Playing on the Edge: Sadomasochism, Risk, and Intimacy (40 page)

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Index
221

Index

access

and eroticism, 174–77

and feminism, 182–84

and intimacy, 171–72

risk-trust-access cycle, 177–80, 182–84 and SM play, 172–74

and violence, 174–80, 209n6 aftercare, 76, 85, 87, 151

Anderson, Leon, 187

androgyny, 29–30, 36, 106–107, 118, 185

Athens, Lonnie, 129 authenticity

authenticity of experience, 71–74, 139–40

authenticity of the edges, 163–64 and badass topping, 110

and femininity, 107 marks as indicators of, 73 and safewords, 70

SM interactions as, 61

strategies for, 61, 64–65, 71, 108, 137

and violence, 130–31

auto-ethnography, 15–16

autotelic pain, 139

backhanding, 145, 193

badass bottoming, 112–13, 115, 117, 208n5:4

badass topping, 109–110, 114–15

“BDSM” term, 18–19

Becker, Howard, 20, 45

benevolent dictatorship, 110–11, 114–15 blades/knives.
See
knife play

blood, 73, 92, 125, 128, 153, 166, 184

blood play, 73, 86, 152–54

body, the, 15, 26–29

body modification, 18, 110, 149

bondage, 18–19, 84, 179–80.
See also
rope bottoming

defined, 19, 78

badass bottoming, 112–13, 115, 117, 208n5:4

communication strategies for, 77, 87,

100

and competence, 88–89, 93–94

and creativity, 33, 51–52, 55, 185–86

and edgework, 156–59

and efficacy, 92–93

flow experience in, 96–97, 190–92

and gender performance, 10, 12–13,

108, 114, 117, 208n5:2, 208n7

martyrdom bottoming, 111–12, 114 and “masochist” term, 78

and pain, 135, 137, 140 and personal growth, 94

and power exchange, 73–74 and risk, 182

service bottoming, 100, 112, 114

221

and social status, 99–101, 115, 147–48

and spanking, 197–98

and toughness/strength, 94

and trust, 161–62

See also
dominant/submissive; D/s boundaries, 144–49, 148–54, 163

breath play, 86, 133, 144–46, 150, 156–57

Butler, Judith, 107–108, 119

Califia, Patrick, 72, 127

caning, 70, 135–36, 139, 196

collaborative edgework, 160

collars, 70

Collins, Randall, 128–29, 131 community

burnout, 98

in Caeden, 7–8, 42–43

definitions of, 41–42

as home, 52, 55, 101

inclusion criteria, 44–46 scene names as community

identities, 62

social status in, 99–101, 115, 147–48 validation of marginal identity in,

37–38, 46–47

See also
SM community competence, 93–94

connection.
See
access; intimacy Connell, R. W., 29, 119

consent

and collaborative edgework, 163–65 in definition of SM, 18

and edgework, 149–50

and false consciousness, 177–78 and power exchange, 72, 76

RACK (Risk Aware Consensual Kink), 147

and spanking, 196

SSC (Safe, Sane, and Consensual), 146–47, 154

and symbolic violence, 127–30 and trust, 91

and victimization, 114, 127, 197

and violence, 131–34, 142–43

creativity, 33, 51–52, 55, 185–86

Csíkszentmihályi, Mihály, 95–96, 102

danger.
See
edgeplay; edgework; risk; safety; safewords; violence

Dean, Tim, 171 death

and boundary transgression, 159, 181

and edgework, 147, 149, 155, 157, 159,

163–64

and emotional edgework, 184 and murder, 176

Denzin, Norman, 16, 187

discipline, 18–19

discovery narratives, 43–44, 54 dominant/submissive

defined, 19, 72, 205n7

gender distribution of, 10, 13

policing of identity of, 78–79, 93 and power exchange, 71

and service topping, 111 and social status, 100

top/bottom compared with, 78, 104–105

See also
bottoming; D/s; topping Donnelly, Peter, 154, 156–57, 184 D/s (Dominance/submission)

