Our paper on the differences in rape-supportive beliefs among BDSM practitioners, online adults, and college students has
started to pick up traction in the media. We are really excited about the coverage of our research, and we hope
that it will add something substantive to the conversation about sexuality and sexual education.
Our paper covered by The Young Turks.
That
said, a lot of talk around our research is that in it, we advocate for teaching
BDSM to kids in sex ed. We’d like to
clarify that while sex ed is incredibly important, the lessons we’d like to see
added to it are regarding affirmative consent. We think that teaching kids age-appropriate
concepts throughout their school years will have positive effects.
For
example, teaching kids in kindergarten that no one should be able to touch
their bodies without their permission will help them to establish boundaries
and learn about bodily autonomy.
Teaching kids in middle school about what healthy relationships look
like, and how to spot the signs of emotional and other kinds of subtle abuse
will help them to make better choices for themselves and for their
friends. Teaching kids in high school
that they should ask their partner(s) before engaging in sexual activity would then
build on the lessons they learned earlier in life.
Establishing
norms of affirmative consent when it comes to sexual behavior has the potential
to do a lot of good. In our study, we
found that BDSM practitioners reported the lowest levels of rape myth
acceptance, victim blaming, and benevolent sexism. If affirmative consent and negotiation about
sexual activity was normative in the general population, it’s possible that we
could see a global reduction of problematic rape-supportive beliefs.
Head over to our website to check out the media coverage, and to read our new research: www.scienceofbdsm.com