Recently, Fetlife has come under the mainstream media spotlight due to an abduction case involving a missing graduate student from University of Illinois. The missing individual, Zhang Ying Ying, was a member of the Fetlife discussion group “Abduction 101”, and multiple surveillance footages have captured the evidence of Zhang being kidnapped by PhD Scholar Brendt Christensen. Christensen has become the main suspect for this missing case.

Video from CNN is in their article What We Know About the Fetlife Fetish Site. The investigation is still in progress and you can read all the mainstream news organization articles here: NYtimes, NYdaily, abc7Chicago.

In the main, the news is taking an extremely outsider (and sensational) view of the online fetish community, so although this incident may turn out to be a case of creepy abuse, I think it’s important to balance the news with a few key facts about Fetlife and Brendt Christensen.

1. Fetlife is a communication tool. Users access and contribute various resources, much like any forum board in the past 20 years, or much like Facebook for that matter. To keep stressing “Crimes related to Fetlife” only promotes negative stigma surrounding BDSM subcultures. Crimes happen anywhere, be it on Fetlife or Facebook or Twitter. Misleading articles that point fingers at Fetlife will only promote public hatred and discrimination against Fetlife users.
2. Let the investigating parties do their job and stop cyber shaming Brendt Christensen without having an in depth understanding of the situation. Brendt Christensen has attended the victim vigil; his attorney has spoken and suggests that the incident is still very young and yet to be fully developed. No one can be certain yet of what actually happened and who should be held responsible.
3. Most of the news outlet are citing CNN reports on the case, which is creating an echo-chamber and doesn’t do much to provide a balanced PoV while reporting the case. The news article has not included interviews, or any information in the defence of Brendt Christensen or Fetlife. Such a misleading big brush stroke inherently condemns Christensen and Fetlife, and will certainly do immense reputational damage to Fetlife and Christensen, before the results of the investigations are even out.