authenticity of experience in, 71–74 and efficacy, 92

pain discourses in, 137–38, 142

and power, 19, 69–73

role definition in, 64, 70–71 and social status, 100

See also
bottoming; dominant/ submissive; topping

edgeplay, 147–54, 156–59 edgework

defined, 147–48

and boundaries, 150–51

collaborative edgework, 159–61,

163–65, 181

as embodied, 157

emotional edgework, 163, 184

and ethics, 148–50

and gender, 155–61, 163

and intimacy, 180–83, 185–86

as masculinist, 154–56

effectiveness, 92–93

efficacy, 92–93 eroticism

and access, 186

desexualization of the erotic, 68 as distinct from sex, 68, 126–27

and ethnography, 194–95

and geekiness, 31–32

heteronormative eroticism, 86,

175–76, 182

power as component of, 74, 118 at public vs. private events, 14 and violence, 126–30, 142–43
See also
sexuality

essentialism (as identity practice), 38, 47,

49–50, 54

ethics, 126, 148–50 ethnography

and bottoming, 78–79, 207n10 Caeden fieldwork experiences, 11–14 and confidentiality, 17–18

and erotic subjectivity, 194–95 ethnographic representation, 188,

199–202

and felt sense, 15–17

and reflexivity, 15–17, 78–79, 194–202, 207n10

and subjectivity, 187–88

fantasy, 9

fantasy gaming, 60–61

fantasy literature, 51–52

fatness, 26–28, 101, 206n1:1

femininity, 26–27, 30, 114–18 feminism

and edgework, 159–61, 163–65

erotic-violent dualism, 126–30

and female submission, 10, 88

and gender anomie, 116–17, 208n5:5 and sexual violence, 197–98

and SM, 182–84

third-wave feminism, 9, 197

victim feminism, 197 fieldwork.
See
ethnography Fine, Gary Alan, 60

fire play, 85

fisting, 63, 171

flogging, 68, 85, 94, 96, 190–92

flow, 95–97, 190–92

Foucault, Michel, 143, 175

Frank, Katherine, 15, 169, 187

Gans, Herbert, 16

Garfinkel, Harold, 107

gawkers, 65

gay men, 4, 10, 14, 171, 209

geekiness, 30–36, 46, 50, 101

Geertz, Clifford, 15 gender

and discourse in community, 106 and edgework, 155–61, 163

and experiences of bottoming, 182–84 gender subversion, 117–19, 197

incidental androgyny, 29–30, 36,

106–107, 118, 185

and intimacy, 170

and quotidian performance, 29–30, 107–108, 116–17

and risk, 118–19, 155, 182–84

and symbolic performance, 108, 116–19

transgender, 117, 207n3

and trust, 182–84

See also
femininity; masculinity Giddens, Anthony, 169–70, 174–75, 185

Goffman, Erving, 38, 44, 60, 74, 79–80,

107–108

goth, 35, 38, 116–17

Halberstam, Judith, 29, 107, 108 harm

accidental harm, 86–87, 140, 148–49,

161–62, 191

and edgeplay risk, 159

and gender, 183–84

hurt vs. harm, 140–41

as “pseudo-violence,” 129

and rape, 130

and trust, 90, 161–62, 178

hegemonic masculinity, 27, 29–30, 119

heteronormativity, 86, 175–76, 182

Hopkins, Patrick D., 61, 116, 130

identity/identification, 48–49, 78–80, 98.

