SHADES OF KINK ON 20/20… KIND OF

Well… I didn’t expect 20/20 to lavish praise upon us poor kinksters who attended the Domi Dollz “Shades of Kink” workshop at Shag in Brooklyn last week. After all, 20/20 is some of the most unabashedly vanilla prime time television there is. Always has been, always will be. The fact that the workshop given by Mistress Nina Payne on introducing kink into your sex life was featured in an episode of 20/20 devoted to the exploration of alternative sexualities in America didn’t offer much succor; I had a distinct feeling that if they lingered on the workshop at all in the final edit, there would be euphemisms abounding. Euphemisms for the idea of “freaks” and “weirdos” and “degenerates.” All spoken with a light, cheery tone that implies the viewer is a horrified-yet-amused as the narrator.

And I was right. The whole episode of 20/20 in which the Domi Dollz workshop appeared dealt with alternative sexualities in a very bemused, “Oh my god, look at these weirdos! But hey at least they’re having fun…” kind of attitude. Which I expected. What I didn’t expect was to be almost entirely ignored in favor of talking about Fifty Shades of Grey. (Which I’m very much on the fence about, by the way. On the one hand, I think it’s great that a book focusing on introducing the idea of kink to a mass audience in a non-scary, relatable fashion is flying off the shelves, I’m very annoyed with… well… how bad the book is. The writing is atrocious. Not that I expect a whole lot out of erotic romance novels or anything, but Fifty Shades of Grey is just hands-down terrible writing. Really, really bad writing. Ok characters, fun story, but written as if by an eighth-grader. And also, while I get that BDSM plays with gender roles and that it’s fantasy and it’s fun and so on, I kind of am annoyed by how those gender roles are blown up into inflated stereotypes and just wallowed in throughout, but… well… who am I to judge?)

Ah well, at least they didn’t edit in little neon signs saying “FREAK” over each of our faces! And hey, the Domi Dollz look FANTASTIC. As always. Check out more of their workshops, held at SHAG and The Museum of Sex here in NYC. Educational, erotic, and eminently enjoyable, the Domi Dollz’s workshops vary in subject matter, but focus around the idea of introducing kink, BDSM play, and bondage into the bedrooms of the curious-but-not-certain, usually with fantastic results. Oh, and can you say “slave boys to play with”? Oh, and if you’re a fan of Fifty Shades, the Domi Dollz are offering another “Shades of Kink” workshop THIS Thursday at the Museum of Sex!

This article will also be published on WHACK! Magazine