Lately I’ve become obsessed with vinyl boots.

A fetishist goes through these phases, you see. Sometimes it’s black knee-high fashion boots, sometimes it’s over-the-knee pirate boots, sometimes it’s riding boots, sometimes it’s lace up shit-kickers.

It’s always something. A phase may be driven by current fashions, which flood the market with redundant boots, or by a cute movie star in a particularly stylish style of boot.

Whatever it is, right now I’m fixated on vinyl boots.

And they are everywhere.

On Monday, May 19, at about 4:30, I spied a delightful young thing on a bike at Northwest Couch and 11th, wearing a black dress, and those vinyl boots. Then, later the same day, I saw two girls walking west up Southwest Oak, two contrasting girls, one summery, the other Gothic in black, and with those delicious vinyl boots again, gleaming in the setting sun’s light.

I don’t know what it is about these boots that turns me on. They have so much going against them. They are cheap (found in places like Volume Shoes for $15 dollars) and seem cheaply made. They are short in the shank, only going up to mid calf. They tend not to fit tightly to the leg. The heels are chunky and low. Yet I am riveted to them. It must be their sheer shininess that gets me. They are much shinier than traditional leather boots, even the most dedicatedly of polished riding boots.

Then I had a chance to see some vinyl boots up close and personal.

Recently, I had a date with Sandy Klickitat, and she happened to show up wearing a pair of black vinyl boots. She doesn’t know about my fetish, so I considered myself extremely lucky. It was all I could do to keep myself from starring at them, instead of her strikingly beautiful face, all night, though I sneaked some sly glances. They were high up her leg, and tight, much tighter than most vinyl boots that I have seen. But the main thing I noticed, is that they have a delightful sound.

While sitting next to me and crossing her legs at the ankles, the sticky material squeaked like a squeegee across a window pane. It was a maddeningly erotic sound, and my eyes were drawn helplessly to her boots each time she moved. Unfortunately, the date had an unhappy ending. We went to a bar, and she quite visibly and seriously fell in love with our bartender.

No matter. I am able to pursue my vinyl fixation via another avenue. It comes in the form of a new magazine called Victoria, the latest publication from the Rogue - Hagan group, which also does those beautifully boot-oriented magazines Cruella and Goddess.

Victoria is more of the same – hot S&M fiction illustrated with large still photographs, most of which have an emphasis on the dominant ladies’ footwear. The first issue of Victoria features two stories: “Bitches in Boots” (which is also, by the way, the name of a short lived S&M magazine in the 1970s) and “Party Animals.” In them, a sneering blonde (“Mistress Jane” playing “Joanne”) joins two other Dominas to put two guys through their paces. She does so in tight corduroy riding pants and close-fitting, high-heeled vinyl boots, of which the publishers are kind enough to supply many close-ups.

Seven orgasms and counting.

Three cheers for pornography!