The History of BDSM – Page 17 – Documenting my research in the history of consensual sadomasochism

Bonding S02E02: The Celluloid Dungeon

Feb 242021

Most of the second episode is Tiff going back to school. She’s one of many women (of various ethnicities and body types) who are in Mistress Mira’s intensive course, though the other women give her the cold shoulder. Pete is the only man present, apparently on the grounds he is “Mistress May’s” assistant.

Mira enters and announces that she had to remove their links from the dungeon website, because of SESTA-FOSTA, much to their disappointment. (This suggests that all of these women are pro-dommes.)

Mira brings up puppy play as an example of a key concept in their work: ownership. She notices that Pete and Tiff are talking in class, and calls Tiff up to the front.

Bonding S02E01: The Celluloid Dungeon

Celluloid Dungeon 1 Response »

Feb 192021

As I watch Bonding, I’m torn between my impulse to say to Tiff and Pete and Bonding in general, “That’s not the way you do this!” and my recognition that, in reality, some people play fast and loose with BDSM’s supposedly sacred principles. Especially if they’re inexperienced and/or money is involved. Likewise, pro-domme work might be a calling for some, but for others it’s a way to pay the bills. My problem isn’t that the show is unrealistic, but that it is unflattering.

In Season 2, for the first time, Bonding breaks out of the narcissism of the Pete/Tiff dyad and shows there is a kinky community and what they do in it matters.

Bonding S01E07: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Feb 172021

Tiff, as Mistress May, is back in Daphne’s house. Daphne asks where “Carter” is and Tiff admits that she made a mistake with her partner.

Link Roundup, February 2021

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Feb 162021

I regret to say that Pat Bond, the founder of The Eulenspiegel Society in 1971, arguably the first modern kink organization, died on February 13th. RIP. Fifty years later, TES is still going.
The Bad Books For Bad People podcast has an in-depth discussion of the 19th century Orientalist erotic novel The Lustful Turk.
Another month, another celebrity sexually harasses women with their kinks, another necessary round of essays explaining that being kinky is not inherently non-consensual and consent violations are not necessarily vanilla. This time it’s actor Armie Hammer and his cannibal/vore fetishes. Both Evie Lupine and Morgan Thorne address the topic.
Speaking of which, Pride Legal has a primer on BDSM and the law.
Montecristo Magazine talks about the corset as a fashion item over the 20th and early 21st century.
There’s a new non-fiction book coming Sadomasochism and the BDSM Community in the United States: Kinky People Unite, by history professor Stephen K. Stein.

Bonding S01E06: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Feb 162021

Pete wakes up next to Josh and has a good day until he goes to the dungeon and finds that Tiff is AWOL and he has to deal with her client, a grumpy guy in a penguin costume.

Pete tries to send him away, but Penguin Guy not only refuses to leave, he intimidates Pete into putting on another penguin costume and wrestling him.

Bonding S01E05: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Feb 102021

It’s date night for both Pete and Tiff. He gets dressed with the help of Tiff’s house slave, Rolph, while she checks out Doug on social media.

Pete and Tiff get into a fight, made worse because they both know each other’s vulnerable spots. Pete needles Tiff over her reluctance to start a relationship with Doug, while Tiff brings up his fear of doing stand-up comedy.

Bonding S01E04: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Feb 072021

We finally follow up on Daphne, the client introduced in episode two. Tiff and Pete, in full kink gear, visit her very uptight house and meet her and her husband, Andrew.

While Tiff is upstairs tickling Andrew, Pete and Daphne awkwardly hang out at the kitchen table.

Bonding S01E03: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Feb 052021

The third episode of Bonding has the least to do with BDSM so far.

Tiff and Pete struggle with their inhibitions. Tiff avoids giving a class presentation on why she wants to be a psychiatrist, while the jock-ish guy who has been flirting with her gives a heartfelt, vulnerable speech. Meanwhile, Pete still hasn’t called the guy who gave him his number.

Bonding S01E02: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Feb 042021

Pete backs out of going on the stand-up stage. Tiff gets him to admit that he’s turned on by feet, and says that arousal helps people “zombie out”. She takes him back to the dungeon and gets him to do his stand-up routine in front of the staff and clients.

Tiff’s professor speaks about the emotional hazards of psychotherapy and the necessity of distance and control, while hypocritically flirting with her and another female student.

Bonding S01E01: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Feb 012021

Bonding is a dramedy TV series, launched in 2019. (IMDB)

Tiff, a grad student who works as a pro domme, recruits her friend Pete as her driver and assistant. Pete, a milquetoast, sexually inexperienced gay man and would-be stand-up comedian, is our window into this world. He is overwhelmed and confused with this new underworld, though that seems to be his response to everything. We see his discomfort with his roommate’s sex life and his inability to go on stage as a comedian.

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A Lover's Pinch: A Cultural History of Sadomasochism