From bondage parties and peeping toms, to plushies and foot worshippers ... and beyond - this is one woman's sometimes mind-boggling, mostly hilarious, always fascinating investigation into sexual fetishes in the 'burbs.
'Turned on by something unusual? Interview subjects required for ultra-confidential research into fetishes. Call Sandra.'
Straight girl Stephanie Clifford-Smith was fascinated by fetishes.
'What happens the first time someone with a sexual fetish shares it with their lover? Say you had a kink, something you knew was really unusual. Would you risk your lover running screaming from the room by asking if they'll let you lick their eyeballs or would you find some oblique way of bringing it up, perhaps when they were struggling with a stray lash? Or would you just go behind their back and find a willing partner on the internet?'
Were sexual fetishes widespread throughout the community, or are they only the domain of a kinky minority? And how has kinkdom changed over time?
So Stephanie assumes an identity, puts an ad in the local paper, and sets off to find out for herself. She infiltrates the scene, goes to bondage parties and watches grown men suck dummies as they have their nappies changed. She thought nothing could shock her. She was wrong. The results of her investigation are mind-boggling, hilarious, sometimes creepy and always absolutely fascinating.
Stephanie Clifford-Smith is a journalist and food writer, and the author of a biography of Bernard King.