WASHINGTON, DC
A report out today from the Congressional Budget Office, the nation’s nonpartisan office for assessing economic and budgetary decisions, has now labelled the sale of “used Violet Wand kits” as one the BDSM community’s leading indicators of economic health.
Chief Economist, Bob Brandenberg, PhD, spotted the trend some years ago when he noticed, “whenever someone in the BDSM faces an economic downturn, the first thing they do is try to sell off their violet wand kits. It is a great indicator of when people are in real economic trouble.”
According to the report, violet wands are tools that nearly every dominant in the lifestyle feels they must buy, but find they seldom use.
Master Mark, a 52 year old dominant from Las Vegas recalls his entry into the scene. “It was just assumed when you are new that you would pick one up. There are always deals out there, because people are always selling them.” But soon, like others he found his usage of the toy dropped dramatically.
“It just isn’t that interesting, the violet wand” Master Mark told The Daily Flogger, “it is fun at first but once you learn other things you see how trivial and simplistic it is. Then you realize you paid a huge amount of money for something that you really don’t need or use very much. So you sell it when things get tight.”
When asked if she “liked the violet wand,” Submissive PrincessMeowKat said “Well, sure, I guess. I don’t know. Sort of. Whatever. I haven’t done it for a long time. I guess it is OK.”
Other submissives described the experience as “exciting at first and then boring” and “that thing you do when you are new” or “what doms use when they can’t do anything else.”
PrincessMeowKat explained, “It is electricity and buzzing and it sounds and and looks dangerous. I think it makes the doms feel important.”
According to Brandenberg and the CBO report, there are only about 150 violet wants in existence. “It seems like more because they are being bought and sold all the time and at some point every dominant seems to own one. At any given moment, you can find anywhere between 20 and 60 of them for sale. Anything over 50 for sale, we consider a very serious economic downturn. Anything under 30 we consider a sign of a healthy economy or an economic recovery.”
Current economic trendspotters have found 35 for sale and see that number as “encouraging” and a “step in the right direction for the BDSM economy.”
photo credit: Antony J Shepherd cc
