I was watching a recent episode of ‘Wire in the Blood’ today while doing the ironing (yes, no sub to do it for me yet) and it was about a serial killer who preyed on young girls who wanted to be cared for and serve via the internet and taken to a room where they were lovingly bound. They were only killed when they no longer followed the rules of the Master. Incidentally it turned out to be a husband/wife duo.It got me to thinking about the way BDSM and the various offshoots of the lifestyle are represented in the media. Often, in fact in every instance I have seen show it in a negative light. Serial killers have a desire to dominate their victim without consent, control their victims with violence, they want to hear them scream. The Victims are weak, stupid and often simply victims of their own warped needs and desires.
Is it because the writers don’t understand, I find that hard to stomach. Or maybe they just write what they believe the ‘general populace’ wants to see in regards to bondage, dominance, submission, sadism and complete power transfer.
It’s my belief that they (writers of mass media and in turn the broadcasting corporations) believe that the greater masses can’t handle the truth about what it is that turns us on and or completes us. How is it possible that we can allow someone to beat us until we’re black, blue and scarlet, how we can stand over a naked someone lying on the floor and stomp on them, how we can enjoy having our wrist bound and being forced to give our Mistress/Master head or how someone would serve as a footstool for the love of the service or the feel of feet on their skin.
I can understand how it can be difficult to understand these things; I didn’t get it myself for a while. But I came to not only understand, but to embrace these things and I would love to know how we, the few that believe and understand, can convince the others that what we do doesn’t make us freaks, doesn’t make us abnormal, it just proves we can accept that everyone needs something different to make them whole.
3 comments:
LBR
as i see it you have identified two different problems. The first being the association of serial killers with BDSM practices and the second being the lack of recognition in the media given to the legitimate needs of adults that feel dominant or submissive and wish to explore them.
With the second problem i think there is growing acceptance in the media here in Oz of the BDSM lifestyle. You only have to look at the sex tips in major magazines and newspapers that suggest a little spanking and handcuff play will rejuvenate flagging passions. The internet has helped in this by making the lifestyle accessable to those like my self who were never previously aware that it existed.
The first problem is intrangible. By their nature serial killers are sadists and they will use more extreme techniques from the BDSM arsenal. But they are driven by a lust to take life which is so different to the lust that most in the BDSM arena are subject too.
Have you ever read the book 'Exquisite corpse' by Poppy Z Brite? I was amazed to find it in the library of a cconservative country town. She gives an amazing look into the mind and driving forces of serial killers.
Thanks jayne. I really only touched the tip of the problem as I saw it. I reakon it could be the subject of a thesis.
I haven't read any Poppy Z Brite, but you are not the first to recommend her. Maybe that could be my NYResolution - read some PZB
The media's interpretation of BDSM activities is a concern but things may be getting better.
Watching SBS's 'East West 101' for the first time last week there was a scene where a medical Dr character was asked by police where he was at a certain date/time.
His instant and confident response was to say that he was restrained in a dungeon then to test his pain threshold.
The police were quite happy with this response and continued with their enquires elsewhere.
Real life it might have been different but it was good to see that at least some script writers can maturely include BDSM in a story plot without linking it to depravity or exploitation.
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