Kind of an interesting coincidence, the way sexual bondage took off
in American culture in the 50s and 60s via Betty Page and Movie Star
News, after long being a part of culture generally, but not widely
recognized. Then it really got established in the 80s
Kinda
like feminism, which took off in the sixties after long being part of
American culture, then became established in the 80s. The timing isn't
exact, but it's close.
But I don't think it's a coincidence.
Here's
the thing. One of the key points in feminism is that “No means no.” I'm
down with that. Women have the right to refuse sexual roles,
experiences, whatever, that don't work for them.
But
the obverse is also true. “Yes” means “Yes.” Women have a right to their
choices, and the ability to say “No” and have it mean something also
implies the ability to say “Yes” and have it mean something.
And
for sexual bondage to be possible, women have to be able to say “no”
and “yes” and it has to mean something (or whatever the safeword happens
to be). The personal and cultural freedom that feminism has created for
women is what allows them to participate in sexual bondage.
This
is why feminism is essential to sexual bondage play. I'm sure there
have been exceptional women throughout history, who could do the sexual
bondage play and understand it as play even in a society where women are
second class citizens with great limitations on their choices, but
that's what they were – exceptions.
There is a tendency
on the part of people who don't understand sexual roleplay that if it's
maledom/femsub play, that the participants must not be aligned with
feminism. They're acting out their social/political agenda in the
bedroom. There probably are people out there doing that somewhere. I
just don't know if you can call it “sexual roleplay” under those
circumstances, because it doesn't sound much like play.
So
bondage fans owe a lot to feminism. The feminists may not have been
intentionally working to ensure that women have the freedom to
participate in bondage play and have it be actgual play, but that's what
they did. And good for them!
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