The History of BDSM – Page 8 – Documenting my research in the history of consensual sadomasochism

Link digest, June 2023

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Jun 152023

It’s Pride Month again, and that means another round of arguments about the role of kink at Pride. This year, people argue about the visibility of male-male BDSM sex at the West Hollywood Pride Parade.
The History of Literature podcast looks at what made the Marquis de Sade one of the most notorious writers of all time.
Psychology Today has an overview of the legal status and issues of consensual kink in the USA.

NYPD Blue S04e13 “Tom and Geri”: The Celluloid Dungeon

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May 262023

NYPD Blue S04E13 “Tom and Geri”, aired January 28, 1997

Geri, a police administrative assistant, has had an un-returned crush on Detective Andy Sipowicz. (In a previous episode, S04E06, she told him she was wearing rubber underwear.) The B story of this episode is that Geri tells Sipowicz that a friend she knows, Tom, has died in bondage gear in his apartment. Sipowicz, who wants nothing to do with Geri, hands it off to his superior, who in turn delegates it to a pair of female detectives, Russell and Kirkendall. Even at this stage, Geri seems distrustful of everyone.

June 18, 2023: Webinar on Kink in Mainstream Film

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May 252023

I’m giving a webinar on kink in mainstream media on 18 June 2023 at 10:00 AM Pacific. This is based on my ongoing research for The Celluloid Dungeon. I’ll be digging deep into the history of kink in film, going back to the dawn of the moving image and showing some of the moments and images and individuals. Admission is free for CARAS subscribers and $25 for everyone else.

Peter & TammyJo explore Personal Services (1987): The Celluloid Dungeon

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May 142023

Peter and TammyJo dig deep into the 1987 dramedy Personal Services, loosely based on the true story of notorious UK madam and dominatrix Cynthia Payne.

Link Digest, May 2023

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May 142023

The Imgur image sharing platform is planning a purge of adult content.
Sanctum Unmasked is a podcast series about Los Angeles’ most elite swinger/play party series, perhaps as close as the real world has ever come to the kind of masked orgies for the wealthy and powerful as depicted in movies like Eyes Wide Shut. It gets into the backgrounds of the organizers and the “atmosphere girls”, and describes how the business model slowly shifted into being more like a brothel than a club. It affirms the truism that “money changes everything”, then shows what happens when you add sex and drugs to that.
Flagellation and other forms of physical ordeals have been used in religious practices for millennia, as a means of achieving altered consciousness. Modern paganism in particular has an interesting parallel history with erotic flagellation, via the “father of witchcraft” Gerald Gardner.

Sleeping Beauty (2011): The Celluloid Dungeon

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Apr 242023

Sleeping Beauty is a 2011 erotic drama film from Australia, directed and written by Julia Leigh. Amazon

Lucy (Emily Browning) drifts into paid sex work, as a lingerie-clad server at dinners for wealthy men, then takes a drug that leaves her unconscious as men touch her.

Peter and TammyJo explore Maitresse (1976): The Celluloid Dungeon

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Apr 242023

My friend Dr. TammyJo Eckhart and I explore Maitresse (1976).

Lost in Space S02E25 “The Colonists”: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Apr 192023

Lost in Space is a science fiction TV series about a family stranded in deep space. Episode S02E25 “The Colonists” aired March 15, 1967.

Many science fiction or fantasy TV series would include episodes that featured amazonian or matriarchal societies, doubtless for an element of sex appeal and the carnivalesque pleasure of inverting gender roles.

Link Digest, April 2023

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Apr 152023

Ketil Slagstad’s paper “Visualizing BDSM and AIDS Activism: Archiving Pleasures, Sanitizing History” explores the development of the Norwegian BDSM scene in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, particularly regarding the impact of HIV. Much as in the USA and UK, gay leathermen were stigmatized as the cause of the disease, and there were many arguments over BDSM’s place in feminism and socialism.
Anne O Nomis writes about recreating the salon of Theresa Berkeley, famed early 19th century professional dominant, for Sky TV’s Sex: A Bonkers History. This includes recreations of the Berkeley Horse, birch rods, cats-o-nine-tails, stinging nettles, canes, and other tools of the dominatrix’s trade.
Puritanism has waxed and waned in American society, and we’re currently seeing a rise of neo-Puritanism that is largely focused on the role of transgender people, but includes any non-heteronormative sexuality, from sex ed in schools to internet porn. On the American Sex podcast, Mike Stabile, of the Free Speech Coalition, talks about censorship and self-monitoring of the adult industry and how censorship comes down first and hardest on the queer and the kinky. Stabile also guests on the Watts the Safeword podcast on similar topics.

Roseanne S06E23 “Body by Jake”: The Celluloid Dungeon

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Apr 082023

Aired May 10, 1994

Roseanne was a popular sitcom in the 1990s, built around the stand up comedy of Roseanne Barr.

Roseanne’s elderly mother suffers a minor hip injury and has to move into her daughter’s house to recover, causing friction with Roseanne and her family. Bev’s friend Jake from the retirement home drops by and reveals that Bev injured herself during sex with him. Roseanne struggles with talking about sexual topics with her mother, and Bev is equally uncomfortable, after a lifetime of sexual ignorance and bad experiences. Roseanne and Bev awkwardly talk it out.

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A Lover's Pinch: A Cultural History of Sadomasochism