S&M is it new? Or just recently commercial profitable...

In class last week and this week we have continued a discussion about the normalcy or pathologising of BDSM culture within media. In the article Mainstreaming Kink, Weiss contends that S&M culture was virtually invisible in media prior to twenty years ago. Weiss does point out that S&M is ubiquitous today in mainstream media that “ SM can never really be mainstreamed, because there will always seem to be a bit that remains out there, just out of reach (2006, p. 126).  I also believe that SM will never truly be considered mainstream, because it is not a new phenomenon. Rather, it is only recently that it has become a commercial commodity and viewed as commercially viable. Upon doing a little research, I stumbled upon  a video by The Atlantic  entitled What Fifty Shades Left Out:  A Straightforward guide to BDSM. The is a short and sweet history lesson and informational session.

The authors give a breakdown about the history of BDSM, how your brain reacts when in engaging in BDSM and the various types of toys used ( homemade included) that can be used when engaging in fetish play. As the video mentions, the Kama Sutra, written between 400 BC-200 AD talks about sexual spanking, slapping and biting.  One could consider any of those acts kink. Sexual spanking is a form of SM, in which a dominant individual gives, the submissive the receiving individual punishment. I would argue that although the media is now more accepting of BDSM representation, it has always been around. The video also points out that the terms S&M did not exist until 300 years ago. Can we consider S&M a new phenomenon, if kink has existed for thousands of years? Unlike that of the selfie, which emerged as a result of technological advances, aspects of BDSM have been recorded for thousands of years.  

Before Fifty Shades, we had Rihanna, who in 2011,  shocked the world when she released her hit single “S&M”. Many countries banned or delayed the release of her music video because of the sexually explicit nature of the video. The song would however,  go on to become a huge commercial success topping the charts and going platinum in multiple countries. She did however also get sued for copyright infringement, from an artist that no one had even heard of. Although the video definitely helped to normalize S&M, nothing in Rihanna’s video introduced new aspects of BDSM, rather it offered a constrained, but insightful view into the world of BDSM.

Green, E. & Lay, J. (2015) What fifty shades left out: a straightforward guide to bdsm. The Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/385317/a-straightforward-guide-to-bdsm/

 Weiss, M. D. (2006). Mainstreaming kink: The politics of BDSM representation in US popular media. Journal of homosexuality, 50(2-3), 103-132.