Feminist views on BDSM
Encyclopedia
Feminist views on BDSM vary widely, from some feminists
such as Andrea Dworkin
and Susan Griffin
who regard BDSM
as a form of woman-hating violence, to some sex-positive feminists
who see BDSM as a valid form of expression of female sexuality, (such as Gayle Rubin
and Patrick Califia
). Some lesbian feminists
practice BDSM and regard it as part of their sexual identity.
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
such as Andrea Dworkin
Andrea Dworkin
Andrea Rita Dworkin was an American radical feminist and writer best known for her criticism of pornography, which she argued was linked to rape and other forms of violence against women....
and Susan Griffin
Susan Griffin
Susan Griffin is an eco-feminist author. She describes her work as "draw[ing] connections between the destruction of nature, the diminishment of women and racism, and trac[ing] the causes of war to denial in both private and public life." She received a MacArthur grant for Peace and International...
who regard BDSM
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
as a form of woman-hating violence, to some sex-positive feminists
Sex-positive feminism
Sex-positive feminism, also known as pro-sex feminism, sex-radical feminism, or sexually liberal feminism is a movement that began in the early 1980s...
who see BDSM as a valid form of expression of female sexuality, (such as Gayle Rubin
Gayle Rubin
Gayle S. Rubin is a cultural anthropologist best known as an activist and influential theorist of sex and gender politics. She has written on a range of subjects including feminism, sadomasochism, prostitution, pedophilia, pornography and lesbian literature, as well as anthropological studies and...
and Patrick Califia
Patrick Califia
Patrick Califia , born 1954 near Corpus Christi, Texas is a writer of nonfiction essays about sexuality and of erotic fiction and poetry. Califia is a bisexual trans man.-Biography:...
). Some lesbian feminists
Lesbian feminism
Lesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective, most popular in the 1970s and early 1980s , that questions the position of lesbians and women in society. It particularly refutes heteronormativity, the assumption that everyone is "straight" and society should be structured to serve...
practice BDSM and regard it as part of their sexual identity.
See also
- Feminist Sex WarsFeminist Sex WarsThe Feminist Sex Wars and Lesbian Sex Wars, or simply the Sex Wars or Porn Wars, were the acrimonious debates within the feminist movement and lesbian community in the late 1970s through the 1980s around the issues of feminist strategies regarding sexuality, sexual representation, pornography,...
- Lesbian Sex MafiaLesbian Sex MafiaThe Lesbian Sex Mafia, founded in 1981, is an information and support group in New York City for lesbian, bisexual, heterosexual, and transexual women. The group's focus is to help promote fantasy role playing, bondage, discipline, sadomasochism, fetishes, costumes, alternate gender identities,...
- SamoisSamoisSamois was a lesbian-feminist BDSM organization based in San Francisco that existed from 1978 to 1983. It took its name from the fictional estate of Anne-Marie, a lesbian dominatrix character in Story of O, who pierces and brands O...