Nicholas Maronese
Editor-in-Chief
“And this,” explains Twisted Poet, picking up a steel chopstick, “is my new favourite toy.”
He runs the stick across the limb his volunteer, now eagerly grinning, had extended before him. Bright blue arcs of electricity, like miniature bolts of lightning, jump from the tip of the metal rod to the ends of the hairs of her forearm, crackling loudly. Her smile quickly pops into an “O” of delightful surprise, as the tingling sensation tickles her skin.
“Now you may notice a slight redness there tomorrow,” he warns. “But just treat it like a mild sunburn.”
Twisted Poet had hooked the electrode of the Violet Wand onto his belt, transforming himself into a 50,000-volt conductor. Now any metal object he held – whether it be a kitchen whisk or a Wartenberg wheel – instantly became an instrument of electrical play. The possible applications of this kind of sensation play, he said, gesturing to the array of wand attachments behind him, were endless.
That is, if you can afford the Violet Wand.
The Violet Wand electric play tool – it looks like a large flashlight with a socket into which you screw various glass bulbs – starts at $300, and the whole kit goes for about $900. You need a certain amount of training to use it safely, too – it’s worth it, but is probably a little unrealistic for a student’s budget.
The ETDWSS also played host to a variety of kinky seminars for those without disposable incomes; dominatrix Lady J, for instance, centred a presentation on “pervertible” toys on items you can find at the dollar store. Picnic tablecloth weights, she showed us, make great nipple clamps; and, if you’re really inventive, you can even craft your own homemade floggers out of used leather coats.
Aslan Leather’s Carrie Gray hosted a very inspiring “Kink 101” seminar that also primed those just getting into the scene with some of the basics behind bondage and spanking. I found out firsthand – or, rather, with my hands tied behind my back –? how effective a restraint a belt can make.
Best of all were the friendly fetishists volunteering inside the community dungeon. With instructive demonstrations and answers to most all your questions, they helped to dispel some popular myths about the kink scene. They broke down some of BDSM’s underlying principles – SSC, for example, or “safe, sane and consensual” play – as well as terminology and etiquette.
Representatives from Toronto TNG were also on-hand to let university age (18- to 35-year-olds, that is) kinksters know about their age-specific munches for the uninitiated. A munch, as their pamphlet explains, is a “non-sexual gathering in a restaurant or bar” where fetishists gather for discussion. Find out more about them at www.torontotng.com.
In short, the ETDWSS made for an excellent forum for student kinksters to learn a little more about the BDSM scene and the variety of fetishes out there. Really, the possibilities are endless.
That is, if you’re willing to try them.
