Careful, this kink is catching

Fetishes are catching. It's most common in new relationships - activities that left you cold before are likely to gain a whole new appeal when you start seeing someone who is really, really, turned on by them. In my experience, spankos and BDSMers tend to be very attuned to the feedback loops in sex: we get as much (if not more) of our sexual pleasure from our partner's responses as from our own sensations.

Recently, a group of us were looking through a CD of spanking images I'd got back from a shoot (the one with D, as it happens). D. was giving his usual sardonic commentary, and my best friend and I were melting into little puddles of gleeful lust over the pictures (she's very much my kindred spirit, kink-wise). My housemate was also looking at the photos over our shoulders, and seemed surprisingly appreciative. He said that one of the side-effects of living with a spanking model is that he's started finding the idea sexy in a way he never really has before.

Apparently kinks can be contagious even if you're not sleeping with someone. Who knew? People talk about the 'spanko gene' but I reckon you can catch it through sheer exposure.

D's tastes have also expanded through association with me. He's always been into erotic BDSM and the psychological and control aspects of D/s, but over the time I've known him he's seemed to get much more interested in CP. (Conversely, I've been enlightened as to the delights of stockings and high heels.) It's amazing what going out with a girl who is very very enthusiastic about being beaten can do to one's interest in the subject :)

Of course even after catching the bug, people tend to retain their own distinctive style. During a recent play session I found myself wondering why D. had stopped after 16 cane strokes, when the convention is for sets of six. Rather than spacing the strokes out, he'd dealt them in rapid little clusters, effectively keeping me off-balance and not knowing what would happen next (which is very much D's style).

I found out later that he was caning me according to a mathematical pattern - 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1. Even if you turn them into a spanko, you can never really change a geek :)