This is both a positive and a negative post about BDSM in the press, and I’m not sure if I should laugh or cry when I see things like this happening in our world, a place which has accepted a lot of things that wouldn’t have been accepted 50 years ago.
The first story is about a man British Columbia who was denied a chauffeur’s permit as his involvement in the BDSM circuit would make him a danger to his passengers!
This really makes me laugh, but it also tells me that ignorance and lack of knowledge can affect a person’s ability to work and function as a contributing member of our society. The authority abuse didn’t stop with this – They also tried to deny the man to have his case taken to court.
Vancouver Police Department (VPD) comes across as a very intolerant and not so educated authority.
First of all, people need to differentiate between your everyday life and your sexuality. I wonder if the VPD consider all the vanilla people to be a hazard to their fellow drivers. A vanilla person is subject to the dangerous activity of getting a blowjob while driving.
Does the fact that you are into BDSM make you want to get up and whip your fellow commuters on the subway? Probably not, and if you by any chance have that urge and do it – Well, then there is definitely something wrong with you.
Why don’t I spank my fellow passengers on the bus then? BDSM is usually based on relationships and I don’t have a relationship with my fellow passengers. The other thing is that I don’t have any consent and the lack of that controls my right to dominate them.
VPD seems to think that if you have a kink then you are like a slave under it and you cannot control yourself. Nothing could be more wrong as people within BDSM are responsible and caring people. Dominants care for their submissives and the other way around. BDSM is regulated by the community itself when it is carried out in the agreed manner.
The man seems to have been judged as immoral and “convicted” due to that fact. But then again – I know a lot of vanilla people that are quite immoral as well.
The other story is about a primary schoolteacher in Great Britain that teaches kids in the daytime and work as a professional mistress in the night time. The article is breathing “let us make fun of her” attitude and is a really crap one.
Yet again media clearly shows its lack of knowledge and ignorance toward other peoples right to privacy. My opinion is that some people should have never been allowed to become journalists. The way this story is written makes me really laugh, because it is really childish.
I see it as a positive thing in the fact that she is a teacher that is confident about her sexuality and has the guts to live it. I’m making an assumption that a professional mistress, being a teacher in the daytime, doesn’t mix the two. But her confidence would definitely be something good to infuse the kids with.
Another question is: Does her sexual preferences affect her ability to teach? The answer is probably not the slightest. Will her authority be equal to none if her pupils discover that she is a professional mistress? That would probably be the case, but how would primary school kids find that information – through dad’s magazines hidden in the closet?
I believe its our responsibility to teach our kids/teenagers that there is nothing wrong with other sexual preferences that are outside the norm – As long as they are based on respect, care and consent.
This is not being done as far as I can see – And this is the part where I’m not laughing anymore.
Well, As per usual I agree with my Master, I think the Mistress come Teacher is actually a good combination… she must be smart enough not to mix sex with school. her controlling traits, are a big bonus i think.
Us Mere BDSMer’s use school, training experiences all the time..
However It seems that people in BDSM are VERY VERY much more open minded than “vanilla’s”
Something I think comes with our training for both Dom’s and Sub’s
The first story, well yes laughable but deadly frustrating. I just cannot figure out some peoples way of thinking,
I was going to make the statement, “why on earth would someone’s sexuality preferences affect their work” however the moment I typed that out, i thought of someone outside the BDSM experience answering that, and I think they’d say “well what about … people who like young children” that effects where they should work and SO IT SHOULD!
Now I know these are very different circumstances and not associated but at the same time i’m hoping that i’m saying enough to be clear, if you say it for one person then you can possible say it to another,…
for instance Paedaphile – no where near children, and not one positive thing can be said about them!?
Dominant – Would they take it too far? would they lash out take the control too much one way would they get turned on while teaching? – how ever i can come up with many positive things from this, but then i’m biased 😛
Ok just to be EXTRA clear, I am NOT defending the rediculous decisions people make just becuase they don’t understand us lifestylers,
I think i’m trying to keep an open mind and see all the sides, rather than be ONE sided or blind like these other people are!
Another piece of news caught my eye today, highlighting that some people of limited comfort with eroticism are VERY comfortable restricting the environment for all of us: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1046073/Nude-self-portrait-banned-art-exhibition-artists-nipples-erect.html
Cannot young children be protected (as i do believe they should be) without creating a G-rated world for all of us? Would not a sign saying “Some Mature Content” be enough to let parents care for their children, rather than utter censorship? … We in SL are familiar that puritanical fascists do love to make the rules of what our worlds can be and 🙂 i flash my bootie in their general direction…
And more good news on BDSM ; take a look at http://www.asylum.com/2008/08/25/bondage-lovers-happier-less-anxious/ on the Journal of Sexual Medicine ‘s article on an Australian public health study which found that “people who participate in bondage and dominance/submission play may be happier and less anxious than those with more conventional sexual tastes.” The study which involved 20,000 found that BDSM practitioners scored “significantly lower on a scale of mental distress…”
[…] to block even a hearing was over-ruled by both the BC Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal. Master Stoltz has previously commented on the case here. I highly recommend the Apr 9, 2009 article by Natasha Barsotti on the Internet news producer […]