The History of BDSM – Page 11 – Documenting my research in the history of consensual sadomasochism

Link Digest, February 2022

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Feb 212022

Fashion designer Thierry Mugler, who did a lot to bring the worlds of fetish and fashion together, died on January 23rd 2022, at age 73.
The American Sex podcast has an in-depth report on censorship in the podcast space, particularly regarding sexually explicit works, which is exacerbated by Spotify’s project to monopolize and exploit the entire podcasting ecosystem.
The second episode of the On Guard Salon talks about dating and cruising for gay leathermen in the pre-Internet days.
The Dildorks podcast interviewed Leigh Cowart, author of Hurts So Good: the Science and Culture of Pain on Purpose, a book that explores the many ways in which people seek out pain and other intense sensations, including BDSM but also experiences like eating hot peppers, body modification, marathon running, and more.
In Rolling Stone, Tina Horn profiles Netflix’s thriller Brazen, which reiterates tired stereotypes about kink and sex workers.
Internet platforms come and go, and Tiktok is in the “come” phase of that cycle. For our purposes, Esme James is running a video series called Kinky History, and you can read an interview with her on BI.org.

Story of O (1975): The Celluloid Dungeon

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Feb 142022

Story of O (1975), dir. Just Jaeckin

[Note: all English quotes are from the English dub.]

The relaxation of film censorship in the 1960s and 1970s, both in the US and abroad, created an interesting period in mainstream films were much more daring in terms of sexuality and violence, while some porn films had bigger budgets and higher production values to play in mainstream theatres and reach a larger audience. Naturally, someone would try to adapt arguably the most famous novel about BDSM to the big screen, Histoire d’O by “Pauline Reage” (aka Anne Desclos), published 1954.

Interviewed by Mind over Splatter podcast on the Hellraiser films

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Feb 042022

I’ve been interviewed by the Mind over Splatter podcast episode on the Hellraiser horror movie franchise. (Starts around 24:30)

Link Digest, January 2022

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Jan 172022

The Decoder Ring podcast explores the notorious X-rated 1982 videogame Custer’s Revenge.
On Guard is a Youtube channel spun off from the Watts the Safe Word BDSM educational channel, which covers the gay leatherman culture of the 1970s and 1980s.
The Internet Archive has a scan of the December 1983 issue of the gay magazine The Body Politic, which has an article by Geoff Mains called, “The Agony and the Ecstasy” about gay male S&M, extracted from Urban Aboriginals.
The Dirty Sexy History podcast has a number of episodes on kink or kink-adjacent topics, including episodes on 19th Century dominatrix Theresa Berkley, the consensual Master-slave relationship of Arthur Munby and Hannah Cullwick, and the death of composer Franz Kotzwara from erotic asphyxiation in 1791.
Another magazine has an interview with Jack Fritscher, legendary publisher of gay leather/BDSM magazine Drummer and porn producer, as promo for an upcoming documentary Raw! Uncut! Video!: A Love Story About Fetish Porn by Ryan A White and Alex Clausen.

Interview with Kinky Cocktail Hour

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Jan 122022

Transparent S03E02, S03E04 & S03E09

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Jan 112022

Episode S03E02 “When the Battle is Over” Aired 22 Sep 2017

Jiz Lee returns as Pony, having regular domination sessions with Sarah.

Sara struggles with joining the board of her Jewish temple, and says some slut-shaming things about her ex-husband’s Millennial girlfriend. She’s insecure about being a wife and mother with her ex-husband in all ways except sexually.

In session with Pony, Sara is miles away. She’s on a St. Andrew’s cross, in her underwear, being spanked by Pony, rambling about flyers for her temple. Shot of her face in the cross.

Transparent S02E09 & S02E10: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Jan 032022

Transparent Episode S02E09 “Man on the Land”, aired Dec 11, 2015.

In this episode, mainly set at a women’s festival in the woods, Maura, a transwoman, has a difficult experience when she finds that the festival is supposed to be for “women-born-women” only, and her adult daughter Sarah hooks up with a kinky woman named Pony (played by Jiz Lee).

Pony (Jiz Lee) meets with Sarah (Amy Landecker)

Tom of Finland: This Life and Times, by F. Valentine Hooven III

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Dec 172021

Hooven, Valentine. 1997. Tom of Finland: his life and times. New York: St Martin’s Press.

One thing I’ve been curious about in the life of Touko Laaksonen, better known the world over as Tom of Finland, is did he participate in BDSM?

Hooven’s 1993 biography explores the deeply closeted, all-male, outdoors world that formed Laaksonen’s sexuality. There were a handful of bars and cafes in 1940s and 1950s Finland that catered to gay men, but they upheld a culture of effeminacy he didn’t care for. (Hooven makes the point that the “queen” stereotype was a way of asserting gay identity publicly in decades past.) His way to be gay was to partake in furtive, anonymous, nighttime encounters in parks, bus stations and the like.

Link Digest: December 2021

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Dec 152021

The Kinky Cocktail Hour interviews Vi Johnson, BDSM world elder and keeper of the Carter-Johnson Memorial Library.
Octavius King’s video profiles the notorious X-rated Atari adult videogame from 1982, Custer’s Revenge, and its bondage box art.
Back in 2011, there was a videogame for the Wii console called We Dare. Among other things, it encouraged you to put a wiimote in the back of your pants or skirt and get spanked.
Anne Rice, best known in the BDSM world as the author of Exit to Eden and the Sleeping Beauty quadrology, died on Dec 11, 2021. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty was a huge influence in the 1990s BDSM culture.
Auto Erotica in San Francisco’s Castro district, located in the former office of Drummer magazine, is a shop/museum for kinky and queer books, posters, magazines and other materials.

Elust digest #144

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Dec 152021

Welcome to Elust 144.

Elust is the only place where the smartest and hottest sex bloggers are featured under one roof every month. Whether you’re looking for sex journalism, erotic writing, relationship advice or kinky discussions, it’ll be here at Elust. Want to be included in Elust #145? Start with the rules, come back January 1st to submit something and subscribe to the RSS feed for updates!

Episode S03E02 “When the Battle is Over” Aired 22 Sep 2017

Welcome to Elust 144.

Erotic Fiction

Erotic Non Fiction

Books and Movies

A Lover's Pinch: A Cultural History of Sadomasochism