A visual ode to niche kinks and sexual misfits

Deviant desires — Author Katharine Gates explores the lives of Sploshers, Crushers, Balloonatics, Pony Players, Feeders & Gainers, and Adult Babies in the newly republished Deviant Desires.

Katharine Gates made Furries a household name, being the first person to document this curious kink in her landmark book Deviant Desires (Juno Books, 2000). But Furries were far from the only fetish Gates researched at length, as she delved into the lives of Sploshers, Crushers, Balloonatics, Pony Players, Feeders & Gainers, and Adult Babies with exquisite care, bringing the world of kink out from behind closed doors.

Now Gates returns with Deviant Desires: A Tour of the Erotic Edge (powerHouse Books), a revised and updated version featuring new chapters on Cannibals and Foot Fetishists. Beautifully illustrated with new images that are the perfect mix of the sexy, sensual, and subversive, Deviant Desires will satisfy your inquisitive mind with fascinating stories from the sexual fringe.

“Most people are aware of the Internet’s Rule #34: ‘If it’s out there someone is making porn of it,’” Gates observes. “Kinky people are no longer thinking they are all alone in their idiosyncratic interest. Isolation is a terrible, dangerous thing. They are able to connect with other people and get support as well as tips for how to act on fantasies safely and consensually.”

As a result, kink is moving out of the shadows and coming into its own. Gates’ work is devoid of shame, openly embracing and accepting the incredible diversity of erotic experiences that humans enjoy on their own terms. “Most scenarios make use of the themes of power, transformation, comfort, and taboo to enhance and intensify the erotic experience. It’s just a lot more obvious when you look at something like Pony Play or messy fun!” she observes.

“The erotic gets its power from giving meaning to arousal and orgasm. Humans are a storytelling species and so all of these rich varieties of erotic scenarios are ways to make sex more than just a bodily function,” she notes. Indeed, her subjects show just how powerful sexuality is when it moves into the realm of the fantastical.

Consider the “Turkey Man,” the inspiration for the book – a travelling businessman who hired a New York dominatrix, who shared this story with Gates back in 1994. The dom arrived at his hotel room, where he had a large cardboard box crudely fashioned to resemble a microwave. “Turkey Man” would strip down to just his socks, climb into the box, and lay on his back with his legs and arms raised like a turkey as the dominatrix narrated his fantasy: “I’m turning up the heat… You’re going to get really, really hot… You’ll feel your skin crisping and turning brown… In a few hours, I’ll carve you up with my carving knife. Then I’m going to eat you!”

At the completion of the season, “Turkey Man” would ejaculate without any physical stimulation whatsoever – illustrating the power of the Cannibal fantasy.

“It’s about adults wanting to have a chance to have the kind of transcendent and FUN experience we had when we were kids,” Gates explains. “It’s a grownup version of Hansel and Gretel being captured and eaten by the witch – with negotiated consent and orgasms!”