The Berlin-based association Fist Club Europe e.V. has declared May 5 the International Fisting Day — radically rethinking an existing US tradition in the process. A conversation with the association’s spokesperson Balian Richter about the magic of numbers, the legacy of the Catacombs, the shortcomings of a 14-year-old industry campaign, and the question of why, in 2026, we still need a holiday of our own.
Berlin, Schöneberg, late afternoon. An unassuming office building on Ella-Barowsky-Straße, one of the association’s meeting points. On the table: two espressos, a well-thumbed copy of Mapplethorpe’s Black Book, a stack of leaflets on hepatitis prevention. Balian Richter, mid-forties, spokesperson for Fist Club Europe e.V., wears a T-shirt, jeans, worn-in boots — no uniform, no posing. We’re talking about a day most calendars haven’t caught up with yet.
Balian, May 5 has officially been the International Fisting Day since 2025 — on your association’s initiative. Why does the world need yet another holiday, and why this one in particular?
Because this one didn’t exist yet. There’s been a day called International Fisting Day since 2011, October 21 — created by two performers from the US indie porn industry, Jiz Lee and Courtney Trouble. That mattered at the time, it was a response to the Cambria List and the absurd self-censorship of the American porn industry. But honestly: that was an industry concern, tied to a DVD release. It was never a day that addressed the lived practice in our community. It was never a day where a gay leather guy in Munich, a sneakerhead in Cologne, or a pup in Berlin thought to himself: this is my day. That’s exactly the gap we’re closing.
You sound a little critical of the original. Why?
Critical would be too harsh. Appreciative, but sober. Lee and Trouble accomplished something significant — no question. But look at the circumstances: the first Fisting Day in 2011 coincided with the release of Live Sex Show, a TROUBLEfilms DVD. That’s perfectly legitimate, every movement needs its trigger — but it makes the day what it is: a US porn promo campaign that has relatively little to do with the lived reality of the gay scenes in Berlin, Madrid, Vienna, or Zurich. The date, October 21, is arbitrary. There’s no symbolic charge, no cultural anchor. It’s simply the day the DVD dropped. That’s something one can say.
And May 5 does it better?
May 5 does it differently. 5/5 — five fingers, five fingers. Anyone who’s ever seen a hand gets it. That symbolism carries the day, no footnote needed. On top of that: May 5 falls at the start of the season. Open-air, festivals, Folsom Europe, Easter Berlin just behind us, summer parties being planned — the day sets a beginning, not an ending. October pushes you into the dark months, when the scene is already winding down.
2026 is already the second May 5 under your banner. How was the response at the launch in 2025?
Honestly, better than we’d dared to expect. We started 2025 with relatively quiet ambitions — a new association, a new date, a practice many people prefer not to discuss publicly. And then the feedback came in from the community, from partner clubs, from the saunas and event venues: finally. Finally there’s an occasion where we don’t have to hide it. We had events in several cities, international press coverage, even Folsom Europe got behind the day. That response was the confirmation we needed — that taking the step was the right call, and that 2026 will be louder, bigger, more self-assured. Which is exactly what we’re doing now.
Still: two competing days for the same cause — isn’t that a problem?
We don’t see it as competition. October 21 should remain what it is — a date with its own history and its own context, particularly in the US and in connection with porn. May 5 is the European, community-driven response. There are also two World AIDS Days in a year, if you want to look at it that way: December 1 and May 19 for those we’ve lost. Nobody would say one weakens the other. On the contrary: it shows the topic is big enough to carry several occasions.
Let’s get to the most obvious question many readers will be asking: do we really need a day for a sexual practice? Doesn’t that feel a bit over the top?
The question is legitimate, but it misses the point. We’re not celebrating a sexual practice the way you’d preserve a folk tradition. We’re celebrating visibility — and we’re doing education work. There’s an international day for testicular self-examination, a World Toilet Day, a World Sleep Day. Nobody has a problem with those. But the moment it concerns a practice that has its home in our community, the reflex kicks in: “Does this have to be?” Yes, it has to be. Precisely because that reflex exists, this day has to exist.
What actually happens on this day? Is there fisting, or is there talking?
Both, hopefully. (laughs) Seriously: May 5 is the occasion where our partner clubs across Europe run their actions. Workshops in Berlin and Vienna, a panel discussion in Hamburg, safer-sex booths at parties in Madrid and Milan, awareness campaigns in the major saunas. Some venues run classic play nights with documentary character — others focus on education, on talks about hygiene, hepatitis A vaccination, materials. The full spectrum (admittedly, currently still on a fairly modest scale, but I think these activities will grow in number every year). We provide the framework, the community fills it. The way Pride does on the bigger stage.
You say “the community” — who do you mean? Your association’s website states that you address “in particular, but not exclusively” gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. Why this focus?
