrooms. Mains gave readers something rare and enduring: language. Drawing on anthropology, sociology, Jungian psychology, and lived experience, he framed Leatherfolk as modern “urban tribes” who used ritual, dress, hierarchy, and service to create belonging, continuity, and meaning in a hostile world.

For many readers—particularly young Leathermen coming of age in the late 1970s and 1980s—the book functioned as a mirror and a map. It validated instincts they already felt but had never seen honored in print: that Leather was about identity, honor, brotherhood, and intentional power exchange, not merely transgression.

Ritual, Role, and Responsibility

Mains’ work emphasized that Leather roles—Sir, Master, slave, biker, top, bottom—were not costumes but social contracts embedded in responsibility and restraint. He explored how rituals, uniforms, and protocols served as stabilizing forces, transmitting values and protecting community cohesion. This framing strongly influenced Old Guard understandings of Leather as a culture with obligations, not a marketplace of appetites.

Notably, Urban Aboriginals did not romanticize Leather as utopia. Mains wrote candidly about tension, exclusion, and the dangers of ego and misuse of authority. His work called for self-examination, urging Leatherfolk to understand why they sought power, pain, or surrender—and what they owed in return.

Influence and Legacy

While never a mass-market bestseller, Urban Aboriginals circulated hand-to-hand, bookstore-to-bar, and mentor-to-student. It became required reading in many informal Leather lineages and discussion groups, influencing educators, writers, and organizers who would later shape institutions, contests, and mentorship frameworks.

Today, the book is widely regarded as a foundational cultural text—not because it dictates how Leather must be practiced, but because it insists that Leather means something. Its influence can be traced through later Leather scholarship, protocols, and the enduring Old Guard insistence on service, stewardship, and earned authority.

Why It Still Matters

In an era where Leather is often flattened into kink branding or algorithm-friendly aesthetics, Urban Aboriginals remains a sentinel text. It reminds readers that Leather culture was built by people who chose structure over chaos, lineage over novelty, and responsibility over spectacle.

For many, encountering Geoff Mains’ work is a moment of recognition: I am not alone, and this is older than me. That recognition—quiet, grounding, and demanding—is the book’s enduring gift.

“Leather is not rebellion without cause; it is belonging with consequence.”
— Urban Aboriginals (paraphrased)