This volume examines crucial questions about human sexuality through the lens of BDSM: What is sexuality? What makes an experience sexual or not? What role do communities play in shaping sexual identities? How are BDSM communities similar to and different from other kinds of sexuality and identity-based communities?This book presents a thoughtful study of BDSM experiences in diverse communities across geographic boundaries to examine crucial questions about human sexuality. Featuring cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research, methodologies, and theoretic approaches, the chapters also address questions of broader interest around how identities are created and regulated, the ethics of research on stigmatized populations, how popular culture representations shape lived experiences, and the complex relationships among structural and personal power. Throughout, the volume foregrounds questions of meaning, taking as an empirical question rather than an a priori assumption the range of meanings that BDSM experiences have for participants.The Power of BDSM is an evidence-based, provocative inquiry into the ethics, culture, and intersectional identities that is revealed through the BDSM practices across geographic locations for academics, scholars, and students interested in sexualities, identities, communities, inequalities, and related topics.

Series ForewordPhillip L. HammackForewordCharles Moser and Peggy J. KleinplatzPrefaceBrandy L. Simula, Robin Bauer, and Liam WignallPart I Introducing BDSMIntroduction: Understanding BDSMBrandy L. SimulaChapter 1: Research in BDSM: 40 Years AlongThomas S. WeinbergChapter 2: The Role of the Internet in Research on BDSMLiam WignallPart II Play and PracticesChapter 3: The World of Rope Bondage: Belonging, Resistance, and the "Infinite Possibilities" of CommunityZoey JonesChapter 4: Play, Performativity, and the Production of a Pup Identity in the United StatesRobert M. Matchett and Dana BerkowitzChapter 5: Perverting Innocence in Age Play? Using Little Space to Explore Vulnerability, Innocence, and Discipline in Adultist SocietyRobin BauerPart III Relationships and CommunitiesChapter 6: Navigating Dissonant Desires: Kink (In)Compatibility in Romantic RelationshipsDaniel Cardoso Patr?cia M. Pascoal, and Rita QuaresmaChapter 7: Dispelling the Negative Perception of the BDSM Community in Johannesburg, South AfricaTracey L. McCormickChapter 8: Kinky, Swinky, and PolyKink: Reflections on BDSM Influences on Other Sexual CommunitiesMarla Renee StewartPart IV Representations and Personal ReflectionsChapter 9: Examining Representations of BDSM in Undergraduate Human Sexuality Textbooks: Academic and Community PerspectivesBenjamin C. Graham, Tsolak M. Kirakosyan, Jessica A. Fox, and Miles RuvabalcaChapter 10: A Record of Violence: The Continuing Criminalization of BDSM ActivitiesTheodore BennettChapter 11: Dominance, Submission, and Intersectionality: The Liberatory Potential of Authority ExchangeSinclair SexsmithPart V Ethics and Consent in the Scene and in BDSM StudiesChapter 12: The Politics of BDSM Play: Racial Dynamics and Critical ConsentAmber R. NormanChapter 13: Survivors of Sexual Victimization and the Negotiation of BDSM PlayKaren HoltChapter 14: From Pain to Healing: Kink and Communication in Sexual Assault RecoveryValerie Rubinsky, Angela Cooke-Jackson, and Alejandre RodriguezChapter 15: Emotions, Power, and BDSM: The Stance of the EthnographerCharlotta Carlstr?mAfterwordThomas S Weinberg