FINDING “THE TROUBLE WITH NORMAL” IN JOURNALISM

The first time I ever saw a woman have an orgasm, it was onstage, in a half-filled theater on Chicago’s Far North Side. She was teaching a class on rope bondage and explaining to us how in addition to being attracted to men and women, her sexuality included exhibitionism, masochism, and specific predicaments that required getting tied up in front of an audience. Her teaching partner used a vibrator on her while she stood, with her legs and arms restrained. We were at Chicago’s Leather Archives and Museum, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the history of the leather community. The