By Gonzalo R. Quintana Zunino Are you a pervert? I believe you are. This statement might offend you. Perhaps you wonder what would compel me to say something like that about you, especially since we’ve never met. However, a voice deep down inside of you might wonder if I am right. Maybe that voice is…
Category: Concepts
Living Vicariously: Porn Provides a Tasting Plate for Our Unspoken Fetishes
by Lauren Rosewarne Pornography is hardly an under-theorised medium. For decades, radical feminists have decried its imagery as an instruction manual for rape. As women being objectified, humiliated, tortured. As men receiving positive reinforcement for perpetuating degradation. For decades liberals – be they of the academic, activist or artistic ilk – have raged against slippery…
When the “D” in Your D/s Dynamic Stands for Depression
Being a caregiver to someone with depression isn’t an easy thing to do. It is even harder in a D/s or Master/slave relationship. When mental health issues surface, they can often do so seemingly out-of-the-blue. In a D/s dynamic, this can destabilise or cause fluctuation in the power flows between the Dominant and the submissive….
From the Dungeon to the Multiplex – How Bondage Has Gripped the Nation
by Kevin O’Gorman & Andrew MacLaren The surge of popular interest in BDSM (bondage, domination, sadism and masochism) that has resulted from the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy of novels has been something of a revelation. Beginning as texts whose relative marginality initially seemed ensured by both theme (BDSM) and format (online fan fiction), today…
Ask a Neuroscientist: A Fresh Look at Marijuana in the BDSM Scene
by Hermes Solenzol The recreational use of cannabis is now legal in my home state of California and in eight other states and Washington DC. Medical cannabis is legal in 28 states. So now more than half the people of the United States has some form of legal access to marijuana. In fact, marijuana use…
Scene Etiquette and Leather Protocol: A Few Notes on High Protocol & In Closing (6/6)
by Ambrosio Part 1: General Principles Part 2: More Specific Guidelines Part 3: Cruising with Class Part 4: Play Parties Part 5: Flagging, Symbols and Rituals HIGH PROTOCOL IN PERSPECTIVE i can’t get all involved in what is ‘protocol’ and what is not… good grief, relationships are hard enough… i frankly just prefer to please…
BDSM Is Not an Answer, So Embrace the Uncertainty
In art, one must throw one’s life away in order to gain it. Gustav Janosch – Conversations with Kafka I think there are many different motivations for seeking out BDSM play or a BDSM relationship dynamic: a drive to satisfy kinks or fetishes novelty escape from societal constraints sense of purpose a sense of completion…
Scene Etiquette and Leather Protocol: Flagging, Symbols and Rituals (5/6)
by Ambrosio Part 1: General Principles Part 2: More Specific Guidelines Part 3: Cruising with Class Part 4: Play Parties Part 6: A Few Notes on High Protocol & In Closing FLAGGING NOT FLOGGING Flagging refers to non-verbal signals that serve as very specific cues in the scene. Most of them originated from the Gay…
Scene Etiquette and Leather Protocol: Play Parties (4/6)
by Ambrosio Part 1: General Principles Part 2: More Specific Guidelines Part 3: Cruising with Class Part 5: Flagging, Symbols and Rituals Part 6: A Few Notes on High Protocol & In Closing THREE TYPES OF PARTIES Play parties — or dungeon parties — are parties where people in the Leather and BDSM scene can…
Cruising for a Bruising – The Savage World of BDSM Dating Apps
I’ve recently dangled my feet (again) in murky waters of the gay kink dating app Recon. With a leatherpup and a slaveboy of my own, my dance-card is full, so I’m not there cruising for action. It’s more like ethnographic research. If my regular hangouts on FetLife are like kink university halls, Recon is more…