Keeping kink clean with the Society of Bastet

All kinds of kink are welcome at Society of Bastet, so long as you straighten up the dungeon before you leave.

That means wiping down every flogger, tail by tail, with disinfectant and sanitizing the bottle-cap chair, one pinched metal lid at a time. Same goes for any other impact toy in the room—whips, paddles, canes, et cetera—all of which must be returned to the appropriate wall hook after use.

Clubhouse etiquette dictates that all members clean up after their kink, says Innoupted, a Bastest board member (who asked to be identified by the name she uses in the fetish community), and punishment for unsanitary behaviour is not of the pleasurable variety.

“We have a rule: Don’t break your toys, human or otherwise. Part of that is don’t infect your friends,” Innoupted says. “Cleanliness is next to consent around here. It’s almost included.”

Penetration is forbidden at Bastet, as are watersports and scat, and any form of contact must be through a barrier like clothing. Within those constraints, there’s still plenty of room for dirty fun at the Bastet clubhouse, says Innoupted, and all the bodily fluids that may entail.

Concealed by blacked-out windows next to a pizza place in Dartmouth, Bastet’s multi-purpose playground has been soiled by hundreds of kinksters over the years—whether it be the sweat of an intense lashing while cuffed to a cross, stray spit from a ball gag, or a “gush” of excitement while hunched over a spanking bench.

“We are orgasm-friendly, so if you can get there without penetration, power to you,” says Innoupted. “Just bring your own towel.”

If you happen to forget said towel, Bastet provides hospital-grade disinfectant wipes to kill germs, bacteria and other nasties on any surface that has been exposed to vaginal secretions or blood. Everyday household cleaner is sufficient for most other fluids, according to Innoupted. She says the clubhouse goes through two to three packages of Lysol wipes a month, along with a closetful of other sanitizing products.

The Dungeon Monitor is also on standby with a first-aid kit during sessions, and there are additional supplies in the medical room—a private space mostly used for sensual kinks like fire play and massage, but which could easily pass for a doctor’s office, complete with an examination table, lab coats, gloves and a biohazard container for the safe disposal of needles after play piercings.

Some items like clothespins, chopsticks and skewers are only for one-time use, but even a perfectly good rope harness could land in the waste basket if there’s the slightest whiff of contamination. When it comes to sexually transmitted infections, there’s no room for error, said Bastet director of operations T-lums (again, not their real name).

“Anything to do with fluid sharing is my biggest pet peeve in the kink community. I’m probably annoying about this,” T-lums says. “Anything that can’t be sanitized, we’re just going to have to throw away…We want to keep our members safe.”

Members are responsible for their personal hygiene before entering the clubhouse, but Bastet also offers toiletries like deodorant and toothbrushes in case things get messy mid-scene.

A volunteer comes in every week to take care of general housekeeping duties, but other than that, the kink club is community-run and communally cleaned. Innoupted says that after one of Bastet’s weekly “play parties,” there is usually one large garbage bag filled with dried wax droppings, food wrappers, used gloves, paper towel, empty cans and any other refuse produced by the kink du jour.

“Honestly, people don’t make big messes here,” said T-lums. “The messiest thing I’ve ever seen is me eating popcorn.”

When it isn’t playtime at the Bastet clubhouse, the School of Kink is in session. The society offers orientations for newcomers, peer tutoring and workshops on kinks ranging from polyamory to rope play.

“Education is a huge component of what we do,” Innoupted says. “Not just learning how to do kinks, but learning how to do kinks safely and part of that is keeping it clean.”

This article appears in Feb 9-15, 2017.