In the essay, published in Los Angeles’ October issue currently on newsstands, Stein sets out to “expand his horizons — or at least pick up a trick or two,” the headline reads.
To start, Stein visits the Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood and picks up a Create-a-Cock kit and the Fleshlight, which he finds a novelty.
“I have never put my penis in anything nonhuman — no pies, no veal cutlets, no inflatable sheep — having always believed deeply that if there’s one thing men don’t need help with, it’s masturbating,” he writes.
Stein then heads to the Stockroom, an S&M storefront in Silver Lake area of Los Angeles, visiting the “30,000-square-foot factory behind it, in which latex pants, leather leashes and other fetish gear are made.”
Stein wraps up his adventures with a visit to the “7,000-square-foot warehouse near LAX that houses Passive Arts, the nation’s largest fetish playground,” and speaks with owner John Lavine.
Business, Lavine tells Stein, “had declined over the last few years,” so he’s added a website for homemade videos and Saturday-night parties that bring in between 70 and 400 S&M fans.
“Young people don’t need to pay to be dominated anymore,” Lavine adds. “It’s become mainstream because of the Internet.”