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The Kinkster Candidate

Last week, Zack Weiner, a twenty-something political longshot running for Manhattan City Council was caught on tapewearing a ball gag, blindfold, clothespins on his nipples and not much else.

Apparently taken at Midtown’s Parthenon Studios, which the NY Post praises (somewhat oddly, but rather nicely) as a “high quality” dungeon, Mr. Weiner appears to be submitting to a leather-clad FemDom pouring hot wax on his bare chest at rather close range (ouch!).

Such a potentially scandalous revelation might have trampled the political prospects of a lesser kinkster… or at least tied them up in knots.

But Zack, despite or maybe because he’s a “Weiner,” stiffened his resolve (sorry; the puns write themselves) and let his kink flag fly. Indeed, his response to being exposed was as swift and on-target as a Domina’s whip flicking his upturned buttocks.

“Whoops. I didn’t want anyone to see that, but here we are. I am not ashamed of the private video circulating of me on Twitter. This was a recreational activity that I did with my friend at the time, for fun. Like many young people, I have grown into a world where some of our most private moments have been documented online. While a few loud voices on Twitter might chastise me for the video, most people see the video for what it is: a distraction. I trust that voters will choose a city council representative based on their policies and their ability to best serve the community.”

Any kinkster in politics should study Zack’s message, and perhaps start crafting something comparable just in case they are ever outed.

Of course, nonconsensual outing is almost always unethical. Exceptions might include cases in which the politician is such an egregious hypocrite, one who consistently votes and speaks out against the very kink(s) they enjoy in secret, causing harm to their fellow kinksters. Even then, outing is against the unwritten sex worker code of honor. We affirm this while discussing Zack’s case this past week on our F.D.R. (Fuck Da Rich) broadcast, in Twitter powwows and “Ask a Dominatrix Anything” with my favorite D.A.D., aka Dominatrices Against Donald (tRump) ringleader Mistress Tara Indiana and other DomCon Dommes. At my Institute, we carefully guard all of our clients’ privacy and anonymity, even the hypocritical ones. Fortunately, we’ve never had a “leak” in over thirty years of practicing sex therapy. But not every therapist, sex worker or “friend” is so trustworthy or lucky, and accidents happen.

Kink and sex in general can be a leaky business, so one should always be prepared to either plug that leak or go with the flow.

With all the outing, security cam footage and revenge porn flowing like rivers of revelation, Capt’n Max opines: “You should all be defending him because you’re next.” You can run but you can’t hide, especially if you’re in the spotlight.

Weiner chose to face the flogger—and the music (Master and Servant? The Kinkster? Masochism Tango?), telling the The NY Post “I am a proud BDSMer. I like BDSM activity.”

The implication being: So, what?

The NYP tried its tabloid-y best to make this personal sexual revelation into a salacious outrage, but simply couldn’t. That in and of itself is a victory for consensual kink, honesty, sex-positivity and the Bonobo Way.

Erotica writer Aubrey Andrews tweeted aptly, “Will Zack Weiner being with a dominatrix on his personal time affect his job performance as a Manhattan City Council? No? Then this is just kink-shaming.”

Not that the video appears to have effectively shamed Zack or his campaign.  Artsy Manhattanites, Soho Sexpots, Hellfire Clubbers, Bob Flanagan buffs, Gen Z’ers babysat by Rihanna’s S&M (“sticks and stones may break my bones, but chains and whips excite me”), Wolves of Wall Street and Slaves of New York aren’t going to be phased by a little consensual kink. Though Mistress Tara—who used to run another “high quality” Midtown dungeon called the Den of Iniquity—did chuckle about the clothespins being “old-school.”

If anything, Weiner’s outing has increased awareness of a candidate hardly anyone had heard of before. It’s also a pretty good example of the kind of honesty, clarity, concern for consent and lack of sexual shame that the modern kink community generally tries to uphold.

Zack is still a longshot (though winners haven’t been called, as of this writing, he’s in last place), but the future is promising. As ZTV tweets, “Anyone with the strength of character to deal with clothespins on his nipples for more than a few seconds, let alone SEVERAL minutes, ABSOLUTELY has the resolve to be on #NYCcitycouncil.”

Whether or not that’s true, none of us know much about Zack’s politics. However, thanks to his recent *exposure,* we now know that, in response to the Red Umbrella Project’s question, “where do you stand on sex work as a policy issue?” Zack was willing to tweet that sex work “decriminalization is good for workers, for safety, and definitely for the economy.” Amen and Awomen to that! A politician this honest about sex might be honest about other things as well…

But do we know how honest Zack really is? Some skeptics claim that this whole Weiner Outing was really a Weiner Leak (wiener leak?).

No seriously, the punning skeptics say, Team Weiner leaked the video themselves, like Kim Kardashian’s sex tape, to boost his visibility.

It’s certainly possible; the kinkster candidate’s background in screenwriting and acting, as well as urban planning, could imply more Hollywood-style creativity than most politicians.  Obviously, if that’s the case, Zack’s quick response—not to mention his trustworthiness—would not be so impressive. However, his kink-positivity still would be.

Furthermore, on a scale of 1-10—in which 10 is rawdog cheating on your wife (who just gave birth to your son) with Stormy Daniels, then paying her hush money from your political campaign and lying about it—I’d say releasing your own consenting adult hot-wax video would be a 2.

By the way, there is (as of this writing) no proof that Weiner leaked his own kink tape, and the accusations could just be the political fantasies of jealous cuckolds and erotophobic interns.

Leaky or quick, it’s likely that Zack was inspired to be so open and seemingly forthright about his kink by Hollywood itself. He probably wouldn’t be taken in by 50 Shades of Holy Crap, but might well be influenced by the sensational Paul Giamatti confession scene, “I am a Masochist,” in Billions.  The idea of a powerful man in politics turning the tables (temporarily) by submitting to a Dominatrix has become so commonplace, it’s practically a cliché, though it’s still taboo and potentially shaming.

Yet, the FemDom bonobos show us that surrendering to female power (for real; not just in fantasy scenarios) is just as natural for apes like us as bowing to male brute force. Not to mention it’s usually healthier for all concerned… unless your FemDom is Margaret Thatcher.

It can also be educational. A sex worker I know makes her subbies recite Marx as she spanks them.

Then again, maybe Zack’s kink is more personally connected to another TV series, “Dora The Explorer” the bilingual female-dominant kiddie show, that happens to have been co-created by his Dad, Eric Weiner. Zack is just a different kind of “explorer” (which is a lot less destructive than Columbus, Cortez and all those “intrepid” explorers who turned out to be vicious, mass murdering, real-life enslavers), an erotic explorer.

Just to set these hot dogs straight, Zack Weiner is not Anthony Weiner, an older New York Democratic politician who got caught sexting snaps of his underwear-straining wiener, plus more nefarious things like cheating with a teenager and camming while his baby was sleeping on a far corner of the bed (what the hell was he thinking?).

In fact, young Zack could restore our faith in Weiners—and maybe wieners, as well, just in time for BBQ season “wiener outings.”

Seriously, too many political dick-brains, corporate cuckolds and celebrity kinksters—Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Lady G, Matt Gaetz, Bill Gates, Armie Hammer and the list goes on—have not been stellar spokesmodels for the kink community. Indeed, they have made rotten old stereotypes smell like used Bambinos.

Now that he’s been outed, hopefully Zack will continue to be an openly kinky politician that kinksters and sex workers can depend on for support.

Can Weiner serve his constituents and the greater human community with the same fervor that he serves his Mistress? Or will a desire for big donor money shots tie him up in political knots?