Telepaths Don’t Need Safewords by Cecilia Tan

Excerpt: "Arshan tugged on the leash and gave me a bare-toothed smile ... I replied with a sullen look, half a sneer really, saying with the look what I thought — You know how much I hate this leash and you know how much I love this scene. I kept my eyes down, not out of submission but to watch his feet. Arshan stands about 6'4″. I may have been playing the slave, but the last thing I wanted was to look like a klutz. I could feel him smiling. At the door we exchanged looks again, and he thought, It's been a while. I know. But I'm up for it if you are, I assured him, making a last mental check on our costumes."

How The World Would Be Different: Tweets like, “Ladies, do we really want men to read our minds?” would pop up all over Twitter. Headlines in the media would recall that horrible "What Women Want" movie. Classes would pop up at local sex shops, promising to teach psychic-sexual consent. The flyer, featuring a man who looks like Mel Gibson circa "Braveheart", would read: “There are lots of non-verbal ways to verbalize how you feel during sex. Here you’ll learn how to communicate non-verbal consent methods with psychic energy.” An op-ed in Salon would be written about whether or not this San Francisco-born trend is dangerous. All of this would spark  a "New Male" trend. Sensitive New Age-y doms who align, then spank your chakras with a crystal pendulum whip, would become all the rage. Dungeons would be out, yoga centers with "spiritual bdsm" nights would be in.