American divisiveness is at an all-time high, according to the Pew Research Center. In a survey of 10,000 adults nationwide, Republicans and Democrats were found to be more divided along ideological lines, with “partisan antipathy” going deeper than it has in the past two decades. The Pew Research Center found this trend to be manifesting both in actual politics and in everyday life, as in interpersonal communication, across party lines.
But you don’t need a survey to tell you that. You’ve felt it, haven’t you? At the office? At the bar? At the dinner table?
“Why is America cleaved in this way?” asks Pew Research. “Once again, looking across other nations gives us some indication. The polarizing pressures of partisan media, social media, and even deeply rooted cultural, historical and regional divides are hardly unique to America. By comparison, America’s relatively rigid, two-party electoral system stands apart by collapsing a wide range of legitimate social and political debates into a singular battle line that can make our differences appear even larger than they may actually be.
“And when the balance of support for these political parties is close enough for either to gain near-term electoral advantage – as it has in the U.S. for more than a quarter century – the competition becomes cutthroat and politics begins to feel zero-sum, where one side’s gain is inherently the other’s loss. Finding common cause – even to fight a common enemy in the public health and economic threat posed by the coronavirus – has eluded us.”
If the increase in partisan animosity is exceptionally American, because the competitiveness between the two sides designs each other as enemies, so, too, is the animosity across borders, county lines and fences.
In a more recent study, the Pew Research Center reports that both parties share in a highly negative view of each other, which has more than doubled since 1994, with the majority of strong partisans believing seriously that the opposing party’s policies “are so misguided that they threaten the nation’s well-being.”
Contrasting the fear that the country is heading towards the future the enemy wants, 31% of probable US voters believe that we’re simply headed towards another Civil War, according to Rasmussen Reports, via Boston University. All this is to say that it’s more important than ever to remember that that which is shared between us individuals makes us human, collectively.
It’s more important than ever to remember that that which is shared between us individuals makes us human, collectively.
An oft-forgotten or ignored characteristic of humanity…sexual desire can bring together even the most divisive communities. In underground BDSM spaces, where kinksters play erotically with all kinds of polarities, mutual pleasure is possible between even the most natural (or pivoted, manufactured) enemies, such as Democrats and Republicans.
Approaching the 2024 presidential election, the ‘new’ presidential candidates are ‘announced’. (Trump, 77, holds a commanding lead in the race for his party’s nomination, despite his indictments in four separate state and federal criminal cases. He has successfully convinced a majority of the Republican electorate that the criminal charges are part of a politically motivated witch hunt to thwart his rightful stake, a claim which the Justice Department denies, shares Reuters. And Biden, 81, the oldest U.S. president in history, is testing the boundaries of the presidential age limit, for which there is no cap, and has declared it his personal appointment to defend American democracy in reference to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. Amid concerns about his age and poor approval ratings, Biden declares in an indirect response that he is the only Democratic candidate who can and has defeated Trump.)
As partisans feud between America’s two bleak futures, a journalist for the Washington Post has rather conspired a feature on the rise in a fetish known as “political humiliation”; and, in a deep dive investigation, she has published her report on this BDSM scene — which is little known, even within the fetish world, some members of the community say — to reveal that tensions between Republicans and Democrats go a lot deeper than the voting ballot.
Sexual desire can bring together even the most divisive communities. In underground BDSM spaces, where kinksters play erotically with all kinds of polarities, mutual pleasure is possible between even the most natural (or pivoted, manufactured) enemies, such as Democrats and Republicans.
In “In the world of sexual fetishes, crossing the political aisle is a kink,” journalist Hallie Lieberman shares stories from real people whom have been verified by the Washington Post as sources but have asked to keep their identities private, due to the nature of the content. Tossing vindications aside for a moment of intimacy, interviewees on either side reveal their undeniable thrill to be degraded by each other — “libtard subs” crave to be dominated by “MAGA doms,” while MAGA simps beg to be punished by liberal minority voters for supporting conservative candidates who oppose social reforms and reparations, according to Mediaite.
“Roxie Rae,” a 39-year-old Tampa resident, is one of Lieberman’s interviewees. She’s a Republican dominatrix who makes political fetish videos and sells them on Clips4Sale. According to her story, Rae works full-time and earns six figures annually by charging $150 for a five-minute custom video and then reselling her content for a dollar per minute.
In March of 2021, Rae received her first request for a political humiliation video from a fan.
“On X, formerly known as Twitter, where Rae advertises, she’s open about her conservative beliefs,” Lieberman reports. “She voted for Trump twice, although she currently supports Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the Republican primary.”
Rae’s would-be submissive wrote to her: “One of the most difficult and humiliating sacrifices to make is to vote for a Republican candidate when you’re a Democrat. If I were to surrender control of my vote to you, that would be the ultimate sacrifice.”
