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Articles on Bondage, domination, submission, discipline, sado-masochism (BDSM)

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BDSM gear at Eros Pyramide shop. Manu2560/Wikimedia

Re-imagined power: BDSM as Utopian fantasy

The BDSM-themed movie, Fifty Shades of Grey, is the number one movie in Australia. Its success means that a lot of people are titillated by the idea of sex beyond “vanilla sex.” Controversy about BDSM…
Some criticism of Fifty Shades reveals a disdainful attitude toward fans of the franchise. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick - © Universal Pictures

The ‘mommy porn’ myth: who are the Fifty Shades of Grey fans?

With the release of Fifty Shades of Grey in cinemas this week, serious questions have been raised about whether the film depicts abuse – including on The Conversation. Some feminist groups have staged…
Fifty Shades of Grey creates a minefield on the issues at play in consensual acts of violence. Universal Pictures

Fifty Shades of Grey and the legal limits of BDSM

Christian Grey knows exactly his hard limits in sadomasochism and he may also know a thing or two about his legal limits. The Dominant character Grey in the fantasy fiction Fifty Shades of Grey is bent…
We can’t talk about “consensual” BDSM without considering the levels of violence against women. Universal Pictures

Violence dressed up as erotica: Fifty Shades of Grey and abuse

This Valentine’s Day, why not ditch the roses and celebrate by watching some sexual violence? That’s a more honest marketing pitch for the Fifty Shades of Grey film. It’s astonishing that, in 2015, sexual…
A male Mexican true bushcricket, left, grasps female with bear-trap genital claspers. L Barrientos-Lozano

Handcuffs, traps and spikes shed light on sex lives of insects

Handcuffs, spikes and traps – you would think they were part of some bondage aficionado’s bedroom collection. But what are they doing in the insect world? A new study I worked on sheds light on why some…

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