Nalle Virolainen brought BDSM to Finnish homes, then disappeared

Nalle Virolainen introduced sadomasochism and BDSM culture to Finnish audiences in the 1980s and 1990s, while becoming one of the pioneers of Finland’s underground comics scene, Yle reports.

Virolainen drew violent comics and appeared on television to discuss body modification. He has modified his own body with scar tattoos and piercings inspired by the practices of indigenous peoples.

Pain is an essential subject when discussing Virolainen’s work and experiences. He says pain has been important to him because it intensifies pleasure, but he has never been interested in role-playing.

He also describes pain as a cathartic and cleansing experience. Similar methods are used in shamanism, he says, with the aim of reaching an altered state of consciousness.

Media interest in sadomasochism

Virolainen has not appeared in public for a long time. He gives two reasons for his absence. Publicity has never been particularly important to him, he says, adding that it has mattered more to be able to do what he wants.

The second reason was the poor condition of his hands, which were the tools of his work as a comics artist. Because of this, he even stopped producing comics for Sarjari magazine and published nothing for several years during the last decade.

In Finland in the late 1980s, the mainstream media was only beginning to address different forms of sexuality. The situation changed when Virolainen entered the scene.

The large, tattooed man spoke calmly and matter-of-factly about sadomasochism, piercings and fetishes, while drawing crude and violent underground comics.

Before that, sadomasochism and the related BDSM subculture had mainly appeared in readers’ letters in men’s magazines such as Ratto and Kalle. Some people may also have known the fetish-filled gay art of Tom of Finland.

Although Virolainen brought more extreme forms of sexuality into public view, he was generally treated positively by the media.

“My general experience was that people were very open and curious at the time. There was no condemnation. Journalists would say: tell us more,” Virolainen says. “On the other hand, it was a completely new phenomenon.”

Virolainen appeared on Yleisradio cultural programmes and popular discussion shows in the early 1990s, where he also performed and demonstrated piercing rituals.

He recalls going to a local Pasaati supermarket, where a man approached him with an outstretched hand and thanked him for appearing on television. It gave Virolainen an early taste of what it was like to be a celebrity.

On one occasion, Virolainen spoke at a horror film festival in Lappeenranta and presented marginal films. His appearance caused some disapproval because the event had received municipal funding.

“A local newspaper journalist wondered how the festival could have invited someone who publicly put a needle there,” Virolainen says.

In the depths of bloody horror

A self-taught artist, Virolainen is considered one of the pioneers of Finnish underground comics. He published the first issue of his Nalleposti fanzine in 1980, and its direction was clear from the beginning.

The themes of his comics centred on sadomasochism, BDSM and splatter and gore horror.

Virolainen drew inspiration from brutal horror films such as Lucio Fulci’s New York Ripper and Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

His comics work culminated in the 1990 album Goretta, created in collaboration with Petri Hiltunen. The album is filled with violence and different forms of perversion, and its protagonist is an ultra-violent dominatrix killer dressed in shiny latex.

Virolainen also found fans among feminists.

“My comics had feminist admirers from an early stage. They appreciated my work because it featured strong women who sometimes slaughtered men,” he says.

His kinky-themed comics also included humour, such as a scene involving Madam X being extremely drunk.

The black-and-white appearance of the comics, which were mainly published in small-circulation magazines, was not a stylistic choice but the result of the conditions of the time.