Gender and Anti-Violence Strategies in U.S. BDSM Communities

• In Event: 4107 - Masculinities II

Abstract

All practices within the BDSM community are built upon a firm foundation of consent, yet consent violations exist nonetheless. Through participant observation and interviews with 29 individuals representing more than 15 distinct pansexual BDSM communities, I as an insider-outsider critically examine the gendered approaches to preventing and responding to instances of consent violations. Two types of consent violations occur within BDSM communities – “newbie fuck-ups” and “purposeful predations” – each of which is responded to differently by practitioners because of the assumed intent of the violator. Moreover, men’s and women’s approaches to preventing sexual violence in BDSM communities, while similar in nature and practice, have different outcomes: men’s work results in a reification of their masculinity while women’s work serves to build community, often as a result of women having themselves experienced sexual violence. Implications of this research for further research on sexual violence is discussed.

Author

• Cierra Raine Sorin