Review: In Revry's 'Submission Possible,' Madison Young Sets Out to Explore Kink and Desire

Madison Young – "a feminist porn icon, author, and sexual revolutionary," press notes tell us – kicks off Revry's original new docuseries, "Submission Possible," with a trip to New Orleans, where she chats with sex witches and looks for spectral encounters of the sexual kind.

Young introducers herself as having spent "twenty years exploring the depths of kink and BDSM" and finding herself "curious: Could there be more?" To find out, she decided to go on an extended road trip, a kind of "fifty states of desire," in which she'll visit various cities to identify the hat's special in each one's sexual culture.

The first stop being New Orleans, Young gravitates toward the spiritual side of eros. Everything from black candles to sex magic to smokable herbal aphrodisiacs comes her way in this inaugural hour, along with some fairly in-depth discussions with locals. There's Elyse the Beast, the 2019 "Mx. Phoenix," who explains how leather bar the Phoenix has moved away from what used to be its "Mr. Phoenix" title, and why and what that means. For Elyse, it's a validation: They came from a right wing family and, in a different city, found themself accosted in an all-gender restroom at a gay bar by assailants who demanded (broken beer bottle in hand) that Elyse "pick a side," gay or straight.

It's never been that simple, of course, and as the world comes around to that fact, more people awaken to new erotic possibilities both sacred and mundane. It's not long before Young's curiosity has her investigating the phenomenon of "spectrophilia" – sexual contact with ghosts – and some of what she hears is chilling. The departed, it seems are no better when it comes to issues of consent than the living are. Warns one New Orleans resident, "It's a 'just say no' situation," because ghosts "always take it too far."

Consent is a huge matter also for sex and king educator Ashton Young, who explains the almost seismic power that "female-bodies sex witches" possess without necessarily realizing it – a lesson Young says she learned when her "orgasm messages" to an ex caused that person unwelcome physical sensations of body heat.

That's just one of several anecdotes regarding sex magic. A woman named Sura recounts how she and a male partner enacted a sexual rain dance of sorts, sending out a different orgasmic message into the cosmos... one that was answered by rainfall.

Another local resident Young interviews in Gypsi San Diego, a herbalist and sex witch who specializes in preparing herbal aphrodisiacs. After puffing on one such preparation (the hand-rolled cigarette looks like a confetti joint), Young recounts how her "body buzzed and vibrated," feeling transported to a place of "orgasmic rainbows."

All this might strike some as a little too New Agey; even I, being from Santa Fe, New Mexico – a New Age capital of the world, whee pagan sex rites and parthenogenesis are commonplace topics of discussion – thought at times it was a bit much. But give it a chance, because there's so much more going on here that's essential to any conversation about enlightened sexuality (or sex positivity, if you prefer that term). Aside from consent, there's the matter of intentionality – and even if you brush off talk of sexy spirits and herbally induced horniness, the message of intentionality is one worth hearing any time it's offered. The sex being referenced in this show is unapologetic, but it isn't mindless; altars and elixirs mingle with "disrobing oils" and "masturbation rituals." It's all part of a greater good that most of us can identify with; as we're told here, "Living your most authentic life is completely empowering."

Empowering exactly what this series promises to be. Young vows that she's going to be "smashing sexual stigma and unlocking unknown sources of pleasure and ecstasy" with this show, and she's off to a fine start.

"Submission Possible" is streaming now at Revry.