[lbo-talk] Pleasure, Pain and All That Jazz

[Miles Jackson]

Charles Brown wrote:
>
> Again, it is obvious and common sense that BDSM is a little bit weird,
> "weird" being defined as what most people think is weird. Instead of
> admitting that ,and making a respectful argument as to why it's shouldn't be
> considered weird, you take the path of trying to make out that BDSM is just
> obviously wonderful and some kind of more advanced sexuality than "vanilla
> sex". 
Look at it this way: throughout human history, people have engaged in 
various kinds of sexual activity.  Is a particular sexual act "normal" 
or "weird"?  It's nothing more nor less than the social consensus of 
people in a given group.  For instance, anal sex: in some societies, 
it's deviant sexual behavior; in others, it's completely "vanilla" sex.  
There is no need to make a respectful argument about why anal sex (or 
any type of sex!) shouldn't be considered weird; rather, we need to 
recognize that a given culture "makes" certain types of sex normal or 
weird.  In sum: CB, hang out with some BDSM folks for a while, and you'd 
"get" their culture and see how BDSM can be "normal" sex.

Miles