GROUP bonding

Have you u ever wondered what goes on in a kink party? As NATALIA HUANG discovers at her first-ever event, the experience delves beyond the latex surface for a surprisingly introspective journey.

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There's a woman in nothing but a near-transparent latex dress in the corner, kissing quite vigorously (and audibly) with a man in thongs and leather chaps. At their feet is a gimp on a leash, on all fours, looking on quite happily at the activity its mistress is engaged in. A shapely pussycat walks by, twirling her impressively bushy tailwhich I highly suspect stays firmly in place by being inserted in a place where the sun never doth shine. At the back of me, a very explicit conversation is taking place about how, and how much, someone would like to cause her conversation partner pain as he/ it/them whimpers in anticipation of the whips, candle wax drippings, and clamps that are being promised.

How did I, a 28-year-old convent-schooled woman, end up here, behind the closed doors of a popular nightclub, on a work night, surrounded by Singapore's kinkiest community? The naughtiest I've ever been is to kiss another female to prove that I knew exactly where I fell on the Kinsey scale (an unwavering zero, if you must know.) Although, I have to admit, within the hour of being in this place, I'm starting to think I could move my marker up by a few small notches-a verdict that is as exciting as it is scary.

Who would have thought this all started with a humble Telegram message that read: "Would you like to come along to a kink party with me?" Before I could wrap my head around what the words were trying to convey (was the word "kink" a typo or a new Gen Z slang that I was unaware of?), another message came in: "But fair warning: You'll need to dress the part." Okay, then; it was not a typo or new slang.