Yeah, I was quite taken aback by the comments to the story. I enjoyed the story (in that it made me sad and stuck with me) when I read it because it seemed a social statement about the world I grew up with in the early 70s, when I was "encouraged" by my guidance counselor to take home ec rather than shop (I was going into tech theater in college, and shop made more sense to me. My counselor said "but someday you'll want a real home and family, not that career nonsense".) I really didn't see it as existing in the same world as Xanthe's story (which I love) except for them having BDSM lifestyles in common, although I like the idea fiamaya expressed below about possibly Helen's set in the past while Xanthe's is in the present. But some of the comments to Helen's story really bothered me, sort of "this is why Xanthe's story is so wrong" in tone. I know that not everyone likes BDSM, and people are free to not read it, just like I don't read rape!fic or death!fic because they upset me on a personal level, but I don't say those stories shouldn't be written or that the writers/readers are wrong to write them.