"Are you ready to play?": After 5 years without sex, I took a BDSM class

This Salon article by Olive Persimmon explores her experience taking an intro to BDSM class after five years without sex. Find an excerpt below, then the full piece here:

“It was the day before class and I was freaking out. Not only was I terrified about going to a BDSM lesson, I also had no idea what to wear. I imagined whips and handcuffs over my tan cowl-neck sweater. I pulled out my leather pants and a black top and called Renee. “No, no,” she said. “Don't wear leather or too much black; that screams newbie. Don't wear a tight necklace either, that means you're collared.” I had no idea what that meant, which made it glaringly obvious that I was in over my head. My only experience with BDSM was from reading "Fifty Shades of Grey," which obviously wasn’t the handbook for an intro to kink.”