What images come to mind when you think of BDSM practitioners? Do you picture a loving, committed couple in the privacy of their own bedroom or a strict, leather clad Dominatrix in a public dungeon? Are they plagued by mental illness or are they leading happy, healthy lives volunteering at your local soup kitchen? Or do you envision a group so diverse that it can include any combination of these and more? 

Some time ago, I read an article in Sadomasochism: Powerful Pleasures called “Mainstreaming Kink: The Politics of BDSM Representation in the U.S. Popular Media” by Margot D. Weiss.¹ While the entire book was one that I would highly recommend, this entry in particular really stuck with me. Why? Because Weiss much more eloquently states what I have been thinking for years: more media representation does NOT necessarily lead to a more widespread acceptance or understanding of BDSM. Quality over quantity, people.

Weiss makes her case by pointing out two ways that BDSM is often portrayed: (1) by “normalizing” and (2) by “pathologizing” the behavior. While her article deals specifically with the film Secretary, I couldn’t help but also apply what Weiss was saying to the recent trend of BDSM erotica. Here, the act of “normalizing” makes a moderate amount of sense from a business standpoint. The target market for erotica largely overlaps with romance paperbacks. The classic BDSM storyline where a girl enters into a 24/7 power exchange (with intense training & canes that cause bruising welts) scares a lot of those readers. Therefore, in order to sell more books, authors substitute a diluted version of BDSM that feels risky to the vanilla crowd, but ends at blindfolds and handcuffs. (Some, like E.L. James, even have their “Dominant” abandon BDSM once they fall in love, replacing it with a desire for marriage and children.)

Although this limited view is somewhat annoying, it’s Weiss’ research on “pathologizing” that worries me the most, because it senslessly threatens the BDSM community. The most popular example is, of course, E.L. James’ Fifty Shades Trilogy. Christian’s backstory includes being physically abused as a child as well as sexually manipulated as a teenager by a much older woman. He goes into therapy, admits that he basically beats women that remind him of his mother, and believes that his penchant for BDSM is a disease that Ana cures him of. Ana backs this belief up by constantly wondering how bad his past was to make him like the things that he does. Wow. While the BDSM community and many psychologists are working to revise the DSM’s criteria for sadomasochism, this nonsense is making the bestseller’s list.

We can’t even try to pretend that Fifty Shades is an isolated incident. What Happens After Dark by Jasmine Haynes is about a girl who was abused by her father. She uses BDSM to cope, engaging in potentially dangerous behavior with strangers. In Bared to You by Sylvia Day, both Gideon and Eva are victims of past abuse. Eva was sexually violated by a member of her family, Gideon by a childhood doctor. Their past abuse makes their passion more “raw and intense.” 

These representations “enforce the boundaries between normal and not normal,” says Weiss. It leads to wrongful assumptions and discrimination. Court cases against those involved in BDSM are not a thing of the past. Individuals are still at risk for losing friends, lovers, family members, and careers because of a sexual behavior that others have deemed as “sick.” And in a time when erotica could easily be used to further the cause of sexual freedom with respectful, knowledgeable, and sex positive depictions, many authors are perpetuating an outdated view of the damaged individual who practices BDSM that is mildly kinky at best — and abusive at worst.

1. Margot D. Weiss. 2006. “Mainstreaming Kink: The Politics of BDSM Representation in U.S. Popular Media.” Journal of Homosexuality 50(2/3): 103-130.

You can also find an electronic copy of the article here.