#301 - Challenge at the Intersection of Race and Kink
Challenge at the Intersection of Race and Kink: Racial Discrimination, Fetishization, and Inclusivity Within the BDSM Community
Many organizations within the BDSM community make sincere efforts toward inclusivity, but the success of these efforts is inconsistent, with the community achieving integration with respect to gender identity and sexual orientation yet remaining segregated by race. 398 BDSM practitioners completed surveys asking about racial and ethnic discrimination, fetishization, and inclusivity. People of color were 16 times more likely than non-people of color to feel discriminated against at BDSM events and 17 times more likely to feel fetishized. Qualitative results included troubling stories of overt racism and offensive racial slurs, and examples of microaggressions, feelings of isolation, and feelings of being dismissed. Results suggest that organizations can increase inclusivity by understanding the unique costs faced by people of color with an awareness that these costs might be invisible to White individuals, diversifying positions of authority and leadership, and teaching well-meaning members what types of behaviors could create a hostile environment.
The paper is currently under review at an academic journal (so we can't post a copy yet). Once it is published, we’ll make it available on scienceofbdsm.com.
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Keywords: podcast, kinkycast, kink, science, BDSM, race, racial, fetishization, inclusivity, community, segregated, discrimination, poc, isolation, offensive, isolation, dismissed, awareness, understanding, hostile, academic