Quote Originally Posted by whippedcream
So I went out and played at a club for the first time last night. I was with a group of friends, but being a young nubile-ish female, I was approached by a number of dirty old men who were a bit pushy in asking to scene with me. Most of them were just icky, but one guy seemed okay and I actually thought about it.

Then, at the last second, I chickened out and told him sorry, and only played with people I knew. My question is, for those of you who are experienced at that sort of thing, what are your feelings on scening with people you've just met? I wouldn't want to trust some random person's toys to be sanitary, but is spanking safe? How about caning? The idea was sexy in theory, but I doubt a stranger would be as good as somebody who knows me and knows what I like...

Basically, I'd just like people's thoughts on this. And if this was already up in a thread someplace and I missed it, I apologize.
To answer your specific questions on safety there is always some risk in everything we do, BDSM or not. To use your example spanking is much safer than caneing, which is an advanced style due to the ability to inflict serious damage.

As for other peoples toys being clean that’s a matter of your definition. Keep in mind that anything made of leather can not be disinfected without damaging it. Cleaned yes. Also keep in mind that disease transmission generally requires an open sore or wound when we are talking about the body’s skin. So unless we are talking about things that will break the skin, i.e. canes and crops, general cleaning is the thing. Again it depends on the Dom but the ones I know who play publicly are conscious of this and take it seriously. Remember you need to inspect the equipment to be used on you before you play.

As to whether a stranger can provide you with as good a scene as someone you know, well in my experience they can. And there are many Doms who play in the public arena that take great pride in doing just that. These are the practitioners who have good skills with their tools, and have taken the time to learn how to read and interoperate the reactions of their partners. While not every Dom you meet at a public event meets this standard they are not rare. The best way to find them is to spend some time observing the action and some more talking with them. The ones you seek will spend the time with you before hand, ask the hard questions, show you the tools and have the references to back up their claims. You only need the patience to find them.

Hope that makes a little sense.