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Living Otherwise: The Politics of Intimacy Within BDSM

Hilton Ibold, Clara LU (2025) SOCK10 20251
Sociology
Abstract
This thesis explores BDSM as a socially embedded, ethically complex, and transformative practice situated at the intersection of intimacy, power, and identity. Drawing on qualitative data from an anonymous online survey of thirty-eight BDSM practitioners, the study analyzes how power, consent, performance, and rituals function both as personal expressions and as practices shaped by broader social structures. Using theoretical frameworks from Foucault, Butler, Halberstam, Carlström, Beckman, van Gennep, Turner, and Muñoz, the research positions BDSM as a form of becoming, open-ended enactments of power that continually reconfigure subjectivity. Findings highlight how BDSM blends ritual, performance, and affective intensity to create... (More)
This thesis explores BDSM as a socially embedded, ethically complex, and transformative practice situated at the intersection of intimacy, power, and identity. Drawing on qualitative data from an anonymous online survey of thirty-eight BDSM practitioners, the study analyzes how power, consent, performance, and rituals function both as personal expressions and as practices shaped by broader social structures. Using theoretical frameworks from Foucault, Butler, Halberstam, Carlström, Beckman, van Gennep, Turner, and Muñoz, the research positions BDSM as a form of becoming, open-ended enactments of power that continually reconfigure subjectivity. Findings highlight how BDSM blends ritual, performance, and affective intensity to create alternative modes of relation, challenging simplistic binaries of liberation versus oppression. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Hilton Ibold, Clara LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOCK10 20251
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
BDSM, power, consent, intimacy, ritual, queer theory, identity, fluidity, affect, liminality, becoming
language
English
id
9213418
date added to LUP
2025-10-14 15:34:41
date last changed
2025-10-14 15:34:41
@misc{9213418,
  abstract     = {{This thesis explores BDSM as a socially embedded, ethically complex, and transformative practice situated at the intersection of intimacy, power, and identity. Drawing on qualitative data from an anonymous online survey of thirty-eight BDSM practitioners, the study analyzes how power, consent, performance, and rituals function both as personal expressions and as practices shaped by broader social structures. Using theoretical frameworks from Foucault, Butler, Halberstam, Carlström, Beckman, van Gennep, Turner, and Muñoz, the research positions BDSM as a form of becoming, open-ended enactments of power that continually reconfigure subjectivity. Findings highlight how BDSM blends ritual, performance, and affective intensity to create alternative modes of relation, challenging simplistic binaries of liberation versus oppression.}},
  author       = {{Hilton Ibold, Clara}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Living Otherwise: The Politics of Intimacy Within BDSM}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}