Canadian Tourist's S&M Secrets, Spilled to the Post

If you're a 67-year-old retired math professor from Montreal and your wife (in Canada) finds out about your near-death S&M-related experience in New York City from a NY Post reporter, what do you do? Well, if you're Richard Benjamin, you give the Post an exclusive interview, landing on the front page and earning the headline "They Beat it Out of Me."

Benjamin, who used to teach at Vanier College, said that he's been secretly involved with S&M for many decades. In order to take trips for NYC's S&M clubs (while staying at a Y), he would claim he was visiting the city to take photographs and enjoy Brooklyn pizza: "My biggest fear has always been that someone would find out. That's why I come to New York and never do this in Montreal."

Benjamin spent three days in a coma after he slipped out of a high heel shoe - while a chain attached to his dog collared-neck was suspended from the ceiling at the Nutcracker Suite in Midtown - and almost choked to death. Benjamin told the Post:

"I don't want my wife to leave me, but I have to tell her the truth," he said. "I'm going to share everything with her. I think my family will forgive me."

Benjamin said he's desperately trying to break his addiction.

"It's like when you crave a turkey," he said. "You eat it and you eat it and you eat it, but you still want it. But now I've had enough. I don't want turkey anymore. I'm full."
...
"Now that I've almost died, I can't see myself going back to S&M," he said. "If you gave me $100,000 to spend there, I wouldn't. I'm not crazy."

Aw, poor guy. A Tango magazine article suggests "one in five couples dabble [in S&M], and one in 20 engage in very serious play."

And the Post called the Nutcracker Suite's dominatrix who was working with Benjamin - she was relieved to hear he was doing better: "Thank you very much for telling me."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on February 13, 2008 11:40 AM

Comments [rss]

justanotherperson

zodak, it doesn't matter if he requested to be "left alone." You just don't do it. Period. You can easily create the illusion of being alone with a blindfold and either quietly watching or with the addition of earplugs. Checking in "every 20 minutes" is NOT reasonable. You never leave someone in bondage alone, for any amount of time, especially not in a situation like this. She WAS irresponsible, and what happened could have been avoided.

David

lol, tabernacle!

rhodamine

god, i love brooklyn pizza.

zodak

dave, mihow: the guy gets off by being suspended in heels & left alone.

the dominatrix did what she was supposed to: leave him alone & check on him which is how he was found. she wasn't irresponsible, it was an accident.

mihow

Dave H, I couldn't agree more. I feel bad for the bloke. And who knows, maybe he'll get lucky, now that his wife knows maybe she'll punish him.

JenChungsBaby

The exchange rate was also very favorable for him coming down from Canada.

Snoopy

I guess he's going to have to go cold turkey because there are no drugs for people that lose a high heel when being strung up.

Rocknrope

It's like when you crave turkey. A ball-gagged, leather-hooded, thumb-screwed, high heeled turkey.

JRod5417

This definitely is not front cover news, but then again the Post hardly qualifies as news.

Dave Hogarty

Is BDSM really that shocking a sexual variation? He wants to be cured of it? Relax man; something less than orthodox turns your crank and until your dumbass "facilitator" irresponsibly left you to choke to death, it sounds like you were indulging it in a practical and responsible way.

Sure, keeping it secret from your wife may not be the best thing, but I don't know your wife and you do. Maybe you know she's the kind of woman who'd be totally freaked by your kink so you respectfully didn't shove it in her face.

There's a million freaking grown loser men trawling MySpace to mack on underage girls, and this poor bastard gets his face plastered on the cover of the Post? Please.

ladywarfield

he must really like turkey.

aveB4life

this brings a new meaning to thanksgiving

chuzzlewit

turkey. there's that legendary canadian gift for analogy again - damn they're good at that.

smokedgouda

That Tango magazine article is very good.

This guy from Canada will need to go through a lot of therapy to get away from S&M though. It is probably related to how he interacted with his mother early in life. Not that I would know or anything.