As I’m approaching the northeastern corner of McCarren Park in Williamsburg I’m confronted with a series of loud, explosive snaps, which I at first take to be popping balloons (the park is a popular spot for birthdays and quinceañera parties). I can’t see the source of the sounds however until I’ve entered the park and passed by a large grove of trees. Two young women stand facing each other at a distance of about about twenty feet. They’re chatting and laughing, a demeanor that belies their activity, which consists in snapping leather bullwhips. The distance between them allows the two women to observe and analyze each other’s technique. ‘ You’ve got to put a little more wrist into it,’ one of them says, ‘like this.’ She makes an emphatic ‘snap,’ that causes a mother pushing a stroller next to me to recoil in shock. Both of these whip-practitioners are dressed normally – a couple tattoos, but nothing that would explicitly suggest membership in the BDSM community. Is this merely an eccentric hobby? I pass by, and soon the whip snaps are soon are drowned out by the cacophony of roller bladers, soccer players, and chattering groups of friends strolling or picnicking on a sunny Spring day.