I’m at an art party, and a friend of mine is telling me about the last time she was here. “So, some of the people who live here are swingers, and they decided to throw a swinger party…but invited half swinger friends and half of their straight friends…just to see what would happen.” “Well?” I ask.

“It was a disaster. All of the kinky people and swingers looked bored. They came out to play, and no one wanted to. It was just these nervous vanilla people standing around gawking. So then the hosts decided to try to get people into the mood, or something.  There was a sex swing and these two girls dressed as clowns came out and started swinging on it, doing little tricks. Then soon they were having lesbian-clown-sex. Then a midget ran out…also dressed as a clown. And it became a three-way with the little person clown and the two girl clowns.”

She had me at clown-sex. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. “I don’t know, this is pushing my sex positivity.”

The clowns most of us grew up with were non-sexual and strangely terrifying. But clowning’s history is very adult. Clowns in ancient Greece wore a strap on phalluses. Medieval jesters were known for bawdy jokes and trou-dropping American clowns had a space in burlesque. Feeling guilty about clowns ending my rainbow of sex-positivity, I went to the clown fetishists, hoping to “get it”.

I met Froghole the Klown–(note: clown fetishists use of Klown to make a distinction from children’s Clowns.)

Froghole enmeshes BDSM with clown-play. As I looked at his  photos and videos I realized I was thinking: Froghole is kinda hot…Oh my god! What am I saying?! Regardless, I was excited to pick his brain.

So, is the draw to clown-sex that clowns are creepy?

I have played with people who are afraid of clowns and some who have no fear. I like the variety of playing with either. When fear is involved, it can be very powerful. It really accentuates the victim status of your partner. It’s the same rush as rape play– in many ways it relies on the same dynamics. For them,  I am assuming it is like being a roller coaster freak.  Half the reason I like the ones that are afraid is the mystery of it. I am curious about who freaks out and who falls in love.

What is klown-sex?

Everything from balloon fucking (I never knew an animal balloon would penetrate a pussy until I tried) to drawing a fly on someone’s ass for the purpose of trying to kill it all night. I love to keep a squeaky toy at my crotch level so it goes off when I dry hump. I have had hilarious and amazingly hot high pitched dry humping sessions. I appreciate using “funny” implements to beat someone with: rubber chickens, cat toys or colorful clothespins. These are all innocent seeming items, but I can make someone call their safeword with any of them.

Klown sex can be anything. It is often silly. Sometimes, it is mean and vicious. But even at it’s most mean, it is still pretty damn silly. Having someone in full klown perform a thorough beating cannot be completely serious, even if the klown involved is acting serious as a heart attack.

I think what throws many off is that clowns are for kids, the enmeshment of childhood and sexuality.

My klowns (The Porn Clown Posse) have strict rules about children. If we see a youngster, we immediately go from “klown” to “clown”. No messing with kids (or cops, but that is a slightly different story.) We try not to scare kids, because it is just not right, it can really do damage.

Anything that connects childhood or innocence with sex will be disconcerting to a large section of the population. The klowns I roll with like “wrong”. They want to take your brain and give it a twist. Some adults lack the imagination to tell the difference between someone that pretends to do something and someone that wants to. There is a difference in pretending to seduce a “7 year old” who is actually a willing and consenting adult.

Is there a juggalo crossover?

I think I have seen a growth in the number of klowns and I assume juggalos see klowns as possible kindred spirits. My klowns often make juggalo jokes about inbreeding and rednecks, but confide that there might not always be much difference between them and us. But, I see a lot of difference: My klowns always have a plan. They are performance artists with pervert hearts.

How did you get into Clowning?

It is not that a clown is intrinsically hot. If you take a person off the street and put them in polka dots and greasepaint, they are not  more or less attractive. To me, it is the meaning of a klown. It is the fact that someone is silly and crazy enough to want to put on all of this stupid shit and go out in public.

Maybe 6-7 years ago, I saw a Porn Klown called Achtung! Then I saw a performance by the Porn Clown Posse. They were playing with needles while the audience played strip bingo. It resonated with me. They were wrong and silly and doing whatever they could think of.

How does being a klown change your sexual self confidence?

It is easier to go crazy behind the greasepaint. There’s a little swagger. In klowning, there can be this process of stepping out of your own skin. Even if every one knows who you are, you feel anonymous. It is easier to disassociate from feelings or consequences. Sometimes, really cute girls notice me while I’m in klown. I have a friend who is impressed at how much action I get because of the klown. It really is just an extension of myself. It’s me only dirtier, louder and stupider. I just let my impulses break down the barriers I use on a day to day basis.

You get what you put into it. If you pour your creativity and emotion in, it can be great. I like to klown a lot, not only because it’s fun, but the more you do something, the more you figure out. Honing the craft is it a beautiful thing. —

So the lesson I learned from clown sex? The line between terrifying and turn-on can be ever-so-slight. And well, I mean with the right clown…

To read another interview I did with a sexy-girl-clown who is into clown-sex because it is “whimsical and pretty”, check out my article on Sexis.

All photos except Froghole’s by Glenn Campbell.