Books like Return to the Chateau

Unless you have any background researching, participating in, or witnessing real S&M/BDSM/other like-minded sub-cultures I would suggest you stay far far away from this book because you simply will not appreciate it. This book is a classic. This book holds several foundations for the culture which it describes and, to keep away from the misconception that this book simply objectifies women or that O is a "weak" individual, it must be understood that in the real sub-culture men play the same roles as O does in this book and that O's story is about some individuals' need to tap into a part of their psyche that most of us simply do not possess. Yes, many if not all of these things really happen. No, these things are not "perverted" or "grotesque". This is simply an alternative lifestyle which seems extreme by the standards of mainstream western culture. I would like to point out that besides O's alternative sexual preferences, she was a functioning part of her society, complete with a career, an apartment which she paid for before Rene's appearance in her life, and she continued to keep up her facade of conforming to a "normal" daily life like her coworkers despite her private life; no one besides those she chose to expose her secret life to knew about the conditions of her willing servitude. When one considers how little they actually know about those they deal with on a daily basis it begs the question, "how common are these types of alternative lifestyles?"