Nearly a year after news of Eliot Spitzer’s Hookergate scandal, new sordid details have been revealed. The New York Daily News reports that a second call girl, who goes by the name “Annie,” claims that Spitzer choked her as part of role-playing foreplay. S&M is nothing new, and New York’s erstwhile governor may not be the most shining example of conventional sexual appetites, but this account supports anecdotal evidence of a growing sexual trend. Where once spanking, dirty talk, and hair-pulling pushed the limits of casual sexual encounters, choking, face-slapping and spitting are becoming more and more part and parcel of hooking up. What happens in the privacy of the bedroom is a matter of taste, I suppose, but in light of the recent, high profile Chris Brown/Rihanna scandal, you kinda can’t help but wonder whether harmless sex games and real-life violence toward women are connected. What’s permissible behind closed doors might well bear itself out in everyday life. Do you think S&M subconsciously normalizes violence towards women?
