Mainstreaming Kink

The Politics of BDSM Representation in U.S. Popular Media

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3638474
AutoresMargot D Wei, Margot Wei (0000-0001-7275-0415, Sweet Briar College, autor de correspondencia), Margot D Weiss
Año2006
Volumen50
Número2-3
Páginas103-132
Fecha de publicación2006-05-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Homosexuality (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0091-8369 • E-ISSN: 1540-3602
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1300/j082v50n02_06
PMID16803761
OpenAlexW2077405889
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas65
Referencias citadas13

This article explores nonpractitioners' understandings of and responses to the increasingly mainstream representation of BDSM in U.S. media, focusing on the film Secretary (Shainberg, 2002). Survey, focus group, and interview data indicate that popular images of SM promote the acceptance and understanding of sexual minorities through two mechanisms: acceptance via normalization, and understanding via pathologizing. Rather than challenging the privileged status of normative sexuality, these mechanisms reinforce boundaries between protected/privileged and policed/pathological sexualities. Instead of celebrating increased representation, this article argues that political energy might be directed toward the desire that the popularity of BDSM representations signifies: the desire to encounter authentic, undisciplined, and noncommodified representations that would transgress the sexual norms of American postmodern consumer culture

Criminology · Mainstreaming · Political science · Sociology · Special education · Islamic Finance and Communication · Law · Psychology