See also
marginal identity; SM identification; SM identity

impact play, 128

improvisational theater, 61

incest play, 95, 148

incidental androgyny, 29–30, 36,

106–107, 118, 185

intimacy

as access, 171–74

and edgework, 180–83, 186

and eroticism, 174–77, 185–86, 202 and maintenance/transgression of

boundaries, 169–72, 175–77, 191–92 and marginal identity, 184–85

and risk, 171–74, 209n5

and risk-trust-access cycle, 177–80 investment pain, 138

Jackman, Mary R., 129–31, 134, 142

Jamieson, Lynn, 185

journey (as identity practice), 49, 98, 117

Katz, Jack, 176

kink, 18, 68, 132, 206n12

knife play, 39–41, 73, 124–26, 146, 149,

193–94

Kulick, Don, 194–95

Langdridge, Darren, 67–68

Laurendeau, Jason, 155

leather scene, 4, 63, 66, 206n3:3

Lois, Jennifer, 160–61, 163, 180

Luhmann, Niklas, 90

Lyng, Stephen, 154–57, 159–60, 164

MacKinnon, Catharine, 118, 126, 131 marginal identity/marginality

in Caeden, 8

and geekiness, 30–36

incidental androgyny, 29–30, 36,

106–107, 118, 185

and intimacy, 184–85

multi-layered marginality, 37–38 open-mindedness as principle of,

51–54

and sexually marginalized identities, 25

and SM identification, 38, 47–48,

54–55

and social rewards of SM, 101–102 martyrdom bottoming, 111–12, 114 masculinity

challenges to, 27, 29–30

and edgework, 155–61

hegemonic masculinity, 27, 29–30, 119 and investment pain, 138 marginalized male bodies, 27–29 masculinity performances, 114–18 naturalized vs. hyperbolic perfor-

mances of, 107–108 masochism

and consent, 132

”masochist” term, 78

and pain, 139

and “SM” term, 18–19 masturbation, 65–66, 126–27 men.
See
gender; masculinity Messerschmidt, James W., 29–30 Miller, Eleanor M., 159 Möllering, Guido, 89–91

Moser, Charles, 10, 63, 66–67

Murray, Samantha, 26–27

National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, 7, 205n4

needle play, 96, 152–54

Newton, Esther, 194–95

O’Donnell, Ian, 129

pain

and authenticity, 61, 71

disavowal of, 133–34

discourses of pain in SM, 69–71, 134–42

and endorphins, 97, 133

experiences of, described, 82, 123–24,

145–46

and flow, 97

meanings of, 134–40, 192–94 as means to access, 172

in medical/sports research, 141–42 and social status, 94, 100

as symbolic power, 71

as symbolic violence, 128, 134 pathologization of SM

and erotic-violent overlap, 126, 128,

130–31, 140–43, 177

and ethnography, 190, 195

and intimacy, 174–75, 177

mentioned, 25, 66, 206n2:4

and pain, 135–36, 140, 142 performances/performativity

contrived performances, 60

of defiance, 28

gender performances, 27–30, 106–108,

114–19, 185

of power, overview, 70–74

of sadism, 88

strategies of gender performances, 108–113

strategies of power performances, 76–80

of victimization, 114–15

of violence, 128, 131, 134 play

as collaborative boundary transgression, 163–65

in D/s, 207n3:5

and flow experience, 95–96, 190–92 as fundamental SM concept, 8–9,

205n2

and intimacy, 172–73

as leisure, 83–84, 96, 102

private play, 14

public play, 14, 65–66, 151–54

See also
scenes Plummer, Kenneth, 68

power exchange, 72, 149–50

pressure point play, 124, 192–93

privacy, 170–72, 175

pro-dommes (professional dominatrixes), 63, 66, 208n6

pseudonyms, 17, 62

punching, 145, 193

quirts, 109, 166

race play, 148

RACK (Risk Aware Consensual Kink), 147 rape

as access, 178

and erotic-violent dualism, 126, 131

and intimacy, 176

and nonconsensual violence, 143, 146

reflexivity, 15–17 risk

and boundary transgression, 163–64

and chaos, 160

in edgework, 148–49, 150–51, 156–61,

163, 180–83

and gender, 118–19, 155

and heteronormative boundaries, 175–76

and intimacy, 171–74, 177–80, 209n5 RACK (Risk Aware Consensual

Kink), 147