Bachelorette parties are always good places to find some humiliation. I don't mean partial nudity, though I know that's a main activity at such functions. I mean, it's not a real bachelorette party until everyone goes topless, and the ones with cameras take pictures of those with bare chests.

I'm talking about behavior beyond busty brazenness. I'm talking about genuine degradation, about treatment that's less than human.

Unfortunately, due to my gender, I am never invited to these prenuptial celebrations. The closest I got was one time when I was on the street in my neighborhood-an area with at least one cross-dressing bar-and I saw a group of people in formalwear approaching me. One of the women was having trouble keeping her balance. The reason, I saw, was that she was wearing a black band over her eyes, and her arms were not swinging freely. Her hands were fastened behind her back, and her friends were guiding her by the arms. When she passed, I saw that she was wearing bachelorette cuffs.

"This is humiliating," I heard her say.

"She's getting married," one of her friends explained.

I suspected that at the party they were heading for, there would be some true imprisonment (since false imprisonment would be a crime), some fake interrogation, and some authentic punishment. Some of the attendees might lose their shirts. All while a man dressed as a woman sat in the lap of the captive bride, singing to her.