To decolonise or not to decolonise? BDSM as feminist choice

Our speaker says:

"BDSM (Bondage, Dominance, Submission/ Sadism & Masochism) is about ongoing consent, communication, safety, intimacies, negotiated power, pleasure, sexual and bodily autonomy. In scholarly discourses and popular culture, BDSM is conceptualised within a Euro-centric and heterosexual context of understanding sexualities, pleasures, desires, traumas, gendered scripting, heteropatriarchy and class. A rise in academic, popular culture and black feminist discourse is challenging dominant narratives about BDSM, with efforts to decolonise it. I am sceptical about the idea of it being innately colonial. I am interested in exploring what happens when pleasure, freedom, negotiated power and the erotic intersect with BDSM, which situates Black women and queer people’s bodies and sexualities as sites of pleasure and a possible healing modality."