Reluctant as we were to relinquish the keys to the kinkdom, succumb to fear, and, most importantly, wanting to continue to champion our community as we always have, we’ve done our best to address kink in these most unusual of times. Shut down from presenting a Fetish Factory event for the past seven months, we knew Halloween would present a particular instance for fun and games. And adhering to obvious safety protocols, we proved that not only is our business recession-proof, in the end, it might also damn well prove pandemic proof.
A few months ago, NYC Health issued their sex guidelines in this time of COVID, one of which was for sex partners to wear masks. To the vanilla-sex explorer, this might seem a new twist; for our most recent Halloween party, this was a welcomed protocol. Suddenly we had people who knew one another well, teased by trying to read their fellow’s reactions only from looking at a potential partner’s eyes. This most basic precaution presented a unique opportunity for our All Hallow’s Eve attendees to use their imaginations in a way they never have before.
And stay healthy while doing it!
Besides the hand sanitizing stations through the eight rooms people could visit, we set up widely distanced stanchions in play spaces allowing for ample voyeurism while social distancing. And our southern Florida weather allowed us to hold this particular fetish event outside, where potential harmful respiration dissipates in the outside air.
Perfect? No, but nothing ever is. But it was important to us, at least at the time, to conduct this social experiment so our friends and kink family could fulfill their need to be among friends and partners, exercising that which fills their heart in a most unique way.
You may notice that it’s been a while since any new words have been posted across this blog. But dealing with our ‘new anything but normal’ prompted this first rumination, and pretty much what will follow once a week from now on. When facing our need for life and laughter and sanity (and some good old fashioned spanking and PVC dress-up), there is safety in our numbers and still room for Kink In The time Of Covid.
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