Privelege Was Re: [lbo-talk] Re: Maoist cleanup drive hits

[John Thornton]

Charles Brown wrote:
> CB: I know I myself don't have especially strong feelings about BDSM. What I
> have is more a skeptical grin on my face combined with some indifference. 
>
>
>  I get the feeling that my non-BDSM's understanding of what it is may be
> inaccurate. That is, the common usage of "sadist" outside of the sexual
> context would be somebody who enjoy's inflicting pain on someone else. _In
> general_, this is considered not a good mentality to have.  ( I realize that
> Marat de Sade is the source of "Sadism" , and he was involved in special
> sex, but still the common usage _now_ is not tied to the sexual context) 
>
> But from the defenses of BDSM on this list in particular over the years, I'm
> thinking that the "pain" inflicted in BDSM must be more along the lines of
> "pain that's close to pleasure", of paradoxical psychological legend, and
> even common experience, as perhaps in "tears of joy". Or something like
> that.
>
> As to criticism of BDSM, I think you two ignore the fact that there is a big
> problem of domestic violence against women in the world, certainly in the
> US. A big _left_ project is to get men to stop being "sadistic" toward
> women. So, it might help if you explained in detail how BDSM is actually
> only superficially similar to or actually not at all like domestic violence
> against women. For you to ignore this obvious question, and act so surprised
> that non-BDSM people have some questions about it is kind of esoteric on
> your parts. 

You're right that people with little to no knowledge of BDSM have 
incorrect assumptions about the practices.
You demonstrate this yourself with connecting BDSM with domestic 
violence. They are not connected in any way.
BDSM practitioners are going to have to do more work educating people if 
they want the practices to be perceived as what they are rather than as 
violent projected fantasies.
Incidentally my experiences with B&D involved real pain. The mistress I 
knew in Chicago was really good at her craft and after knowing her for a 
awhile I thought I find out more. I found out it is not to my liking. 

 From my conversations with her I gather the pain is real. Some people 
enjoy pain under certain circumstances and others don't.

John Thornton