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.”