The History of BDSM – Page 29 – Documenting my research in the history of consensual sadomasochism

Eating Raoul (1982): The Celluloid Dungeon

May 072019

Eating Raoul is a 1982 black comedy directed by and starring and co-written by Paul Barte

Set in a squalid, pre-HIV Los Angeles, Paul and Mary Bland (Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov) are a married couple who want only to leave the city and open a country restaurant, so they can get away from the swingers that have taken over their apartment building, driving the rent up. When one of the swingers gets into their apartment by accident and attempts to rape Mary, Paul kills him with a cast iron frying pan. This gives them an idea: place sex worker ads in newspapers, lure swingers (Mary: “Horrible sex crazed maniacs that no one in the world would miss.”) to their apartment, kill them and rob them.

Interview on Sex Out Loud with Tristan Taormino

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May 062019

My interview with Tristan Taormino on her Sex Out Loud podcast went well. It’s on all the podcast services now, such as Google Play, iTunes and Spotify.

Body Double (1984): The Celluloid Dungeon

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Apr 302019

Body Double is a 1984 psychological thriller directed by Brian DePalma.

Jake Scully (Craig Wasson) is a struggling actor who loses a job in a vampire movie because of his claustrophobia. He’s then kicked out by his girlfriend who’s with another man. Down on his luck, Jake agrees to house sit for a friend. The luxury house comes with a view of a beautiful woman in another apartment, who dances nude every night.

When Jake witnesses the woman’s murder, but he suspects he has been set up as a witness. He infiltrates the LA porn scene to find the body double of the murdered woman

Did Jake (Craig Wasson) see what he thought he saw?

The Piano Teacher (2001): The Celluloid Dungeon

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Apr 282019

The Piano Teacher (2001) is a drama about the relationship between a sexually repressed middle-age woman and an aggressive younger man. This is what happens when an incautious masochist encounters a real sadist.

Erika (Isabelle Huppert) instructs Walter (Benoît Magimel)

Upcoming interview with Tristan Taormino, May 3rd.

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Apr 262019

I’ll be chatting with Tristan Taormino of the Sex Out Loud podcast about A Lover’s Pinch on May 3rd, 2019, at 5PM Pacific. I ran into Tristan at Kinkfest 2019 and had a great time talking with her.

Sex Out Loud on

Operation Spanner documentary: Lasting Marks

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Apr 182019

Lasting Marks is a short documentary on the infamous Operation Spanner case, in which gay men in 1980s Britain were arrested and tried for consensual sadomasochism. I should point out that the documentary is mostly scans of newspaper articles and legal documents, with a voiceover interview with one of the accused.

Link Roundup, April 2019

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Apr 172019

The Dig History podcast has a couple of relevant episodes on, first, the career of the “great American censor”, Anthony Comstock, whose influence is still being felt today, and second, the history of rape and consent in culture in the law and culture of early America, showing that consent, as we define it today, is a very recent development.
The Guardian has posted Lasting Marks – the 16 men put on trial for sadomasochism in Thatcher’s Britain, a 15-minute documentary on infamous Operation Spanner case, in which 16 gay men were arrested for consensual sadomasochism in the 1980s.
We’re still struggling to get the police-judicial system to understand BDSM. A recent case in San Francisco demonstrates this, in which a man was assaulted during a BDSM scene, and was told by police and lawyers that it didn’t count.
The Black Party, a NYC-era gay circuit party with a strong BDSM element, has a forty-year history, but it’s struggling due to rising rents.
There are a handful of articles on BDSM subcultures around the world, especially in places that are less tolerant of sexual difference, such as the Kinky Kollective in India (podcast), the Phillipines, and Turkey.
The GOOP lifestyle brand, known for selling jade eggs for vaginal insertion which may cause bacterial vaginosis or life-threatening toxic shock syndrome, now sells BDSM gear, specifically a nude leather bra and thong and a black leather flogger. Shows just how acceptable BDSM has become, among a certain affluent segment of the population.
Bonding is an upcoming comedy/drama series on Netflix about a gay man who works as a assistant to a professional dominatrix.
Rick Castro, whose career of fetish photography goes back to 1986, has an exhibition at the Tom of Finland Foundation in Los Angeles, CA.
Fashion has turned its wandering eye back to the fetish subculture again.

Presenting in Vancouver, BC, May 11, 2019

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Apr 172019

I’ll give my History of BDSM presentation on May 11th, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM.

Admission by donation. No dress code.

Location: Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph Street, Vancouver, BC

Graciously organized by Metro Vancouver Kink. Followed by their monthly play party with fully equipped dungeon space.

See you at KinkFest 2019

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Apr 172019

See you in Portland OR.

The Ilsa Principle

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Apr 172019

In my research, I’ve observed patterns in the past that we still see today.

Cover of *Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk*

For instance, in the 1830s, a woman named Maria Monk turned up in New York City. She claimed that she had been held prisoner as a sex slave in a convent in Montreal, where she had been subjected to bizarre tortures and told to sexually serve the priests who entered the convent via an underground tunnel. Any offspring of these unions would be baptized, strangled and disposed of in lime pits.

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A Lover's Pinch: A Cultural History of Sadomasochism