QUESTION: What are the effects of mainstreaming BDSM?

ANSWERS: 

(Add yours too)


If BDSM is introduced to mainstream culture in a realistic way that portrays it as healthy sex between consenting adults as opposed to degenerate sexual deviancy, it could be a great thing. There are a lot of kinky people out there who are still ashamed of their sexual fantasies, especially in a BDSM context, and if it was to be shown as just another side of sex then it might lead to fewer unnecessary feelings of guilt in people who have those desires. The problem is, a lot of mainstream media shows all BDSM as an exclusively dark, edgy thing. Look at every procedural crime drama that's ever had an episode revolving around a dominatrix or a BDSM club - the people who partake in those activities are always shown as twisted, creepy deviants, when this is by and large not the case at all. The real kink community is, generally speaking, full of open, positive people. But media doesn't focus on that part of it - they don't show the loving husband and wife who beat the daylights out of each other and then snuggle and kiss afterwards, they'd rather focus on the scandalous and often untrue side of things. It could be very interesting to see healthy portrayals of it become common in mainstream media, but I'm afraid I'm not holding out much hope for that.

Arden Fraser, Hopeful Narrative Designer

Assuming it were gradually accepted as part of the spectrum of human sexual activity, it would probably lead to a much more sophisticated, mature and fact based attitude and understanding of sexuality in society. Whether it is mainstreamed or not does not change the fact that it occurs more than most people think it does and amongst people most wouldn't suspect. So, either we can continue to live in ignorance and with blinders on or we can bring things out into the light, acknowledge their existence and understand them for what they are. Bringing things into the mainstream does not mean we have to accept them. But it does make it much more difficult to take advantage of societal ignorance.

 The thing is BDSM is a very broad term in practice and can encompass some extreme sexual activities as well as the relatively widely practiced ones. If you've ever enjoyed being spanked during sex or giving a spanking during sex, then you have engaged in a mild form of BDSM.
 So, when you say "mainstreaming BDSM" you are saying a whole lot more than you might mean.

John Crater, Misanthrope, Crank, Martyr