Kink Meme Communities

Now I don't know if this article is relevant to my capstone, but it is adjacent. One of the challenges of studying something is that many related articles pop up and draw your attention away from "the goal". But what is a topic without context? I feel like the problem with research in general is that the context of something is stripped away and the information becomes somewhat irrelevant in the process. 

This article by Silja Kukka is entitled  Fandom's Pornographic Subset: Kink Meme Communities as Queer Female Practices and was only published last year in 2021. It appears that there is an online subculture of "slash fiction" that is essentially kinky pornography that is inspired by fandoms who post in the comments about what kind of characters and sex they would like to read about. The article frames this work as both a response to the saturation of male-centric porn that's available as well as the opportunity that the internet provides to connection folks of similar interests.

Last year I took a Femme sexuality workshop hosted by the Body Electric, www.bodyelectric.org Through the workshop we were assigned to write an erotic story with a partner from the group. My partner and I enjoyed the exercise so much that almost a year later we are still meeting monthly to write short erotic fiction. Through the process of writing erotic stories with another individual, we have had opportunities to discuss and explore various sexual situations that we may or may not want to engage in. We have gotten a chance to explore the parts of sexuality that we feel are missing from our own minds when we think about our sexuality. We have created the opportunity to make sex fun together.

Here's a passage from the article that I find particularly enjoyable: "Kink meme communities...are based on a request and answer procedure, creating customised stories for the enjoyment of the prompter and other community members. This creates an interesting mix of personal and communal, where all the stories are a kind of personalised gift, but at the same time communal “property” that everyone can enjoy." A communal exploration of sexuality where folks have an opportunity to voice their turn ons and witness the ways in which others might share in them.

The author surveyed 78 individuals anonymously using 10 questions that were both closed and open-ended searching for themes. Shame became the most prominent theme and participants expressed that as a result of these kink memes they found a community where they could freely explore sexual pleasure. One respondent predicts that experiencing this kind of freedom is essential to becoming accepting of others' niche sexual expression. Another feels that this culture is a response to the limiting of female sexuality through poor sex education practices.

Amidst the community appears to be an ethics of acceptance. The author shares that it is a place to both understand likes and dislikes that you may have around sexuality, but not at the expense of others. A poignant response to how the community ingests taboo themes such as incest and rape is that there is a distinct difference between sexual fantasy and sexual preference. Just because a fantasy exists doesn't mean that it would be enjoyable to experience in actuality or perhaps aspects of it might be worth recreating, but not necessarily verbatim. One individual even differentiates between preferring fandom fiction of a taboo act, rather than a pornographic version which might feature characters that resembled real life. The author notes, "By distancing themselves, the fantasiser is better able to see what lies behind the rape fantasy." It appears that the boundaries of previously existing characters provides both the familiarity of enjoyment and the safety of separateness.

Safe places to explore sexuality are rare and sacred finds. I am moved by the existence of this community and began reading a story on a free website that is referenced in the article. If you are so compelled you may check out some of these stories for your own enjoyment: www.literotica.com