Very early this year (way back in January), I did a quick post on BDSM and Feminism, linking to an interesting article on Feminist Philosophers. Today, I will point you to an article on SF appeal. The Sexual Manifesto: Can BDSM be Feminist? is an excellent defense of BDSM and makes some very good points about how the Lifestyle is not anti-Feminist.
Images of women crying out in pain and receiving a sound beating don’t usually scream “feminist.” For some, it’s cause for alarm, calling up notions of rape and patriarchal power and privilege. For others, though, BDSM fits hand in hand withsex-positive feminism.
BDSM encompasses a wide variety of behaviors, kinks, and actions, but literally it boils down to: bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism. Which can mean anything from erotic tickling to a 24/7 slave-master relationship to spanking to, yes, a Dom and his very bad, very naughty female submissive.
It’s okay if pain scares you, but many anti-BDSM sentiments stem from ignorance and sex-negativity.It’s understandable why men beating up women for pleasure can make some people squirm (and not in a good way), but BDSM can be a very feminist lifestyle. First, not all subs are women and not all Doms (Dommes) are men, but that’s neither here nor there for those absolutely offended by this deplorable abuse of women. But let’s get down to–how do you say?–brass tacks.
I think that she does underplay the roll of women as d-types, but I will allow her to skip over this point to make the other ones she makes.
Personally I think that the role of feminine dominants should not be underplayed. In many ways, they are reversing the roles that many Feminists find so abhorrent. It places women in power and men in a role of service. Now some may say that it just a game and that it will have no great influence in society at large. This may be so today, but we each influence our friends and the positive modeling they provide can change our societies future.
Still, I think they article is well worth a read. I have always thought of Feminism in its best sense as a way for women to be empowered to be the best woman they can be. This for some means being a CEO and for others (many others) this may mean being a housewife. And for a great deal of women I know of, this means a life of service under the threat of punishment of the whip. And if that is what they want, I can think of no greater way of them living their lives.
MV
The House of Void 