The first time I heard the term "Roman showers," I thought it was a type of high-priced bathroom fixture. A friend of mine, a professional dominatrix who, after freelancing for years, had decided to join a "fetish escort service," was listing the favors she would specialize in: forced feminization, animal training, shoe worship, Roman showers.

That's when I stopped her.

"Is that some sort of weird urine thing or something?"

"No. I have small hands, so if anyone wants me to make them puke I can just reach in their mouth and..."

"Make them puke? You mean, like vomit puke? Like throw up?"

"Oh yeah, bottoms really get off on that. It's messy, but then you get to make them clean it up."

I was fascinated -- and vaguely nauseated. I mean, vomiting is associated with everything bad -- being sick with fever, drinking so much you're making out with your best friend, the bartender, and the loser you broke up with three months ago.

Roman showers, or "spew sex," is usually performed after the consumption of wine or other alcohol. Other regurgitation recipes include ejaculate, ice cream, fruit juice, and urine. Hardcore Roman shower aficionados consume entire meals before engaging in puke play, choosing foods based on texture and color, red being a popular choice (think beets and tomato juice).

The vomiting is performed by either the insertion of fingers -- you or your partners -- or objects into the mouth, or during deep-throat fellatio. After the chuck has been upped, it can be consumed by either partner, rubbed into the skin or genitalia, or simply left to drip off the body parts onto which it was ejected. Part of the turn-on is the mess -- rank breath, drippy skin or lingerie, tearstained faces, and in the case of women, smeared mascara and lipstick.

The alt.fondle.vomit newsgroup states that some people get into this fetish by accident, usually during a bout of furious cocksucking when the recipient hits the back of the throat and finds the resulting eruption of warm stomach fluids very hot. There are some who get turned on simply by hearing someone gag -- the memory of cock-choking enough for them to get aroused. Others associate the act of vomiting with being cared for as a sick child, the nurturing aspect getting them off. And, of course, some just want to have fun.

I'm just waiting for the "Bulimics do it better" bumper stickers.

Eve Rings is the 29-year-old co-author of The Porcelain God:Stories of Sex, Fear, and Loathing in Bathrooms. She gets very carsick on long trips, but always makes it to the rest stop on time.