Author Meets Readers prompts discussion on the legality and interpretation of BDSM in society.
The portrayal of BDSM in society and law was the focus of a lively discussion at the Author Meets Readers event on January 22nd at Irene’s Pub in the Glebe.
More than two dozen people listened as author and Carleton University law professor Ummni Khan discussed the research presented in her book, Vicarious Kinks: S/M in the Socio-Legal Imaginary.
“I chose the title because I found people who vilify SM are actually stimulated by going against SM and talking about SM,” Khan told the audience. “Vicarious pleasure is extracted from their condemnation and expulsion.”
Khan was joined onstage by Peggy Klienplatz, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Ottawa; policy analyst Mike Holmes; and S. Jones, a bondage educator.
The panel discussed the depiction of BDSM practitioners in the media, discrimination in law and society, the psychological diagnosis of BDSM activity, and the BDSM’s community resistance to becoming mainstream.
The next Author Meets Readers will be at 5:30 pm on February 26th at Irene’s Pub in the Glebe, featuring Public Policy Professor Stanley Winer’s book, Coercion and Social Welfare in Public Finance: Economic and Political Perspectives.
