November 28 at Stockroom University: “Belt-Based Bondage” with Danarama

stockroom-belt-based-bondage-facebook-event-header

Even the most basic belt can be used in dozens of ways to restrain your partner for effective and minimalist bondage or rough sex. Used alone or in combination with other belts, devices, and furniture, it can also be used for a variety of creative and intense impact play options. In this hands on class, Danarama will demonstrate and coach you on the fast and effective uses of one of the most common items nearly everyone has on hand. Don’t let your belt just go to waist!

Continue reading…

Hard Work Acknowledged: The Stockroom Gets Seven Nominations in XBiz Awards

xbiz-awards-2016-logo

It’s always good to be recognized for your work, and this week, we got some serious recognition in the form of seven nominations for the 2016 XBiz Awards. Even better, three of those nominations give nods towards products that we feel represent The Stockroom at our very best.

Continue reading…

Full Disclosure: Lorde Wears Syren Latex in the “Magnets” Video for a Beautifully Sinister Look

Lorde rocking a latex trenchcoat and catsuit from Syren in her latest video, "Magnets"

The video for “Magnets” by electronic duo Disclosure has gotten a lot of press and Internet eyeballs since its release, thanks in part to New Zealand pop star Lorde doing the vocals and taking center stage in the video itself. Lorde deserves props for her musical and dramatic work; in the video, she brings a forceful charisma to the role of the euphoric lover and the wronged woman that brings emotional resonance to the story as it plays out onscreen.

Continue reading…

Centuries of Whips, Chains, and Spankings: Snow Mercy Talks About the History of the Dominatrix

stockroom-dominatrix-history-facebook-event-header

The history of sex is fascinating precisely because so little of it is written down. We may know where George Washington was born and where he died, but we have little idea of what he liked to do in bed, or what he would have liked to do. For the most part, anyone who liked sex that wasn’t heterosexual ten-toes-up-ten-toes-down style has tried to avoid letting the rest of the world learn too much about it.

But difficult isn’t impossible, and this weekend, Snow Mercy comes to Stockroom University to teach some of that history. In The History of the Dominatrix, Snow is going to look at dominant women throughout the last 500 years. She gave us a little preview of the material that she’s going to cover:

Continue reading…

Tristan Taormino Opens Up About Polyamory

Tristan Taormino - Opening Up Workshop at Stockroom, Nov. 15

As one of the most prominent sex educators on the scene today, Tristan Taormino wears many hats: Any bookstore with an even halfway decent sexuality section is sure to include several of the books that she’s written or edited, such as The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women or 50 Shades of Kink: An Introduction to BDSM. She’s been even more prolific as the producer and director of educational adult videos like The Expert Guide to Pegging.

Taormino’s work has addressed people of all genders and orientations, from vanilla to kinky. But she’s been especially important in expanding the possibilities for non-monogamous relationships. Before polyamory was something commonly discussed on mainstream sites like Slate or Newsweek, her 2008 book Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships served as a guide for people looking for alternatives to monogamy. Seven years later, it’s still one of the most-cited books by veterans and newcomers to polyamory.

This Saturday (November 15), Tristan Taormino will come to Stockroom Hall for an intensive four-hour workshop on how to create and sustain open relationships. We had a conversation with her about the workshop, the ethics of poly relationships, and how polyamory has changed since she wrote Opening Up.

Continue reading…

Rigger Damon Pierce On Using Alternative Armbinding Techniques to Suit Your Partner and Pleasure

stockroom-alt-armbinds-facebook-event-header

Longtime rigger and film director Damon Pierce will be coming to Stockroom University this weekend to present a class on Alternative Arm Binds. This class is more than one more teaching you a new series of knots; to Pierce, it’s essential to good and pleasurable bondage that kinksters don’t get too hung up on how to do things “the right way” and remember that our partners’ bodies have different abilities and different pleasures that aren’t necessarily covered in any of the numerous manuals or instructional videos that are available. The right way to do it, he says, is the way that makes it a pleasurable experience for the people involved. We had a quick conversation with him about why (and how) bondage lovers need to look more closely at the bodies in front of them instead of focusing too closely on the “one true way.”

