From hot wax to sharp objects, there are a litany of ways to spice up the bedroom that you may not have considered. 

Be it a kink — something done for sexual pleasure that may not typically be considered pleasurable — or a fetish — a sexual fixation or scenario that plays a significant role in one’s gratification — there’s much to explore in Eugene’s fetish scene.

Javay da BAE received a masters in education in human sexuality after discovering a passion for sex education while working at a sex shop in Los Angeles. She titled herself the “millennial sexpert,” she says, because that’s the audience she’s seeking to reach.

“We’re all at the same point in life where now we’re the adults out here living our own lives,” da BAE says, “but we’re having terrible sex.”

da BAE is the name the sexpert uses when teaching classes, says da BAE, who works as an instructor at Eugene’s As You Like It, a gender-inclusive pleasure shop. There she teaches workshops on sex basics with topics ranging from engaging all five senses to fingering and oral skills.

“Most people are at a place where what they know about sex comes from TV shows and movies, so there’s a lot of gaps,” da BAE says. “I teach workshops that fill in those holes so that people can confidently go into the bedroom and be like, ‘I’m about to rock your world.’”

da BAE has also taught introductory workshops on certain kinks and elements of BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism, masochism), such as impact play, sensation play, temperature play, restraints and roleplay.

“The way I look at it is that workshops are the starting point,” da BAE says. “That’s where you go so that way you can actually learn about the thing, and then once you feel like you have an understanding that you’re actually interested in this, going out to the events is where you build the community.”

In Eugene, one place that the community has found a home is at Sparrow & Serpent (formerly known as Old Nick’s).

Glitterati LaReaux, the stage manager of Sparrow & Serpent’s monthly fetish night, has been “dungeon-trained” since 1999, meaning she has worked in legal BDSM dungeons. A dungeon is a room or space designated for BDSM play or scenes, and LaReaux is the pseudonym she uses in the BDSM and burlesque communities.

In 2015, LaReaux was asked by Sparrow & Serpent owner Emily Chappell to help produce the bar’s fetish night and she’s been involved since. “I would say a dungeon situation is much more intense and lengthy,” LaReaux says. Fetish nights “are like the sampler version of that.”

Sparrow & Serpent’s fetish nights follow a routine, LaReaux says, but no two evenings are the same. The night begins with a stage show with five scenes, each showing off a different fetish — such as shibari (Japanese rope bondage), blade play, pet play and more.

Following the show, participants are invited to purchase “tastings” of various fetishes.

The “tastings” allow people to try the fetishes for themselves, LaReaux says, with the guidance of a “harbinger,” a BDSM term for the one who is in control of a scene. Harbingers can be dominant or submissive, and participate in a variety of fetishes.

“We have somebody who does crushing. She’s a 5-foot-10 bodybuilder, and she’ll sit on you, crush you, lay on you if you want to lay on the ground, things like that,” LaReaux says. “For someone who hasn’t been in [the fetish scene], it’s a very good vanilla-ish tasting.”

Not only do fetish nights introduce people to a whole new world of sexual exploration, but they also serve to normalize the kinkier side of life. “Normal people like to engage in fetishes all the time,” Chappell says. “I think that they just don’t recognize that maybe it’s a fetish, or they’re afraid it makes them weird, afraid it makes them other.”

Exploring the world of fetish isn’t as scary as it may seem, Chappell says, and there are only benefits in further understanding what makes you tick.

“If we don’t explore the entirety of ourselves, if we minimize what it is that we like or are interested in exploring,” Javay says, “we’re never going to be to a point of actual happiness.” 

As You Like It, 1655 West 11th Avenue, hosts workshops every week; call 541-606-0553 or visit AsYouLikeItShop.com for more information. The fetish night at Sparrow & Serpent, 211 Washington Street, is the last Friday of every month and is 21-plus; call 541-844-1280 or visit SparrowAndSerpent.com for more information.