ABSTRACT
Three decades of BDSM activism came to fruition as the twenty-first century dawned. BDSM activities achieved such widespread acceptance that a novel about a BDSM relationship, E.L. James’s Fifty Shades of Grey (2011), became a bestseller. While BDSM activists decried it for violating “safe, sane, consensual” norms, Hollywood studios competed for the movie rights. BDSM permeated popular culture and infiltrated popular television shows ranging from Alias and CSI to comedies including Castle, Fraser and Friends. Time, Newsweek and other magazines reported the growing interest in BDSM and its spread from fringe to mainstream culture. As BDSM gained in popularity, BDSM organizations declined in membership. Many leather bars and specialty BDSM magazines, including the venerable DungeonMaster, closed. General acceptance of BDSM, combined with the Internet, meant people no longer needed to cruise leather bars or join BDSM organizations to find sexual partners or hone their BDSM techniques. The BDSM community fragmented. On Fetlife, a popular BDSM social media site, members complained the people they met failed to honor their safe words and violated other norms of “safe, sane, consensual” conduct. The BDSM community’s success undermined the values promoted by its leading voices.
