Political humiliation

November 29, 2023 6:47 PM

In the world of sexual fetishes, crossing the political aisle is a kink. Does a forced ‘vote’ for the other side get your pulse racing? There’s a dominatrix for that. (wapo)
posted by adept256 (14 comments total)

OMG Charlie Sykes was discussing this with Michael Steele on a Bulwark podcast recently and Steele was losing his shit because Sykes was really pushing it, and it was delightful.

I'm sure we can find parallels in Weimar Germany about people who are getting really really into Nazi role-play in Berlin bordellos.
posted by hippybear at 6:51 PM on November 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

in case you're not a sub
posted by chavenet at 3:07 AM on November 30, 2023 [4 favorites]

…what fresh hell is this
posted by corb at 4:21 AM on November 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

I know we're not supposed to comment without having read the article, but... I just can't. However, the first couple of paragraphs reminded me of the classic Stephen Glass article Spring Breakdown, about the wild party scene at the Conservative Political Action Conference. (And yes, that Stephen Glass.) I'm sure the Washington Post article was true, though.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 6:43 AM on November 30, 2023

No such thing as bad sex work, just niche market sex work.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:22 AM on November 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

Needs a rule 34 tag
posted by TedW at 8:32 AM on November 30, 2023

Yeah, this is made up.

Oh, I'm sure the people they interviewed and the video clips are real. But it's like that NYT Style section article, "New York’s Hottest Club Is the Catholic Church." It is not a meaningfully real trend, but it makes for a nice clickbait headline.
posted by AlSweigart at 10:04 AM on November 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

The WaPo went full stupid a couple of weeks ago, with the horror of the gap between the political beliefs of young women and young men. It was all hand-wringing about why won't the wimmens reach out and take one for the team (the "team" here being marriage, which is of course a good in and of itself) by engaging in a relationship with a man who implicitly believes them as no more than breeding animals, and implicitly civilizing him. It was some crazy shit. At no point was mentioned the established fact that in the aggregate single women are happier than married ones, nor that these women could just marry each other. I'm like 1950 called and wants its hats for men back.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 1:14 PM on November 30, 2023 [4 favorites]

in the aggregate single women are happier than married ones,

Can you share your source?

This cites survey data that of "married women w children between ages of 18-55, 40% reported they are ‘very happy,’ compared to 25% of married childless women, and just 22% of unmarried childless women" (and 17% of childless unmarried woman). So "in the aggregate," married women say they are happier than unmarried.

Granted, this doesn't tell you anything about the effects of increasing marriage on happiness, both because there's a huge selection effect and because the marginal effect of an additional marriage (or non marriage or divorce) is very different than the average marriage.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 1:53 PM on November 30, 2023

And if this is what you're referring to, I missed the part where they suggested "engaging in a relationship with a man who implicitly believes them as no more than breeding animals." They do say that "while politically mixed couples report somewhat lower levels of satisfaction than same-party couples, they are still likely to be happier than those who remain single." I suppose that could be interpreted to mean the same thing.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 2:07 PM on November 30, 2023

Yeah but I feel like that may not have corrected for economic status. Like; being married generally means you have two incomes rather than one these days, which means you're more likely to be economically set than being single.

I will say that I have had very satisfactory cross-political relationships, but they also haven't been like "voted for Trump" "voted for Clinton" type relationships, more like "anarchist and libertarian" or "anarchist and communist".
posted by corb at 2:16 PM on November 30, 2023

I lean more sub than dom but I would be delighted to dominate right-wing voters and charge them greatly for the priviledge of submitting to my progressive ass. But I am guessing that conservatives who want progressive doms are thin on the ground. Great post, I loved it!
posted by Bella Donna at 1:16 PM on December 1, 2023

But I am guessing that conservatives who want progressive doms are thin on the ground.

If what you want to do is dom conservatives, then maybe you can just role-play whatever it would take for you to do that, and not rely on it necessarily being a progressive dom that coincides with your personal inclinations.

I mean, if you want to dom the conservatives, it's worth a bit of pretend, right?
posted by hippybear at 2:31 PM on December 1, 2023

I mean, if you want to dom the conservatives, it's worth a bit of pretend, right?

Yeah, no. I only want to top in a way that would be fun for me and not actually damaging to the bottom. Pretending to be a fan of Sarah Palin, for example, would destroy all my interest and motivation.
posted by Bella Donna at 1:07 PM on December 6, 2023