How It all Began for Me

It all began back in the mid 90’s. My friend told me there was a place in the city where you could go and get spanked! He was talking about the Vault in New York City.

I had been a long time fan of a good spanking – when I was young, around 10, the neighbor girl and I would get naked in the woods and spank each other with branches. When I was around 12 I asked my sister to spank me ( she said ew! Do something bad and Dad will do it )so I was very excited to hear this news.

I’m not really sure what I expected but thinking about it now brings up a funny idea – a dominatrix “strip club”. The domme( stripper-natrix?) Would wear whatever they pleased and dance for their own enjoyment. Per the choice of each Domme,  Patrons can either stuff dollars ( very politely) into her shoes or boots, or stack money in a neat, organized pile. Or for the truly Hard-core a hollowed out skull A lap dance would be reversed, with the patron being put over a lap for a good spanking!

But I digress…

I heard about a fetish store in Montclair, NJ called Dressing for Pleasure. Here I cheated and Googled some info –

 “Dressing For Pleasure sells bondage gear, fetish wear, sex toys, leather, latex, corsets, shoes and boots, and lingerie. We stock restraints, collars, clamps, harnesses, paddles, whips, floggers, handcuffs, BDSM toys, violet wands, furniture and more .“

The store was owned by Constance Slater**, author of Kaleidoscope: Sex, Healing and S &M, a petite lady in her 60’s dressed in a flowing black robe, with short copper hair. She was very kind and helpful, non-intimidating. I left my first shopping trip with wrist restraints, a flogger, the book “Screw the Roses, Send Me the Thorns”, and some sexy PVC clothing  (totally chosen because it was the most budget-friendly and because I like shiny things.

I was living in horse country so I stopped by a tack shop for an assortment of riding crops in various lengths. I had a lot of studying to do.

** Around 2007, Constance retired and sold the shop. I believe she has some type of publishing company. The couple who bought the place began having play parties in the basement and the complaints from local merchants turned  into a public discussion about kink,  prostitution, sex clubs and discrimination. The shop closed soon after. I would imagine now most people order their equipment online and a brick and mortar store would have difficulty staying in business.