--Founding Father and Philadelphia native "Big Ben" Franklin was a notorious rake-hell during his randy salad days. Philadelphia was the sin city where Ben honed the harlot-humping skills he later put to use when, as America's ambassador abroad he famously plowing a path through the pussies of Paris.

--Founding Father Thomas "Dark Meat" Jefferson kept and slept with slaves, and fathered numerous interracial offspring before, during and after the period when he swanned about Philadelphia penning his more-than-slightly hypocritical "all men are created equal" declaration.

--Founding Father George Washington... well... in truth I can't dish any Philadelphia days dirt on dowdy old George. But I must say, viewed with my aforementioned objectivity, this so called father of your country doesn't seem like such a savory character. Seriously... whip out a dollar and take a good long LOOK at the dude. Would you reeeally trust your wife or daughter, or for that matter your son or your sheep, to a man with wooden teeth? One wonders what other "wood" Washington sported. Do you doubt for a moment he was running his flagpole up Philadelphia's sauciest seamstress, Betsy Ross?

--Speaking of bawdy Betsy, just how low do you suppose that merry widow had to go, to land her lucrative government flag­-sewing contract?

But now at last to my point: Considering all the funky Founding folks lewdly lurking around the City of Brotherly Lust during its historic heyday, it should come as no great shock when I point out that for years the city has been opening wide for a kinky costume charity ball called DIABOLIQUE. The Diabolique Ball was birthed more than a decade ago by an array of Philly's fringe folk as a freaky fun way to raise funds for local AIDS prevention/support services. Over the years it has grown like Topsy, becoming the premiere erotic event in the Northeast. Indeed with the exception of the annual Las Vegas Lifestyles convention I can't think of another underground event that attracts as many sex-positive people. This despite the fact that unlike the Vegas venue, Diabolique allows no on-premises group fucking, no public sex and no full out nudity.

What? No Nipples?

Nope, no nipples. In deference to local laws and in defense of the nightclub's liquor license, Diabolique's "nipple police" patrol the party with handy roles of electricians tape (black of course) dispensing modesty enforcing snippets to any naked nips they nab. But none of this paradoxical prudery perturbs people. The Ball's attendees (Diabolique attracts hundreds of raunchy revelers) understand the art of the tease; and this being a costume party, the scantily decked out guests are their own entertainment, a delightful demonstration of erotic democracy in action. At a typical Diabolique, steamed-up swingers rub elbows with lascivious lipstick lesbians, leather clad BDSM’ers clink cups with cross-dressing queens, deviant dominas share the stage with naughty neo-burlesque stars.

Quite the teasy, sleazy crowd they are; which leads me  to one of my most pleasant discoveries about this latest Diabolique. On past occasions my able assistant and I have needed to troll through the party soliciting sexy subjects to shoot. I'm always happy to do so of course... like any photojournalist even marginally worthy of the name I relish the thrill of the hunt. But clearly one can't come to as many Diaboliques as I have without being recognized and (I'm relieved to report) cheerfully greeted by other veteran attendees. Not only greeted... at this installment we soon had people approaching and asking to have their photos taken in full fetish finery.

And talk about a sleazy snowball effect. When newbies saw people's portraits being snapped, they wanted their pictures taken too. So we simply set up shop in a quiet corner of the club and shot a succession of sexy subjects. Pardon the punny metaphor, but it was as easy as shooting fish in a barrel... lovely, exotic fish at that. Not the most sporting way to capture one's filmic prey, but so what? All's fair in love, war and erotic photography.

For news about Diaboliques to come check out PhillyFetishBall.com.  To visit Natasha's swingers' video site go to DirtyDatingLive.com.