Arizona Fetish Ball Kicks up the Kink

"You're going to the Arizona Fetish Ball? Isn't that kinda lame?" We can't count the number of times we've heard that question in regards to Horns and Halos' annual S&M soiree. And to be honest, sometimes it was lame. Inevitably, there was a parade of hotties (and some notties) in teensy thongs and boob-tape Xs. Mild-mannered accountants would don leather masks and ring harnesses and the Ren Fair geek-girls would show up in Victorian-era riding outfits with riding crops. Hmm...what else? Oh yeah, whipping. Chains. People suspended from hooks driven into their flesh.

Naughty librarian fantasies, anyone?

​ ​Now, if you're a Chandler mom driving a minivan covered in "My Child is a Fill-In-The-Blank" bumper stickers and a zillion stupid stick figures of your kids, your hubby and your pet dogs/cats/turtle/gerbil, that all sounds pretty exotic. But to those in the lifestyle (if you don't know what that is, trust us, you're not in it) it's pretty effing vanilla. So how did this year's Fetish Ball measure up?

This was definitely a "hands-on" event.

​A few things have changed since those earlier years at The Sets. This year's ball rocked harder and longer, with a hookah lounge, erotic poetry and burlesque in the upstairs room, live bondage demos and Mexican aggrotech band Hocico's first US gig in a decade -- plus it was as risque as you can get without the PoPo slamming the "public indecency" label on your ass.

Speaking of ass, so much more of it after the jump...   

Security was fierce. Backpacks were searched, all scripts and OTC pills confiscated at the door, and there was even a "three strikes system" where naughty boys and girls and boy-girls were marked on the hand by security each time they committed an offense. Too many marks and they were promptly booted. What were these horrible crimes, you might ask? Up in the torture room on the second floor, we caught an eyeful (and a camera-ful) of pink ladyparts as two submissives were willingly flogged by their Masters -- sans panties. Oops!

Since we can't legally show the pics, we'll console you with a lovely rack of another kind courtesy of this naughty nurse.

​ ​It wasn't just whipping and bondage either. More off the beaten path fantasies were represented, including zombie love, horsie play (yes, with bridles and bits) and diapers.

This well-behaved "age fetishist" knew our infamous Baby Man before he passed.

​Why would anyone submit to being paddled raw or dragged around on a chain -- or, God forbid, made to wear a diaper? The best answer we got was from Paul of Toys4Lust, the BDSM paraphernalia peddler that raffled off a $1200 torture device. "A lot of people experiment with the lifestyle when they're younger for the amazing sex," he explained. "But as you get older, for some people it becomes a spiritual journey." Sadly, we did not win the raffle...but there's always next year.