It’s funny. This New York Times article reminds me of a character in Zadie Smith’s novel White Teeth - a Bangladeshi woman living in London who sews fetish gear out of her home for supplementary income. The article tells the story of two brothers who wanted to own their own business in Pakistan and stumbled across the lucrative fetish industry. Somehow they manage (for the most part) to escape the scrutiny of the Pakistani government, partially because no one but them seems to know what fetish products are actually used for:
…the dozens of veiled and uneducated female laborers who assemble the handmade items — gag balls, lime-green corsets, thonged spanking skirts — have no idea what the items are used for. Even the owners’ wives, and their conservative Muslim mother, have not been informed.
“If our mom knew, she would disown us,” said Adnan, seated on a leopard-print fabric covering his desk chair.
“Due to cultural barriers and religion, people don’t discuss these things openly,” Rizwan said. “We have to hide this information.”
Even customs officials were perplexed at how to tax the items, not quite sure what they were, they said.
Recently, when a curious employee inquired about the purpose of the sleep sack, a sleeping bag-like product used in certain kinds of bondage, she was told it was a body bag for the American military in Iraq.
I am reminded yet again, how strange it is that death can be more palatable to some than sex. I have nothing new to contribute to that particular discussion, so I’ll just leave it for now.
Suffice it to say, I think I have that flogger.
-Eden
