The media is an important source of information and norms for billions of people around the world. This can include print, television, film, or even audio. One part that the media has changed and defined over a long period of time is human sexuality and behaviors. Particularly, the way people interact with each other romantically has been subjected to either evangelization or determent through these avenues. The traditional sexual behaviors that psychologists wrote about were seen as unnatural and perverted, hence making the society disassociate itself with anyone who was found practicing them. These are pedophilia, homosexuality, sadomasochism, zoophilia, necrophilia, voyeurism, exhibitionism, and many others. There are hundreds of these deviant sexual behaviors. Many years ago, they were seen as taboos, but through the media, some of them have begun to slightly get acceptance and support. Such is sadomasochism, portrayed as BDSM in the book trilogy Fifty Shades.
Literature Review
Sadomasochism is a term that combines sadism and masochism in one place, according to Freud’s notion that they are interconnected. The native term BDSM defines the culture that has evolved around these two words to describe a sexual behavior in the present era. The community supporting this behavior has tastes that are widely varied and this is attributed to the fact that the term BDSM has confused many in its definition and description. In the novel “Techniques of Pleasure: BDSM and the Circuits of Sexuality,” Weiss (2011) describes the individuals practicing BDSM as “aficionados of bondage, Domination/submission, pain or sensation play, power exchange, leather-sex, role-playing, and fetishes. The community embraces a wide range of practices, relationship types, and roles, ranging from the more common (for instance, rope bondage or flogging) to the less so (playing with incest themes or playing at being a pony), yet all of these variations fit under the umbrella term BDSM” (vii).
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While some of the descriptions above refer to several practices that are dissimilar, they all fall in the category of unconventional sexual behaviors, informally known as ‘kinky’ sex. Recently, the sexuality type has been romanticized and evangelized through the mainstream media hence leading to its acceptance.
BDSM is an acronym of a combination of terms such as Bondage with Discipline (restraining practices), Dominance with Submission (role play), and Sadism and Masochism (pain for sexual gratification) ( Doshi, 2015) . The actual origin of this word is however unclear. Cultures have traditionally defined what is legal or illegal. BDSM has its legal implications. It is imperative to note that the behavior is associated with consent, what differentiates it with domestic violence or sexual assault. But, if one partner is not a masochist, then the sadistic other can convert the play into domestic violence. BDSM has a high chance of leading to injuries, thus making it closer to rape. The acceptance of this practice also varies widely and is legal in Austria, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, and Japan. They are outright illegal in the United Kingdom and Switzerland, while the United States have different laws for different states in relation to the behavior ( Doshi, 2015) .
In today’s society, there is a wave out to challenge the ideology of the normal heterosexuality. The media has been promoting alternative sexual behaviors more and more through music, literature, television, and pop culture. Traditionally, the deviant sexual behaviors were considered taboos and the people practicing it outcasts and abnormal. In fact, the DSM-IV has a way of diagnosing sexual behaviors that are considered abnormal. However, through cultural transformation, more people have come out to express their sexuality and sexual experimentation. And this is true with BDSM that has now become popular. The research on acceptance rate of the behavior is variant and ranges between 2 percent and 62 percent. The result of this deviation is due to the different types of questions asked during the study. For instance, Ritchers et al (2008) conducted research by asking a large sample of subjects In Australia whether they have “been involved in B&D or S&M” in the past year. The result showed only 1.3 percent women and 2.2 percent men saying yes. This is on the low end of the acceptance rate. On the high end, another research was conducted by Christian Joyal and colleagues (2015) to ask over 1,500 participants about their sexual fantasies. 53.3 percent of men and 64.6 percent of women indicated that they had fantasies of being sexually dominated. The same report showed that 59.6 percent of men and 46.7 percent of women had fantasies of dominating the other person sexually. In conclusion, the result shows a probability of a substantial minority of women and men having fantasies about BDSM. The larger majority just sees it as either a taboo or does not understand what it means. The suppression of sexuality is highly attributed to the problems in our society of women not being able to explore or come to terms with their emancipation and sexual freedom.
Discussion
There have been books about BDSM, but none beats the popularity that Fifty Shades trilogy gained. These three books ( Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, and Fifty Shades Freed ), were written in series by a British author E. L. James. The once a story about Twilight fan fiction has become a cultural phenomenon that describes how people can come into terms with their sexual desires and fantasies. The franchise has come under fire for its representation of BDSM and the push it has given it to the mainstream sex. The series shows the main character, Christian Grey, as a sadist who enjoys inflicting pain on women. Anastacia Steele, the other main character, is seen as an innocent, virgin girl who has not explored her sexuality when the series starts. Fifty Shades show Christian Grey as an older, muscular, more powerful, and kinkier than Ana Steele. He gives the girl a laptop gift and tells her to research about BDSM, which she does. She gives in to the desires of the male protagonist and is willing to explore the BDSM world with him. Grey, a young millionaire, introduces Steele, a college student, to the fantasies of sexual kinks and goes ahead to produce a contract that the latter signs in agreement. The contract is based on allowing the submissive character to explore her sexuality and limits “safely.” Part of it also requires the submissive to give in to any sensual activity that the dominant may deem fit and pleasurable. BDSM is also evident in the Red Room scenes where the two often engage in sexual activities. The room is filled with chains, toys, and whips.
The book series has several implications to the public. In a culture that is dominated by black or white, good or evil notions, the book brings a sense of experimentation to the world of human sexuality. The once considered deviant and marginal kind of sexual behavior, BDSM has gained popularity and curiosity that has made many people want to experience what it feels like to be submissive and dominant. American culture may still prefer intimate sex from a loving relationship, but the books have led to the understanding of sex for pleasure in different grounds ( Seidman, Fischer, & Meeks, 2016) . There is a growing crop of the population who uses sex for pleasure as a way of self-expression and paying heightened attention to the erotic potential of specific sexual behavior within the BDSM. However, as it is normal, Fifty Shades trilogy has its critics and they are concerned about the innate nature of male dominance in sex and the society. They believe that it promotes inequality in society and only strengthens the traditional status quo.
In conclusion, media is an important aspect in the transformation of culture and understanding of several tenets of life. Fifty Shades trilogy has proved to be a wave in bringing up issues that were once marginalized into the mainstream culture and causing slow but steady acceptance. BDSM continue to be a growing topic by day as many women have poured into sexual emancipation and experimentation.
References
Doshi, S. M. (2015). BDSM: a sexual deviance rather a sexual culture an overview. Journal of Indian Academy of Forensic Medicine , 37 (1), 78-81.
Joyal, C. C., Cossette, A., & Lapierre, V. (2015). What exactly is an unusual sexual fantasy? Journal of Sexual Medicine, 12, 328-340.
Richters, J., De Visser, R. O., Rissel, C. E., Grulich, A. E., & Smith, A. M. (2008). Demographic and psychosocial features of participants in bondage and discipline,“sadomasochism” or dominance and submission (BDSM): Data from a national survey. The journal of sexual medicine , 5 (7), 1660-1668.
Seidman, S., Fischer, N. L., & Meeks, C. (2016). The social construction of sexuality. In Introducing the New Sexuality Studies (pp. 59-66). Routledge.
Weiss, M. (2011). Techniques of Pleasure: BDSM and the Circuits of Sexuality . Duke University Press.