Mind you, vote buying and selling is totally illegal, both federally and on the state level in every state in the country, punishable by fine and up to two years in prison. Perhaps that’s part of the reason that this underground kink community thrives in private dungeons, parties and especially online, according to Lieberman.
“Technically, a fetish is an inanimate object (say, stiletto shoes), body part (feet, for example) or situation required for sexual arousal, though it’s frequently used interchangeably with the broader term kink, which includes pleasurable, if unorthodox, role-playing (bondage, interrogation scenes, wrestling reenactments, you name it),” Lieberman informs. “These fantasies are pure id — base desires that trade in exaggeration and archetypes — and like-minded participants might engage in them in person, or via video or direct messages. With political sexual fetishes, Republicans and Democrats are reduced to caricatured sexual imagery: the macho posturing of Republican politicians is flattened into pure toxic masculinity; bleeding-heart liberal Democratic men become ineffectual doormats,” to provide an example.
“With political sexual fetishes, Republicans and Democrats are reduced to caricatured sexual imagery: the macho posturing of Republican politicians is flattened into pure toxic masculinity; bleeding-heart liberal Democratic men become ineffectual doormats.”
– Hallie Lieberman
According to those who are active participants in this community, political role-playing has been around for a while, but the interest has increased dramatically since the Trump administration.
“When Trump came on the scene, suddenly, the right had a backbone, was throwing punches…it was a really aggressive dominance…and I think that’s really what had been lacking before,” says a 33-year-old Virginia man who goes by “RightMakesMites,” his FetLife username, and is the Founder of a group called MAGA Doms/Dommes and Libtard Subs. “Because you look back at Jeb Bush, he was kind of weak-kneed, milquetoast.”
RightMakesMites explains that the increasing interest he sees in politically-based fetishes reflects the deepening fracture in American ideology at this time.
“Politics just suddenly got more intense,” he says. “The difference between Republican [and] Democrat was no longer the difference between Nixon and Kennedy. It’s now night and day in many people’s minds … then the kink follows as being more intense. And it’s only going to get more divisive from here, unfortunately, especially with the election year coming up.”
While the fissure is undeniably unfortunate in the instances of family or friends once can no longer hold an enjoyable apolitical conversation with, the amped up tensions seem to be to the pleasure of people with political fetishes. RightMakesMites, for instance, profits both sexually and financially from the fantasy texts he receives from group members, most of whom are afraid to actually pursue their ideas, and only seek someone with whom to share (what they believe are) their deepest, darkest desires.
According to Lieberman, “One man who wanted to meet up (but changed his mind) described his fantasy as wearing a Trump dog collar (sold on Trump’s campaign website) and being walked by RightMakesMites around Walmart to pick out a dog bone.”
Another member, a 34-year-old man based in Peoria, Arizona, known as “The Democrat” says he “was always drawn to submission [and] being dominated, being told what to do.”
But The Democrat was surprised by how stimulating a political fetish could be, having never considered it before the Trump administration.
“Before the Trump era started, I never once thought about politics as being sexualized,” The Democrat says. “Domination from a political party and a[n] ideology that I can’t tolerate, made it…way more of a turn-on.”
In particular, this submissive man is especially turned on by the idea of a dominant man winning his wife from him. And although he has other kink, he considers his newfound political kink to be the most extreme of all his harbored desires.
“I’m very, very, very much a liberal and if friends and family were to have any clue, they would be shocked,” The Democrat explains, adding that his wife is not aware of his fetish. “Of all of the porn that I partake [in], I would be the most ashamed and embarrassed if someone were to find this.”
“I’m very, very, very much a liberal and if friends and family were to have any clue they would be shocked. Of all of the porn that I partake [in], I would be the most ashamed and embarrassed if someone were to find this.”
– “The Democrat,” a liberal submissive
The Democrat’s fear is understandable. As politics have polarized, so have people’s perspectives of the “other side.”
Justin Lehmiller, a research fellow at the Kinsey Institute, who surveyed more than 4,000 Americans on their sexual fantasies for his book, Tell Me What You Want, explains that research shows, “It has become more of a taboo to date or have sex outside of your political party affiliation,” adding that the taboo…”can make it all the more enticing.”
According to a 2020 Pew Research Center survey of American adults who are “single and looking,” most Democrats believe that they would be unable to be in a relationship with a Trump voter. Republicans, meanwhile, were split evenly on whether they would consider dating a Hillary Clinton voter. Lehmiller’s research suggests that a largely contributing factor to this disqualifier is the social stigma that the daters would experience in their communities, which studies show are largely drawn on party lines.
