Michael and I sat in the kitchen of a suburban split-level home, eating tacos and making small talk about the weather, his drive over from Spokane, and how he was about to be stripped naked and tied to a torture device in the basement.
“It’s my first exposure to the scene,” he said as men in collars and cuffs scampered around us. In a few minutes, they’d be stuffing Michael’s face into a sensory deprivation hood, affixing a sneaker to his bare genitals, and meticulously tying him to dozens of hooks with thick yellow rope. But for now, they were just loading our dinner plates into the dishwasher.
I was there to witness a taping of No Safeword, a weekly podcast about sex and kink recorded by a group of men every Sunday (the Lord’s day). The hosts, who go by Daddy Tony and Sparky, had invited me into their dungeon studio, which contains a custom-built table with broadcast-quality microphones, a professional audio mixer, a cage, and various fixtures at which guests may attach or insert themselves…
