There’s not much comfort in saying, “I saw this coming.”
On March 5, social media influencer Libs of TikTok (aka Chaya Raichik) posted the following on X/Twitter:
Libs of TikTok is a big name in anti-LGBTQI circles as an alarmist provocateur, usually by hitting the “think of the children” button. Her posts have, at the very least, enabled harassment of drag queen story hours, pride events, hospitals providing gender affirming care to trans people, support of queer students in schools, and more.
Now that anti-trans provocations are losing their intensity (if only from overuse), cultural conservatives are searching for new ideas to rile up their base. BDSM, unfortunately, may be the next target of paranoia and propaganda in the culture war.
Libs’ attack highlights a key vulnerability of the BDSM subculture: its dependence on venues provided by institutions that are susceptible to outside pressure. This is pretty much the same tactic employed by Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, who organized campaigns to pressure hotels into not having BDSM conventions. However, Libs’ platform on social media has a far greater reach than LaBarbera ever dreamed, with 3 million followers on X/Twitter alone.
As usual in these affairs, Libs is using BDSM as a pawn against the real target, the LGBTQI Centre in Pennsylvania. By posting “shocking” accounts of what’s going on, she encourages social conservatives to pile on the centre, just when it needs government funding. Apart from the harassment, the Centre has to consider playing the “respectability politics” game of abandoning less-assimilationist sexual minorities to keep their support. BDSM becomes the wedge issue to divide the LGBTQI community, just as it was used to smear Planned Parenthood.
One Response to “BDSM under attack by Libs of TikTok”
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This woman spoke at the university in the city where I live recently. While I will defend her right to speak, there are consequences for speaking hatred and spreading lies, or at least, there should be.