OF FUCKING COURSE they are Hot Topic customers. And I say that as a former Hot Topic assistant manager. A good portion of the clientele LIVES for freaking out squares at the mall, and that’s clearly what these two are doing. They trolled you all, Staten Island mall goers. They won.

I mean, ok....so where do you stop then? Are you also ok with someone getting spanked over the the avocado display at Whole Foods? Doing a lap dance for their boyfriend while he sits in a massage chair at Brookstone? I’ll draw a line: don’t do something for an extended amount of time in public you wouldn’t be ok doing…

The consensus seems to be that this was some sort of BDSM play. Great. That’s lovely. Now do like most people do and keep it in the privacy of your own home, attention-seekers.

On Mother’s Day, my mother and I took a walk around the north end of Central Park, and came across a couple preparing to engage in some sort of play right there on the green next to the lake. She was in a bra and shorts and bound in intricate ropes, and he was flicking his whip against the ground. I’m a kink-friendly…

I see alot of “that’s clearly a sexual activity” and conversely “But they have all their clothes on!”

There are spaces where everyone agrees they are ok witnessing this sort of play and being part of it (via voyeurism). They are not in this kind of space. What they are doing is equivalent to sexual assault, not on each other, but to everyone else who did not agree to be part of their scene.

They aren’t exposing themselves, but the underlying drive is the same. And the drive is what makes the difference between exposing yourself (purposefully), and having an accidental nip-slip or not realizing your shirtdress needs an extra snap in the upper thigh region.

It reminds me of a letter to Dan Savage I once read where someone hired a housecleaning service, only to have a couple show up. The man handed over a note that said something like, “this woman is my mistress and I am her slave, don’t talk to me, don’t look at me, I’m here to do your bidding” or something like that and…

True, but kissing isn’t necessarily about anything more. This is more like exposing yourself in public - the point is to get all turned on by the idea of these strangers non-consensually looking at you, and then go home and masturbate/fuck to the memory.

I agree. Private bedroom contracts of this sort should not hold in the public.

But no one else in the mall consented to be part of their play, and at least in the parts of the kink subculture I’ve been in, that’s Not Okay.

It’s a kink. I’ve been in that woman’s position before, happily. But everyone involved IS NOT consenting and happy, because they’ve included everyone in the mall in their puppy-play. And those people did not consent to be part of their scene.

On private property, like a mall, I have zero problem with management kicking them out. That’s their right.

I’m honestly more offended by the cargo sorts+pony tail thing than anything else, but, come one, keep it in the bedroom, guys. Or go to Folsom. This just reeks of attention seeking to me.

I don’t think that this is degrading to women or that kink is harmful or whatever. BUT. This isn’t entirely consensual kink.

It is NEVER okay to involve people in your sex games without permission. And that's what is going on here. Fuck these two.

I am all for letting your kink flag fly, but making people unwilling voyeurs to them seems super rude to me.

Ok, look. It might consensual for the woman here. But it is NON consensual for the general public.

Yeah, I love my kinks, but forcing people to be unwilling voyeurs to them, doesn’t seem very cool to me.

As a kinky person who’s been on precisely that end of a collar and leash, fuck off. That’s rude. Don’t do that in public. It may be consensual on her part, but this is not any different structurally than some dude jerking off on the subway—they’re getting off on the presence of innocent bystanders who have NOT…