In another example from Lieberman, a man by the name of “Mark Thompson,” 61, entered the political fetish scene first back in the ’70s when he was a Marine. The former Young Republican saw an ad from a liberal straight couple seeking a conservative “alpha male” to dominate the wife. In spite of the risk of dishonorable discharge, Thompson enjoyed being an active dominant during his off time throughout his military career, serving in the Marines from 1977 to 1998. And today, now retired, he remains active in political dominance. As the candidates have changed over the years, so have his tactics.
In a recent BDSM scene, Thompson tied a woman to a St. Andrews Cross and taunted her, “Were you even thinking at all when you voted for Joe Biden? Do you think he’s telling the truth? Are you that stupid and ignorant?”
In a recent BDSM scene, Thompson tied a woman to a St. Andrews Cross and taunted her, “Were you even thinking at all when you voted for Joe Biden? Do you think he’s telling the truth? Are you that stupid and ignorant?”
But it’s not just Democrats fantasizing about Republican domination; the other side enjoys political submission, as well.
For example, from Lieberman’s report, a 60-year-old Houston, Texas man known by his fetish persona “Master Black Satyr Dragon Wolf,” became a political fetish dominant when a 22-year-old straight-identifying college student responded to his Craigslist ad for a submissive.
“I want to be punished by a person of color because I voted for Donald Trump,” the student wrote.
The student, a fraternity member, claimed that he was pressured to vote for Trump by his friends and family, and the guilt has stayed with him. He had hoped that punishment from Wolf would help him make amends.
Wolf, who had been in the BDSM community for nearly three decades at that point, said he thought he’d seen everything in the scene, until he read this inquiry. A few days later, the student came over to Wolf’s house, where he knelt, clasped his hands together “and asked me, ‘May I receive punishment from you, sir?’” Wolf recounts.
Wolf agreed to punish the man, pulling his pants down to spank him.
“I will tear your ass apart if you ever vote for Donald Trump or any other stinking conservative Republicans,” he said to his submissive. “I’ll let you go into moderates. But if I hear Trump or Cruz or even any member of the Bush family, you’re not going to sit down for days.”
A few days later, the student called on him again, and Wolf spanked him, this time punishing him for volunteering in support of a conservative candidate.
“I will tear your ass apart if you ever vote for Donald Trump or any other stinking conservative Republicans. I’ll let you go into moderates. But if I hear Trump or Cruz or even any member of the Bush family, you’re not going to sit down for days.”
– Master Black Satyr Dragon Wolf, a liberal dominant
“I punished him for denying us our rights [and] preventing women from having abortions,” says Wolf.
In their final session, Wolf and an assistant dressed up as Democratic politicians in suits and ordered that the student wear “tighty-whities” with the words “Republican slut boy” on them.
“We said nasty things, like ‘privileged White bastard,’” Wolf describes, and says that the man did not return for another session.
In addition to those who crave to atone to POC, some conservative men who like being dominated by liberals prefer to be humiliated for supporting policies that they knowingly perceive to be harming the working class.
A 39-year-old adult-video producer who generally goes by the name “Brandon Areana” has a special character she likes to play, which she calls “Ivanka Tramp.”
In one Clips4Sale video, “Tramp” wears a long blond wig of expensive-looking hair, heels and a white dress.
“I was lucky enough to be born a Trump and every red cent that my family has stolen and has manipulated out of the American people belongs to me, and I will not have it taxed at some unreasonable level to help those less fortunate,” she spits. “Does that excite you thinking about all of these underprivileged, undereducated people in need, suffering further for our benefit?”
Areana, aka “Tramp,” charges about $23 a minute (nearly twice as much as her nonpolitical videos), and claims that her clients range from average citizens, to government workers, to high-level business people.
“Unlike in the non-fetish world, where most Biden and Trump supporters have few friends who vote for the opposing candidate, in the fetish world, political opposites mingle,” writes RightMakesMites. “And if you are into political fetishes you may become, ironically, more open-minded to the opposing side’s views.”
He explains that, by employing the strict divide in erotic performance, political fetishes incidentally effect a blurring between individuals on either side.
“If you’re going to effectively dominate them, you have to know kind of why they hate you,” he says. “So if you’re sitting there, thinking, ‘Oh, Trump has the answers on everything. How could anyone possibly think otherwise?’ Well, you’re not gonna be a very good dom of a liberal.”
Sources:
“America is exceptional in the nature of its political divide,” Pew Research Center;
“Political Polarization in the American Public,” Pew Research Center;
“BU Historian Answers: Are We Headed for Another Civil War?,” Boston University
“2024 US presidential election: Who are the candidates?,” Reuters;
“In the world of sexual fetishes, crossing the political aisle is a kink”; Washington Post;
“Most Democrats who are looking for a relationship would not consider dating a Trump voter,” Pew Research Center
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