The Book Club Final

[ve****]

The start of the negotiations started slowly. The husbands were out of the houses and living in hotels. The women felt time was on their side and that the men would come around. Time was one their side they felt. On the other hand, the husbands still felt they had been deceived by the entire The Book Club stuff.

The first thing that Stacy and her husband agreed upon was that each couple should go back over the data sheets that Stacy had provided them and clear p all misunderstandings. No meant no. No was a hard limit that shall not be crossed no matter what. Safety is Safety. On that surely everyone should be able to agree. The second part was the Maybe column. Maybe meant that it was negotiable, not something that could be or should be decreed by one party or the other. Maybe might mean that it was something that could be explored with constraints to ensure either party could withdraw from the issue when they desired. Finally Yes did not mean without limits. So the yes column needed to be changed as well. Yes means that it was permissible but that limits had to imposed on the yes. So for example, a beating for the wife should be limited in nature and she had the free will to impose that limit. If her limits were exceeded or if they were ignored, then she had the free will to walk away (or in this instance reimpose the weapon of mass destruction). So each couple was expected to very carefully outline the limits on each activity.

As an example of this, Stacy pointed out to her husband that while she loved the attention he wanted her to give him and he her, she did not want that attention 24/7. She wanted the times to designated when she might be expected to live up to tasks. At the same time she did not want the activities imposing on other parts of their lives such as day to day activities, relationships with other such as family or close friends. All of this slowly made some sense to both sided of the argument.

The men had some solid arguments as well. They did not enjoy the women holding mass destruction over their heads as they tried to reestablish themselves as heads of households. After all , wasn't that what this was all about at least in their minds. If the women refused to obey, then how were they to establish control of the situation. Now all of this looks may look naive but seriously, this happens in society all the time when someone moves the guidelines without first allowing people to have time to assimilate them. The men had loved the guidelines but isn't that really what happened during the entire efforts within society over the last twenty years as revolt after revolt occurred by various groups of people who demanded that their point of view be represented as the only point of view that mattered? Certainly this was a valid point and one can only look to a large segment of the population who feel they are no longer served by societies rules which have been laid out by the mass media. We have seen rules for thee but not for me established as the rule under a pandemic, a sharp turn in what is acceptable with no grace period or understanding and all kinds of other examples that can be given. A violent backlash begets a violent backlash from the other side until some kind of mutual agreement was made. Certainly reasonable people can come up with norms and rules to conduct the business of six people and yet we have seen repeatedly that we are unable to this in our own society when movements go to far. It becomes a fight between two extremes. Luckily, the review move under controlled circumstances was the right move to saveThe Book Club.

The couples reviewed their lists and talked about each item concerning their kinky thinking. Each understood their partner's point of view even if they disagreed and simply agreed to disagree on that point but rather than moving towards divorce they moved towards reconciliation. They did not call each other names, refuse to meet, ostracize the others, but rather came together because they loved each other and they saw that their partnerships were important to each party. They did not drive the other party to the extreme of walking away. No incels were created, no frustrated women looking for something that was not available to them were created. Instead they saw each other through new eyes.

As they moved, sometimes haltingly, forward to create a new reality. A reality where they both came to a certain pleasure where they could all thrive. The Book Club started to morph into a club where reasonable fantasies could occur between consenting adults with rules finely tuned concerning the actions that might be taken.

In the end, they formed a true partnership where all parties had a say but retained free will with regard to what activities they would engage in and what they would not engage in. The Husbands did regain authority over their households but with more understanding of what their wives want and expect. The wives became responsible for not only their fantasies but for reality as well. Women stopped arguing that good men were hard to find. The good friends became more engaged instead of less engaged with each other and displayed more respect for each other. Both sides of the issue had accepted responsibility instead of laying blame. They also decided that although tension was desired, total surprise was not. They communicated.

Perhaps a short except of Stacy's Journal can explain better when the The Book Club met again as they morphed slowly into what it is today,

“J, tonight is the first meeting of The Book Club under the rules. We are all nervous since it has been a long time sine we had our almost nuclear war. I will detail it the best I can. We had come to the conclusion that one set of rules does not fit all. Instead we combined those rules where we had full consensus. For each person, there were limits that had to upheld and everyone was appraised of them. If that person wished to modify those limits, then it was their responsibility to not only modify them but to communicate them. We instituted strict safe word protocols. The women agreed that they wanted their husbands to take a firm hand, assign them tasks but wanted to be able to push back against unreasonable items. All of us wanted to explore different things but wanted to do so slowly, first with our husbands and the possibly outside of the marriage but that would be discussed at length between partners and with limited additional partners. The men understood the limits of *** for us as well. We had strict rules about permanent marking of any kind and also took great ***s (see what I did there) to ensure that those limits were respected. The husbands fantasies were also well considered by the wives and open communications wee established. While the first session was not perfect, it still was exciting for all of us. Instead of exceeding limits, we sought out fantasy with costumes and role playing within our sessions. For example, tonight we were dressed in maid uniforms to serve the men as though they are our lords and masters. We have a Geisha party set up for the next session and the women are researching their roles happily to serve them. The men have been perhaps a little over gentle which was to be expected since their excessive action helped to cause the blowup of the format. We do allow the men's hands to roam on our bodies but we currently do not allow any sex except between husbands and wives. That may change in the future. We have limited some of the implements which caused excessive *** and replaced them with smaller models or in the case of whips to softer varieties. The bondage is not as extreme but the chains remain. E have kept the game of chance because it excited everyone but now each woman's results are compared to her limits and the punishment is meted out proportionally to the offense with those in mind. In the meantime, my husband I are experiencing the best and most imaginative sex we have ever had. In the end, we hope the club will grow and mature over time but we also have realistic expectations that the road will not be smooth. Perhaps we have actually learned more than we thought and have made our lives better. I hope so.”

Perhaps there is a larger lesson to be had from The Wives Erotic Book Club. One that has to do with expectations, reality, changing norms, quick reactions, responsibility, obstinance, and human nature.

As a story begins the storyteller often doesn't really know how it will end. It depends on the audience and the story often times. Sometimes there ends up being a point and sometimes there isn't any point at all except entertainment.