The History of BDSM – Page 24 – Documenting my research in the history of consensual sadomasochism

Link Roundup, January 2020

Jan 162020

The BBC has a short history of latex and rubber in fashion.
Bustle also talks about the intersection of BDSM and fashion. “At times, I cannot help but wonder whether BDSM itself is often robbed of its sexuality through its transformation into wearable looks.”
On History of the Dominatrix, “Anne O. Nomis” suggests that the true origin of “safe, sane and consensual/SSC” may have been in NYC’s Hellfire Club in 1980, and not the late david stein in GMSMA. The post also covers the origin of Risk Aware Consensual Kink/RACK with Gary Switch.
Inews.co.uk has a short history of British flagellation culture in the 19th century.
Almanzali’s blog post has a provocative argument that the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and coercion is anti-kink. This is a fine point to parse out: a sexual act can be non-normative without being nonconsensual or abusive, and vice versa.
A Vox essay discusses the double-edged sword of transgender visibility in the 2010s, which may have insightful parallels to the role of kinky people in society in the years to come.
In Psychology Today, Dr. David J Ley talks about the troubles of kinky people in kink-phobic therapy, especially in sex-addiction. Some clinicians are creating new guidelines for dealing with kinky people.
On Daily Dot, leatherdyke Claire Goforth wrote about how BDSM shouldn’t just be welcome at Pride, it should be essential.

Criminal Minds S03E13 “Limelight”: The Celluloid Dungeon

Jan 152020

Criminal Minds S03E13 “Limelight” Aired January 23, 2008 IMDB

Criminal Minds is a police procedural TV series focusing on a FBI unit of criminal profilers. Criminal profiling is a somewhat questionable methodology in reality.

Unlike a lot of other episodes in this type of show, this episode doesn’t begin with the discovery of a dead sex worker. An abandoned storage locker is opened to reveal a collection of bondage magazines, arty porn shots, and detailed journals about capturing and torturing women, complete with diagrams.

Law & Order: SVU S11E12: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Jan 032020

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit S11E12 “Shadow”. Aired Jan 13, 2010

At least there’s one police procedural show with BDSM that doesn’t begin with the discovery of a dead sex worker.

Castle: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Jan 012020

Castle S02E16, “The Mistress Always Spanks Twice”, March 8, 2010 IMDB

Sooner or later it seems every police or lawyer show does an episode about BDSM. Castle, about a bestselling mystery writer who uses his connections to ride along on police investigations, is no exception.

We open with the discovery of yet another dead sex worker, typical for this genre. She’s in lingerie, hanging from custom bondage cuffs, and slathered in caramel sauce.

In the narrative logic of Castle, the murder of a person is less important than the series’ leads flirting. As the investigation proceeds, BDSM figures in two ways.

DaVinci’s Inquest S01E07: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Dec 312019

IMDB First aired 18 November 1998

DaVinci’s Inquest was a Canadian crime drama that aired from 1998 to 2005. The lead character of coroner Dominic DaVinci is based on real-life Vancouver coroner and later mayor Larry Campbell.

As is typical for this sub-genre, episode S01E07, “The Stranger Within”, begins with the discovery of a dead sex worker. In this case, she’s dumped in a parking lot.

The medical examiner reveals, first, that the victim, Allison Cody, had signs of multiple beatings, which leads DaVinci to suspect sadomasochism. One of the major threads of this episode is the indeterminate cause of her death, which appears to be a pulmonary embolism that might be caused by the bruises from her beatings.

Mistress Harriet (Lisa Howard) is on guard against Dominic Da Vinci (Nicholas Campbell)

A Lover’s Pinch in the Advocate

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Dec 312019

A Lover’s Pinch made The Advocate’s list of “22 LGBTQ Books About Sex, Feminism, and Intersectional Desires“.

…Tupper uses his own extensive experience in the BDSM and sex-positive communities to add richness, humor, and authenticity to this fascinating book.

Thanks, Desiree Guerrero!

Many of the other books listed look like they cover different aspects of the history of sexuality.

Silk Stalkings S01E02: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Dec 262019

Silk Stalkings (IMDB) is a much weirder show than I remember. It was supposed to revive the “MTV cops” style that made Miami Vice such a hit in the 80s. It has bizarre interior design, and one of the detectives has flashbacks to her childhood in a communion dress. Attempts at noir/hardboiled narration and dialog become just gibberish. For example:

“If Jerome Eagleton was playing golf with Harlan Cameron and his pretty young wife, it was undoubtedly a best-ball threesome. They were playing on a jagged course with too many physical hazards. These golfers dressed for pain, and most of the balls probably ended up in the rough.”

Episode S01E02, “Going to Babylon”, begins with a dumped old dead guy with bondage marks and a dead pro dominatrix in a car. Murdered sex workers are a staple of this genre, though this episode bucks the trend by not finding the female victim in the teaser. The dominatrix was previously charged with “sexual sadism”, which makes no sense as a charge; she would probably be arrested for solicitation or bawdy-house violations instead.

Elust sex blog 125

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Dec 212019

Welcome to Elust 125–

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 #125? Start with the rules, come back January 1st to submit something and subscribe to the RSS feed for updates!

~ This Month’s Top Three Posts ~

For Love

Apologise

I got that Dominant Feeling

~ Featured Post (Molly’s Picks) ~

Observing a Sex blogger or Two by Mr More
The cutie pie and the sex toy, Part 2

All blogs that have a submission in this edition must re-post this digest from tip-to-toe on their blogs within 7 days. Re-posting the photo is optional and the use of the “read more…” tag is allowable after this point. Thank you, and enjoy!

Link roundup, December 2019

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Dec 172019

Is BDSM as a culture losing its trangressive edge? When Gwyneth Paltrow’s GOOP is selling a $1,350 bondage set, just in time for Christmas, one has to wonder. (CNN, Daily Beast)
Fashion magazine has a short overview of back-and-forth between the BDSM fringe and the mainstream of fashion and culture.
The Sexing History podcast has an extended interview with Marabel Morgan, author of The Total Woman in 1973, which might have influenced some ideas on maledom-femsub relationships.
Tristan Taormino’s Sex Out Loud Podcast has an interview with Pup Amp, host of the Watts the Safeword Youtube channel. He talks about trying to do sex positive education on Youtube while struggling with the platform’s arbitrary and opaque system for regulating sexual content.
Likewise, the Tom of Finland Foundation has been struggling Instagram and Facebook for posting about erotic art, says LA Weekly.
There’s always a sadomasochistic subtext to the original James Bond novels, often attributed to young Ian Fleming’s experiences in the flagellant culture of Eton. This is further supported by a collection of intimate letters between Ian Fleming and his wife Ann, says the Irish Times. “‘I long for you even if you whip me because I love being hurt by you and kissed afterwards,’ Ann once wrote to Ian.” (We should be careful about reading such statements too literally.)
Vox has a roundtable review of the controversial Slave Play, a stage drama that references raceplay and BDSM in the context of race and history.
Honi Soit asks some difficult questions about sex positivity and edgeplay. “…sex acts that involve scenarios in which women are degraded and abused are widely free from criticism within the framework of sex-positivity; we would be quick to condemn people who expressed bigoted views, but yet we give bigotry accolades when it is eroticised.”

Presenting at Westcoast Bound, Jan 11, 2020, Vancouver BC

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Dec 152019

I’ll be presenting and selling books at Westcoast Bound, an annual three-day BDSM conference in Vancouver, January 10-12, 2020, presented by Metro Vancouver Kink.