Des Moines kink community welcomes 'Fifty Shades'

[brooklynite]

Des Moines Register:

Ms. Robin, 60, is a dominatrix and has been for almost a decade. She's a grandmother of three and an expert in bondage, flogging, caning, spanking and medical play.

She lives in an unassuming house on an unassuming block — with a dungeon in her basement replete with stocks, a rack, a jail cell, a Robospanker and a wall of countless props, including whips, chains and masks. She watches "The Bachelor" on Monday nights, but spends other evenings intricately binding clients and suspending them in her garage.

Ms. Robin, who asked to be identified by her professional name, is part of the kink community that is experiencing exponential growth locally and nationally because of the popularity of E.L. James' best-selling erotic romance series "Fifty Shades of Grey."

The trilogy and accompanying movie, which opens in theaters Friday, have more people seeking out information on the BDSM lifestyle, local kinksters said. And although some in the kink community have qualms about the story and its stereotypes, many welcome the publicity as a way to draw more people into the fold.

[jakeXT]

1. The masochism in reading it is probably lost

It seems like the biggest fans of 50 Shades of Grey are those who have not actually read the book. As a writer and avid reader, I confess I found it to be 50 Shades of Torture, and not the erotic kind. After wading through bogs of insipid phrases like “holy crap,” “oh my!” and “inner goddess,”  without a trace of irony, about 40 times each, I found myself begging for a blindfold just so I didn’t have to read anymore.

But as a sex therapist, I give a thumbs-up to anything that gets my clients–and millions of “regular” people around the world–excited about sex, desire, masturbating, communicating, reigniting moribund marital love lives, exploring sex toys, fetish and fantasy roleplay. There’s no doubt that 50 Shades has accomplished an  important feat in the world of erotica, whether or not its fans read all those crappy words. And I tip my hat to that. Just please don’t make me read it again!

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/13/50-shades-of-holy-crap/

[MannyGoldstein]

2. I downloaded the free sample from Amazon Kindle

The writing was appalling, I was cringing instead of, um, whatever.

I should figure out how to write like that, it seems like there's some money in it.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. OK, I had to search for "Robospanker"...

using Bing with safe search off.

A worthwhile search indeed.

[jakeXT]

6. Isn't that Howard Stern ? /nt

[pipoman]

4. Hmmm...Des Moines kink community....whodathunk....

I always wondered why, aside from early polling (no pun intended), politicians spend so much time in Iowa....

[malthaussen]

5. My thought as well

Reading "Des Moines kink community" had me wondering if I'd woken up into a alternate universe.

-- Mal