Eroticon not a meat market

F riday night, I lost my Eroticon virginity. In doing so, I had to overcome two years of fear of the event. But I subscribe to the theory that it is necessary to fling yourself in your phobia arena in order to overcome it.\nDuring my freshman year, still fresh off the boat from the affluent Bible-belt Texas sensibilities of my upbringing, I heard about Eroticon and was frankly disturbed. Of course, what I heard was not a truthful representation of the event, but rather a doozy of a freshman rumor about the sanctioned orgy, complete with sex rooms and mattresses on the floor. \nLater, I learned that Eroticon was in fact a legal event, and no sex was allowed in the club. But, I did still have the impression that the event was merely a pre-orgy hook up event, wherein sexual predators stalked around the club looking for a creature of similar tastes to take home.\nTwo years and one human sexuality class later, I figured I was brave enough to confront the sexual bravado beast. I am thrilled, but also somewhat disappointed, to report that Eroticon was nothing like I expected it to be.\nMore than anything else, the event is merely a showcase of the fact that people have different preferences and different styles. Fashion is the only reputable beast at the event. This is a brief sampling of some of the very crazy outfits I saw: \nA woman with nipples the size of small pancakes who had only half-inch pieces of tape stuck in the middle as her idea of pasties. Leather G-strings and only leather G-strings on middle aged men. A full body corsage held together with tiny pins under a woman's skin. But not all of the fashion was outrageous, tasteful tank-dresses, eye-catching chain-mail suits and high-fashion rhinestone cowboy motifs abounded.\nThere were a few whipping posts scattered through the club, but the whipping seemed to resemble heavy petting more than sado-masochism. And the only porno I saw on the big screen was a hilarious riff on the sexuality of Kung-Fu fight scenes.\nThe Eroticon competition was kind of like a more fun version of the talent show my high school put on every year. The winner, an incredibly sassy male dancer with the word "SLUT" splattered across his chest, was my favorite thing to watch all evening.\nBasically, instead of being the meat market I expected, Eroticon was loads of harmless fun. The only thing I can say is that whatever reservations I had about this event as I entered the club were cleared up as soon as I was halfway through my "Long and Luscious" special Eroticon yellow and blue drink.\nI feel kind of cheated. I wanted to write a triumphant "Little Red Riding Hood conquers the wolf" type of story. Oh well.