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EvilGeoff -> RE: Does there exist (8/13/2006 3:20:38 AM)
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ORIGINAL: zenofeller
i'm not saying bdsm related injuries should be treated differently because they are bdsm related. i am saying there are many bdsm-related injuries that by that very fact are different. for instance, if you tie someone by their wrists and let them hang for a day, the damage to the humerus, wrist and ribcage will be very specifficly that of someone that was hung by their wrists for a while. it will not be that of someone who has been in a car crash. it will not be that of someone who has fallen from a height.
True enough. However, medical professionals (particularly military medics and doctors) are well aware of the kinds of injuries sustained by torture victims (which would, at least physically, resemble almost any kind of injury you could conceivably suffer in a BDSM scene), and a good bit of information on how to treat those injuries is already available.
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as a matter of pure speculation, maybe in the recuperation of such an injury, a specific device, or a specific technique could prove superior to devices and techniques now in use for treating commonly occuring injuries to the humeral bursa, or the wrist ligament. that device, or that procedure, stands a much better chance to be discovered if the speciffic class of activity, and the speciffic class of injury resulting from it, is studied apart.
I am reasonably certain that said injuries have been studied and treatments developed...
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malaria produces fever. the common cold also produces fever.
Mis-applied analogy here, we're talking about injuries, not illness
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certainly wax burns are treated as heat burns. but radiation burns are not treated just like any ohter heat burn.
Of course not. But a radiation burn caused in a BDSM scene would be treated like any other radiation burn. And I want to know where that Dom got their hands on radioactives.... *grin*
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... but what if someone is into medical play, and they like using, say, peebags. subbie goes to the doctor and complains of back pains. takes the doctor one month, five lab visits and tens of thousands of dollars to find the rare, inflamatory sclerosis of the urinary tract or the discreet infection caused by excessive intubation. wouldn't things be alot simpler if there was the book, saying, you know, if you play with intubation, do not exceed these limits, because if you do you will get condition x, that manifests itself primarily as back pains ?
Actually, there ARE books that tell you exactly that sort of thing. They are used in hospitals and nursing homes and deal with the care of patients who can not urinate for themselves, who have to use catheters on a constant basis.
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... however, it is a valid area of study, justified by the above analogy. rejecting this way of thinking makes any knowledge impossible.
Specious argument here. The study of the human body and what sorts of things happen to it and how to fix those things that happen to it has been an ongoing and continuing process since long before the dawn of civilization. I've not once said that should stop or change. Keep this in mind: Just because you are not aware of the information or where to find it does not mean the information isn't available.
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now on to the broader issue of social acceptance, the fact is bdsm is perceived as a red neck pass time by a good chunk of society, of the same class with inbreeding and child neglect.
Wow this is such an American-centric idea, and one I totally disagree with. I was of the impression that society as a whole has absolutely no clue what BDSM is or means. What little awareness they do have of sadism comes from Hollywood slasher flicks, and tales of European nobility abusing peasants. And from American slave owners abusing slaves. Those doing the abusing are mostly wealthy, "well-born" types, not trailer trash rednecks. SM is an affectation of the wealthy and the bored. People that actually have to work have little time or financial ability to engage in such libertine pursuits.
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the reason, in my humble opinion as a culture theorist, is that the only difference, between the group of people that inbreed, the group of people that neglect children and the group of people that do bdsm, from a cultural perspective, is a little more poetry output by the later. this is not sufficient.
Personally, I'm of the opinion that the wealthy intelligentsia are more likely to neglect their children, at least as far as emotional well-being is concerned. They are more wrapped up in their own little worlds of selfish desire, the kids are shipped off to remote private schools to get them out of Mommy and Daddy's hair... while they may have more money to spend and won't go hungry, the wealthy turn out as many, if not more, despicable human beings as the poor.
Inbreeding? The wealthy do that to protect assets and traits, keep the money and land in the family! The poor do it because they probably have little or no choice in the matter. When you only have acces to a limited gene pool because you can't travel, there's only so much you can do... Nail your cousin before someone else in the family does...
BDSM? Produces more poetry? WTF did that tidbit of a conclusion come from?
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in order for bdsm as a sub culture to increase it's standing, it needs to produce cultural artefacts, especially cultural artefacts that are intelligible to outsidersm and even more importantly, usefull to outsiders.
Really? Hmmmmm... what sort of "useful" or "intelligible" artifacts has the gay and lesbian subculture produced for mainstream consumption? And please do not toss out Elton John, Ellen Degeneres, Will and Grace, or Queer Eye as "useful or intelligible cultural artifacts".
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... everyone into bdsm is still human. as such, they posess a human body. that bleeds just like everyone else's. except for slightly different cause. looking at that cause in a way that is understandable by everyone will certainly make the thing more acceptable. in fact, the only unacceptable thing is the unknown.
Oh contraire! MANY things are unacceptable. Genocide. Incest. Child molestation. Murder, Stealing... The list could go on but you should get the idea. I agree that familiarity does promote more tolerance than isolation and ignorance. But it does not necessarily eliminate prejudice or bigotry, nor will it automatically open closed minds.
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what it takes is a few individuals that are both competent and willing to invest their time into lifting this subculture. they won't be making much money, they will be making a revolution. nobody that makes a revolution dies rich, and blessfully that's not what they're after, as a rule, either.
other than all this, i can see your points, and i do not think they are necessarily wrong. i just think they may well be.
If the object of the exercise is to lift the culture, a "safety" book or first aid manual, is probably not the way to go about it. Particularly if, by your example, the BDSM community needs to produce something "useful" to the mainstream. Your book would meet the "intelligible" criteria, certainly. I think we would agree that pretty much anyone would understand why people doing the things we do would need to know how to fix the boo-boo's or keep them from happening in the first place.
No, what would be "useful" are everyday images. The Altoids Leatherman.... The Cooper Mini Dominatrix.... the subtle, everyday influence that advertising has to make things familiar. In the '80's we joked about The Village People and the flamboyant characters they produced. This year we watched Will and Grace (the final episode got HUGE ratings numbers...), Queer as Folk... Queer Eye For the Straight Guy. We've elected openly gay and lesbian politicians to office, we have churches with gay and lesbian clergy and bishops... Over time, with patience, with work, we of the BDSM bent will progress out of the cultural hinterland just as the gay and lesbian community has been and is continuing to do.
In the final analysis, it is not a book that will move us out of the shadows. What will bring our community out will be the many of us who live this in our daily lives without shame, without hiding. It will be our refusal to pretend to be something we are not. It will be our standing up and standing our ground. It won't be in your face protesting, it won't be over the top behavior or fetish wear. It will be our going shopping, and raising our families, and going to church or synagog or temple or mosque. It will be the hundreds, the thousands, the millions who slowly stand up and say "this is who I am, this is who we are, and we are not a threat to you. Like us or not, we are NOT HIDING TO PROTECT YOUR SENSIBILITIES, AND WE ARE NOT GOING AWAY!"
We are, and we will continue to be. And they will eventually get used to that.
YIK,
- Geoff
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