Talking About Sexual Consent: Heterosexual women and BDSM

MacDonald, Jo; Beres, Melanie

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Talking About Sexual Consent: Heterosexual women and BDSM

Beres, Melanie; MacDonald, Jo

Cite this item: Beres, M., & MacDonald, J. (2015). Talking About Sexual Consent: Heterosexual women and BDSM. Australian Feminist Studies, 30(86), 418–432. doi:10.1080/08164649.2016.1158692

Permanent link to OUR Archive version: http://hdl.handle.net/10523/6618

Date: 2015

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Pages: 418-432

Keywords: Sadomochism; consent negotiation; rape prevention

Research Type: Journal Article

Languages: English

Abstract:

Sexual consent is an increasingly important concept for sexual violence prevention. Practitioners of bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, sadomasochism (hereafter BDSM) advocate strong community standards of active sexual consent to ensure that their practices are clearly differentiated from abuse. In this article, we explore the ways in which heterosexual female BDSM practitioners understand the meaning of and communicate sexual consent within their relationships. Their accounts of sexual consent within their BDSM relationships present sexual consent as synonymous with safe play. Yet, even within a context that demands explicit consent, there are complexities and nuances in terms of how sexual consent is communicated during play. We explore how explicit forms of consent found in descriptions of BDSM sit uncomfortably next to feminist analyses of how heteronormativity can undermine women's autonomy during heterosex.

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