BDSM Embodiment - Turley (2015)

    “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 is varied and impossible to define. Use of various materials such as leather, wood or plastic may be used for impact play. These implements can be used in a variety of ways to create different sensations. Turley (2016) reminds us that the smell and visual appeal of these devices also influence our corporeal experience of them. Thomas (2019) was particularly intrigued by a more novice Dom who topped him because of the variety of homemade impact toys that she possessed. Additionally these same materials might make up costumes that are worn by kinky participants, also altering their bodily state as the feel of rubber pulls taught against skin (Turley, 2016).

    By removing orgasm as a central tenant to the experience of bodily exploration, we can fully immerse ourselves to experience the spectrum of bodily sensation. Turley (2016) found that through BDSM play participants found an increased awareness of their bodies, as well as increased ease. The researcher noted that as submissives, through surrendering their bodies to be manipulated by their Dominant, they were able to experience themselves in an entirely new light. Furthermore, participants found that the transgressive nature of BDSM activities gave them a sense of freedom and possibility around sexuality and sensation. Despite being bound during rope play, submissives felt a sense of being set free , fully able to sink into corporeal sensation and loosen their grip on the limitations of cognition (Turley, 2016).

    This freedom appears to extend beyond just the physical experience of the body, but also to how people experience their gender and humanness. Turley give puppy play, where one individual poses as a puppy, as an example of how one might further challenge the structures of reality that are imposed upon us. Another example is by identifying as a 'thing' rather than a woman or a human, and the ways in which that might impact how you engage physically with others. These practices appear to instill a sense of embodied confidence in those willing to find spaces to live out their most creative fantasies (Turley, 2016). Sexual and somatic rules, scripts, and habits are removed and through consent and negotiation enough safety is created that we can potentially sink fully into the present experience.