BDSM, Interaction Rituals and Open Bodies

• In this article, based on ethnographic fieldwork in Bondage and Disci- pline, Dominance and Submission, Sadism and Masochism (BDSM) communities in Sweden, I explore the ritual aspects of BDSM. Drawing on Douglas and Collins’ theories of interaction rituals, I analyse the creation of emotional energy during humiliation practice through connection and intimacy between the participants. The article examines how the ritual aspect of BDSM sessions can be understood as an enabler of expressions and emotional energy. BDSM becomes a free zone in which bodies are allowed to be open in a Bakhtinian sense, that is, transgressive and beyond control.

Nyckelord

BDSM

Interaction rituals

Emotional energy

Body

Taboo

Ethnography

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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art (ämneskategori)