Pain/pleasure

On the floor of the fetish flea market

By Noah Bruce

Last Sunday’s Maine Fetish Flea Market was not like other flea markets. The 12 vendors set up at the Holiday Inn by the Bay were not selling cut-rate clothes, sunglasses, or imitation Nikes. On display were whips, canes, rope, padded cuffs, medieval leather clothing, videos, gynecological tools, special furniture, and at one table metal rods about as thick as a cigar used to insert into the penis. Oh baby.

And at most flea markets, well, you don’t hear people talk about sex so much.

“I’m a domme, that’s a dominant woman,” said a woman calling herself Lady Notra.

“And I’m a dom, that’s a dominant male,” added Lesvoiles.

Just then a third man, overhearing the conversation, entered the group and explained that he was a “switch,” meaning he plays both dominant and submissive roles.

“Actually” Lesvoiles said, “I’m a dominant switch, but that’s getting really complicated.”

The event was sponsored by CuffsMaine, a Portland-based nonprofit group. The organization has about 450 members and was co-founded by Renee Shapiro and her husband, Lesvoiles. Like many in the BDSM world (bondage, discipline and dominance, submission and sadism, and masochism), Lesvoiles uses an alias for fear of discrimination at work.

“Cuffsmaine is an educational, support, and social organization,” Shapiro said. “We educate our members by teaching them how to correctly practice BDSM. For instance we offer classes on how to safely do bondage and flogging. We educate the public by teaching the difference between abuse and BDSM.”

Many participants at the flea market voiced concerns about the public misunderstanding of BDSM practices. Unlike abuse, “the key words of BDSM are ‘safe,’ ‘sane,’ and ‘consensual.’ BDSM is not done in public and never done in front of children,” Lesvoiles said.

Another common misconception is that everyone in the BDSM world likes pain.

“I think it is more the idea of being dominant or being submissive and the fantasy of giving or receiving punishment that turns people on,” said Stu, of Portland. “I don’t think most people enjoy serious pain.”

That isn’t always the case.

“Some people like to bleed,” Lesvoiles said. “The problem is when someone hears that a person actually likes to bleed, they think everyone in this community likes to bleed.”

Back on floor, like a Ginsu knife salesman cutting pennies, a vendor known as Sapphire was putting on a show with a product called the Violet Wand. The small crowd reached out to touch the wand’s translucent purple glass end and received a small electric shock that felt like static electricity. The real fun began when Sapphire demonstrated one of the wand’s accessories that made his whole body, and any conductor he touched, an electrical conduit. His nose, his thumb, and a mylar whip he held all gave off little shocks when touched.

“The beauty of using the whip like this, is that you get an electrical zap when it touches you, then a slap as you feel the whip, then a zap as it is drawn away,” Sapphire said. “So you get a zap, slap, zap.”

With a mischievous look Sapphire explained why the Violet Wand is truly a must have in any sex kit: “I don’t know if any of you have tried electrified oral sex, but it is highly recommended.”