High Shine: 15 Years of International Ms Bootblack

Sometimes activism comes in a tin of boot polish

In the dark corners of America’s leather bars, amid the cruising and tricking leather daddies, boys and S/M play pigs, you can often find a bootblack hunched over, lovingly cleaning a patron’s boots for not much more than tips that pay for their shining supplies. Increasingly, that boot black in the backroom is woman.