|
>First, there has been rapidly growing interest
>in the fetish/bdsm area. Historically, this was virtually invisible,
>not because it was tabooed, but because it simply wasn?t practiced.
That's not accurate.
I have a fairly large archive in my home of historical stuff related to BDSM-style practices, and have done traveling exhibitions and talks on the subject for the past two decades. It has been practiced to a much greater degree than most people realize.
Flagellation for sexual excitation was documented in Greek and Roman writings, for example, and various aspects of BDSM (as we call it today) were clear specialties within prostitution going back hundreds of years or more. In fact, BDSM practices dominated Victorian pornography, and there were whole brothels devoted to flagellation in Victorian England. I have newspapers from the very early part of the 20th century with personal ads seeking partners for such activities. They didn't use the acronym BDSM (which was only adopted in the 90s), but center around the same activities - domination, submission, bondage, flagellation, etc.
|