Continue reading…

Skin Diamond on Kitty Play, Latex, and Sexy Halloween Costumes

We can hardly say this too many times: At The Stockroom we love Halloween. Not only is it a great excuse to embrace your inner wickedness, but it’s perhaps the best night of the year to go all out and get dressed up in a costume. We spend all year coming up with fantastic costume ideas, so Halloween is kind of like our big night.

Adult model and performer Skin Diamond has displayed some of The Stockroom and Syren Latex’s best costume ideas at Exxxotica and other events, much to our delight and that of her audience.  This Halloween, she’ll be debuting a brand new routine while showing off some of Syren’s finest finery at Bar Sinister’s 7th Annual Ghostly Halloween Ball. The ball is a sexy and spooky shindig which will be hosted by Skin and our own Head Mistress, Hudsy Hawn, and features performances by Bella Bathory, Wry, and Sunny Megatron and Ken Melvoin-Berg. To get a preview, we talked briefly to Skin about her love of kitty play, latex clothing, and dressing up for Halloween. 

Continue reading…

Sunny Megatron and Ken Melvoin-Berg: Making Humiliation Hilarious, Sexy, and Fun

stockroom-halloween-humiliation-facebook-event-header

Stockroom University is presenting one of the best Halloween treats we can imagine this year: Adult educators Sunny Megatron and Ken Melvoin-Berg are coming to Los Angeles to teach their workshop Hilarious Halloween Humiliation! on October 31. Even in kink communities, humiliation play is something that many people find a little intimidating and even taboo.

Sunny and Ken have long been known among members of the kink community not only for sophisticated, ethical insights about sexuality, but for bringing humor to topics that are often treated with grim seriousness. Recently, they’ve become known to a wider audience through Sunny’s program on Showtime, Sex with Sunny Megatron. Ken serves as the consulting producer/Sharon Osbourne figure on the program. While kinksters everywhere wait with bated breath for news of a second season, Stockroom  spoke to Sunny and Ken about what humiliation play really is, how to negotiate it, and why it can be fun and pleasurable for all involved.

Continue reading…

The Boulet Brothers Are All About Making Halloween a Time of “Wild Abandon.” Syren Latex is Proud to Help.

bouletbrothers1-1

When asked to describe the atmosphere of Boulet Brothers events, Dracmorda Boulet has a simple but evocative answer: “Wild abandon,” he says. “People just go crazy and have a good time.”

Halloween in particular is a holiday that encourages and feeds on “wild abandon,” and for Dracmorda and Swanthula Boulet, it’s an opportunity to indulge their gifts for fabulous decadence even more than usual. This October 31 marks the fifteenth time that they’ll be putting on Miss Kitty’s Annual Hollywood Halloween Ball, hosted by horror writer Clive Barker.

  “The Halloween show’s going to be insane,” Dracmorda says. “It’s our biggest party of the year. We take an adult nightclub and mix it with Knott’s Berry Farm. So there’s like trick-or-treat booths and people jumping out and grabbing you all over the club, but we also have super slutty go-go dancers — both guys and girls. It’s just crazy. It’s like a haunted house nightclub.” Continue reading…

Halloween For Grown-Ups: Using Masks, Hoods, and Blindfolds for Kink Play

national-kink-month

One of the reasons that National Kink Month and Halloween are so appropriately matched is that they are both great excuses to get dressed up. Not just in the sense of getting out the formal wear that you’d use to impress your family or employers, but taking on a whole new persona, the kind that’s not acceptable in everyday society, but may be much, much more exciting to you and your partner. Getting the right mask is an vital part of dressing up for kink or Halloween (or both). When we step outside (or further inside) ourselves, we can be more present and aware of what is happening to us and within us. Physical and emotional arousal can both be more intense when there are fewer distractions taking us out of what we’re feeling.

The masks and other costume gear that we sell at Stockroom go far beyond the kind that you’ll find at your local drugstore or Halloween pop-up store, so we want to give you a few tips on what’s available, how to take care of them, and a few ideas on how to incorporate masks into play.

Continue reading…