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longwayhome -> RE: Post-Apocalypse BDSM (8/6/2016 8:05:22 PM)
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I'm not sure that 50 shades was quite the departure some people think it was.
Every so often some people get all excited about how some aspect of popular culture is making BDSM more generally socially acceptable (e.g. Madonna, Rihanna's chains and whips, Sexcetera, 50 shades, you name it). Another bunch of people get all pissy cos it's not twue BDSM, which it never is. It's popular culture and often it's about making money not enlightening humankind.
Seems to me that a significant part of the community is sniffy about newbies, especially newbies who have misconceptions (perhaps exactly because they are newbies) whatever first made them realise they were interested in BDSM. Some newbies hang around for the long term. Some don't. And a proportion of the established players don't like it either way. LadyPact's post about old guards and new guards seems particularly relevant here.
The whole point is that, like it or not, and whatever we call it, BDSM is a minority interest, however we frame it. Sure there may be a spectrum from totally vanilla to nothing works if it ain't kink. Maybe that makes everyone a little kinky, but only a little. Our kinks often seem like a loose bag of diverse things and we seem to be community only in very special sense of the word. Our distinctiveness from each other unites us as much as our similarities.
50 shades didn't change the world for better or worse. It got some new people talking about kinky stuff and, yes, it did become a bit of an internet obsession for a while but, ho hum, that's what the internet does - look at all the Hilary and Donald threads, even here in BDSM land. (I've nothing to be superior about, I've contributed to plenty of fad threads.)
There is a wider social trend towards sexual issues being openly discussed and there has certainly been a explosion in the availability of explicit sexual material of all types including porn. Despite that, when I think about the 50 shades phenomenon, whatever the fuss was at the time, I can't help getting the feeling it's all a bit plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
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