The Power of BDSM: Play, Communities, and Consent in the 21st Century

This volume examines crucial questions about human sexuality through the lens of BDSM: What is sexuality? What makes an experience sexual or not? What role do communities play in shaping sexual identities? How are BDSM communities similar to and different from other kinds of sexuality and identity-based communities? This book presents a thoughtful study of BDSM experiences in diverse communities across geographic boundaries to examine crucial questions about human sexuality. Featuring cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research, methodologies, and theoretic approaches, the chapters also address questions of broader interest around how identities are created and regulated, the ethics of research on stigmatized populations, how popular culture representations shape lived experiences, and the complex relationships among structural and personal power. Throughout, the volume foregrounds questions of meaning, taking as an empirical question rather than an a priori assumption the range of meanings that BDSM experiences have for participants. The Power of BDSM is an evidence-based, provocative inquiry into the ethics, culture, and intersectional identities that is revealed through the BDSM practices across geographic locations for academics, scholars, and students interested in sexualities, identities, communities, inequalities, and related topics.

About the Author

Brandy L. Simula (she/her/hers) is a queer feminist sociologist who studies identities, interactions, and inequalities. Her work appears in Sexualities, Journal of Homosexuality, Journal of Bisexuality, Sociology Compass, Social Currents, and Social Sciences . She is the lead editor of Expanding the Rainbow , the guest editor of the Gender & Identity special issue of Social Sciences , and a special issue of Sexualities on BDSM. Robin Bauer (he/him/his or they/them/theirs) is a professor for Epistemology and Theories of Difference at the Faculty of Social Work, Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University Stuttgart, Germany. He has published widely in the fields of transgender studies, BDSM, sexuality, non-monogamies, queer theory, and queer-feminist science studies and epistemology. His work has been published in Sexualities, NORMA, WSQ, Graduate Journal of Social Science, Zeitschrift für Sexualforschung, Journal für Psychologie and Cahiers du Genre and in numerous edited volumes. His book, Queer BDSM Intimacies , was published by Palgrave in 2014. Liam Wignall (he/him) is a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Brighton. He explores the identities and experiences of non-heterosexual individuals related to kink, BDSM, and fetishes; pornography consumption; drag subcultures; non-exclusive sexualities; and sexual consent. He draws on theories from psychology, sociology and cultural studies, focusing on the impact of the internet and the role of community participation for these individuals. His work has been published in Archives of Sexual Behavior; Journal of Sex Research; Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity; and Psychology & Sexuality. He is currently editor for the Psychology of Sexualities Review , and Associate Editor for Psychology & Sexuality , and the Journal of Positive Sexuality . His book, Kinky in the Dgtl Age , was published by Oxford University Press in 2022.