Because it’s honest. Fisting has its modern cultural home in the gay leather scene — it started in the late 1960s and 70s in San Francisco, in clubs like the legendary “Catacombs”. The practice wasn’t invented there, but it was established there as a ritual, with consent, a culture of safety, mutual care. That wasn’t accidentally the gay scene. That was a deliberate act of self-empowerment in an era when our sexuality was pathologized and criminalized. That line runs straight into the present, and we take it seriously. At the same time: the door is open. But we don’t pretend fisting is some gender- and identity-neutral activity without a history. It has one, and it’s gay.
Still, the gay scene isn’t monolithic. What separates the Berlin leather guy from the sneakerhead from the Ruhrpott, the pup from Vienna, the bear from Zurich?
In a great deal — and in nothing essential. Every tribe has its own codes, its own dress codes, its own spaces. A leather guy might work with classic hierarchies, a pup with play and roles, a sneakerhead with markers, a bear with body culture. But when it comes to fisting, these are all people with the same questions: how do I do this safely? Where do I find like-minded guys? Who can pass on experience to me without exploiting me or selling me half-knowledge? That’s exactly what we’re here for. Our association is tribe-spanning — that matters to us. Nobody should have to switch jerseys to come to one of our workshops.
Very direct question: isn’t fisting just dangerous?
Fisting is demanding. That’s something else. Any practice that doesn’t stay on the surface has its learning curve. Whoever approaches it without proper education can hurt themselves or others — emotionally as well as physically. Whoever has the knowledge faces a significantly lower risk than most people assume. The problem isn’t the practice. The problem is the silence around it. Where there’s no education, accidents happen. Where there are workshops, conversations, good lubes, good gloves, and honest exchange of experience, very little goes wrong. That’s exactly why we exist. That’s exactly why May 5 exists.
One charge that could be levelled at your day: romanticization. You describe fisting as devotion, trust, intimacy — critics would say that overstates something many people simply find hot and dirty. What do you say to them?
That both are true. It’s hot, it’s dirty in the best sense, and it’s at the same time one of the most intimate things two people can share. These poles don’t exclude each other, they reinforce each other. Whoever pursues fisting purely as performance will be disappointed in the long run — the body won’t go along with that. Whoever turns it purely into a spiritual experience will also be disappointed — desire wants its share. We talk about both sides, not just one. And we leave it to each person to find their own place on that spectrum.
How political is May 5?
Political enough not to feel harmless — but not so political that it becomes moralistic. Visibility, in 2026, is still a political act, more so rather than less than ten years ago. We’re seeing a global hardening against queer lived reality. In the US, library shelves are being purged; in Eastern Europe, Pride parades are being banned or restricted; even within Europe, the discourse is shifting. In a moment like this, to say: this practice exists, it’s legitimate, it deserves education rather than repression — that’s a political stance. But we don’t carry slogans in front of us. Our politics is education, infrastructure, workshops. Almost bureaucratic. Sometimes that’s the most effective kind of politics.
You founded the association as an e.V. in 2025, based in Berlin. Was that a deliberate choice — Berlin as a location?
Absolutely. Berlin has a scene density and a scene tolerance that’s unique in Europe in this form. The spaces are here, the venues, the partners — Folsom Europe, the major play clubs, the counselling centres, the established networks in queer health. We’re plugging into an ecosystem that already exists. But we’re not a Berlin association. We’re a European association with a Berlin address. Our members come from across the DACH region and beyond, our newsletters go out in six languages, our partner clubs are in Vienna, Milan, Madrid, Brussels, Amsterdam.
Where do you want to be in 2030?
With the Fisting School we’re currently building — really live, as a recognized educational programme that runs workshops in several cities simultaneously, with certified workshop leaders. With a dense network of affiliated clubs in every major European urban area. With educational material that’s available in every checkpoint, every AIDS service organization, every gay health centre. And with a May 5 where actions take place in Berlin, Vienna, Zurich, Cologne, Hamburg, Madrid, and Milan, without us still having to convince anyone that it’s a good idea.
Last question. What do you say to a reader reading this — curious, but not yet ready to walk into a workshop?
That he’s not the first and won’t be the last. Nobody walks into our spaces fully composed. Even the most experienced top was a beginner once, even the most laid-back bottom had stage fright. What we offer is exactly that transition — from “I wonder if this could be something for me” to “I know now what I’m doing, and I know who I’m doing it with”. Come in, listen, leave again. You don’t have to do anything. But you’re allowed to know everything.
More information: www.fist.club and www.fistingday.org. Activities, partner clubs, and the May 5 event calendar are listed there. The association welcomes memberships, donations, and inquiries from venues looking to take part.
Interview conducted by Sven Poschke. Edited version. First publication cleared for trade media of the gay scene and queer health education in the DACH region.