EMANCIPATE ME HARDER! LESSONS FROM THE BDSM COMMUNITY ON SAFETY, CONSENT, THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL, AND RADICAL SUBVERSIVE RESISTANCE

Abstract

BDSM has developed as a recognized sexual sub-culture and has been the subject of considerable attention, notably by medical and psychiatric fields. Often pathologized, and even criminalized, the BDSM community’s self-definition differs greatly from those offered by early patriarchal psychoanalysts and contemporary mainstream institutions. A growing body of scholarship indicates that BDSM has therapeutic potential. The present study interviewed 6 professional practitioners of BDSM from across Canada. These professionals have practiced for over 10 years and have a well-established understanding of in-group best practices as well as the ongoing impacts of pathologization and discrimination. Over 15 hours of semi-structured interviews yielded findings that support that the S/M community remains misunderstood, misrepresented (in courts of law, mental health settings, and in media), that best practices and codes of conduct are taken extremely seriously, and that subversion largely contributes to BDSM’s cathartic, healing, and therapeutic potential.