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S & M is generally seen as one of those sexual practices that “other people” do and is generally not talked about with any sort of regularity unless you’re into that gothic, rocky horror picture show or industrial hard core scene.  When asking some random people whether or not they dug it, I got all kinds of responses, beginning with “Yeah, I dig it”, to “That is way to kinky for me”.  Here’s a little background into the foray of this pain=pleasure practice.

Sado-Masochism first came into the mainstream due to the Rocky Horror Picture Show, the 1975 “alternative sexuality” movie.  When performed with a live cast, the S & M was often brought up, visually depicted, and joked about.  Music and fashion introduced S & M into the mainstream as well, with music from Nine Inch Nails and Garbage and bondage wear: leather cuffs, bondage pants, and fishnets.  (All of this you could buy at a sex shop and Siouxsie and the Banshees were screaming about S & M before Trent Razor was born, but you know, one has to water it down for the masses to swallow).  According to Ann Powers, author of the bohemian culture reflection novel Weird Like Us, S & M is “a central metaphor for communication, for negotiation and desire, responsibility and pleasure…It’s all about risk taking, and letting one’s guard down.”

Here’s a little terminology to get one started if they so dare…:

Scene: a scenario two or more people enact to fulfill a fantasy.

Safe Word: a word chosen to stop the role play/sex, no questions asked.  The word is not always “Stop” necessarily.

Boundaries: How far things are allowed to go, decided by both parties involved.

Top: The dominant/giver

Bottom: The submissive/receiving party.

Contact Jessie Nelson at drummergw4@hotmail.com. 

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