RoseKink87

A sense of belonging is central to our experience as humans. When our interests and lifestyles do not match those of the majority, it can be challenging to fully allow ourselves to be authentic. Community is essential in BDSM culture and research shows that it may be more complex that it seems.  Graham et al. (2016) evaluated the perspectives of 48 BDSM practitioners who used 133 terms to express their experience of how community played a role in their lives. These terms were partitioned into 3 categories: social, personal development, and resources. Participants experiences of community ranged from fun to spiritual and from activism to safety.  Membership in a kink community allows for individuals to learn new skills, develop meaningful connections and also provides accountability and support for when negotiations do not go as planned. Research showed that while community participation has its downfalls, such as social politics and the drama that can accompany it, the majorit...

     “For many practitioners, BDSM places the body into central focus..." (Turley, 2016). The researcher uses the term 'embodied exploration' to describe her understanding of what it is like to practice BDSM. Turley (2016) sets up her argument by reminding us that we explore and experience the world through our bodies. While we might forget the importance of the body as we use our minds and cognition to process these experiences, the body is very much central to how we exist in the world and how a body is comprise will impact the way that individual experiences the world. It is important to note that bodies which do not fit into what we have created as a societal norm automatically engage in what would be considered kinky sex purely because the mechanics in which sex is made pleasurable to those individuals will look different from how we might generally define sex.       Similarly, the ways in which pleasure is elicited during a kink experience ...