entertainment

---

ENTERTAINMENT

BEHIND THE BONDAGE

BERNARD WILCHUSKY / CENTRAL FLORIDA FUTURE

The purpose of The Woodshed is to be a place where kinksters can have a safe space to play.

Orlando BDSM dungeon provides safe space for visiting, local kinksters

Central Florida’s BDSM (Bondage Discipline Sado Masochism) community, men and women who participate in practices governed by strict hierarchies and modes of conduct.

BERNARD WILCHUSKY

Now, with the runaway success of erotic bondage novel 50 Shades of Grey, popular interest in the BDSM community has reached a crescendo. While it brought many new faces to The Woodshed’s doors, members expressed a collective distaste for the novel’s depiction of a dominant-submissive relationship. “[ 50 Shades of Grey] is all Hollywood — it’s not living the life,” said Christine, a longtime member of the club. “We know whoever wrote it wasn’t somebody that understood the lifestyle. This is our life. We live this and we want the public to know. We know we’ll never be able to be [completely] open and out there, but it’s getting there. To me, it’s no different than being gay — but there’s always things that people won’t be able to understand.” Master Cecil, the co-owner of The Woodshed, was a stocky gentleman with large hands and a booming voice. He spoke with the easy cadence of a salesman as he toured his domain, and his eyes often crinkled with a smile as he explained the different uses of the many

Central Florida Future

“Do you want to choke me?” she asked. There were smiles across the table. Muted laughter spread across the widechambered room, weaving between the chains, pulleys and restraints mounted in the strange wood and metal contraptions. A man with long hair turned from his pizza and nodded. “Tell me how hard,” he said. The dungeon was about to open. Off South Orange Avenue — nestled among an array of storefronts, warehouses and private businesses — stands an unassuming glass door. Past the colored streetlights that flank its entryway you’ll find a store that caters to a very unique clientele. On its racks hang whips and handcuffs, adult videos and devices thats usage requires an expertise not often shared in polite company. It’s called The Woodshed and it’s one of Orlando’s strangest open secrets. It’s a private club that’s host to members of

F20

www.CentralFloridaFuture.com

50 shades of popularity

strange and intimidating devices contained within its walls — devices like the St. Andrew’s Cross, a human-sized X, which boasts restraints on each of its ends. The Woodshed’s website described it as a “kinky community center” whose primary mission is to “provide a safe place to learn and play.” This two-dungeon, 6,000 sq. ft. location has been the home of Orlando’s BDSM community for more than six years.

Behind the scenes Master Cecil said that The Woodshed in its current location has existed since 2008 when and his partner — his submissive, Darcy — decided to purchase and renovate a defunct bondage dungeon after a layoff at work left Cecil with time and money to spare. “The dream of The Woodshed was first dreamt in 1993 when I attended my very first public play party,” Cecil said. “There were about 45 people in 600 square feet. You couldn’t swing your own arms without touching someone inappropriately. I realized, at that point, that [our community] needs space.” In 2007, when Cecil heard that a local dungeon had stopped paying its bills, he realized that he had the chance he had been waiting for. “I said [to my partner], ‘Baby, it will never make money and we will never

“

What we’re doing here is an alternative form of loving someone. That’s hard to get your head around, it really is.” MASTER CECIL CO-OWNER OF THE WOODSHED

have a weekend free again,’” he said. “Owning a dungeon, owning a playspace is a huge life change. I knew at the time that all of the dungeons on the East Coast were up for sale because no one was making any money at it.” The Woodshed saw its grand opening on Valentine’s Day of 2008. Since then, after an influx of members launched its membership roll into the thousands, it has expanded from its original 2,000 square-foot location into the massive 6,000 square-foot space it occupies today. Members are charged a one-time yearly fee of $30 for membership and a daily door fee of $15 to $20 depending on the day. Continued on Next Page August 21, 2014 • Central Florida Future