Queer BDSM Intimacies

By: Robin Bauer

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Synopsis: This is the first book-length empirical study of lesbian, transgender and queer BDSM practices, identities, relationships and communities. Based on interviews and participant observation, Queer BDSM Intimacies explores various women's and queer BDSM spaces and networks in the USA and Western Europe over a period of five years. While research on alternative forms of sexuality, genders and relationships has been booming recently, the particular experiences and perspectives of this group have yet to receive sufficient attention. Robin Bauer shows that queer BDSM practitioners have created unique social spaces through critical consent-making processes. These spaces are suited to explore not only their own identities beyond common binary categorizations of man/woman and homo/heterosexual, but to create new forms of living, gender, sexuality, intimacy and collectivity. The transgressive nature of BDSM allows them to push their own and social boundaries, engaging with social difference and power dynamics, appropriating them for their own pleasures.