Cultural Appropriation in BDSM: How to Engage with Global Practices Respectfully

Commentaries

Nov 28

written by Micah Brown

Kink has existed in various forms in nearly all societies dating back for thousands of years. While it wasn’t always recognized as kink as we know it today, there are many aspects of kink and BDSM that come from a variety of cultures and thought processes. The question then becomes: Does using any of these practices create an issue around the concept of cultural appropriation?

How Global Cultures Have Shaped Modern Kink

Rope Bondage

Shibari, also called Kinbaku, is the art of Japanese rope tying. The history of Shibari goes back to feudal Japan and the rope-tying method of Hojojutsu. These ancient ties were used to restrain prisoners without causing them harm, and the manner in which they were tied could display social status as well as information about the crimes they had committed or were accused of committing.

While I have come across the term Kinbaku in the past, it was not a term I had been overly familiar with. Essentially, Kinbaku and Shibari are the same thing. Hojojutsu evolved over time in Kinbaku, which is an artistic and erotic form of bondage (Kinbaku translates to “Tight Binding”).

Shibari continues to play an important role in Japanese culture to this day. You can find it displayed in various cultural festivals as an art form both for its aesthetic beauty and its erotic undercurrents.

Suspension

While multiple cultures have used hooks and body suspension in various rituals, India is probably one of the more well-known examples of its use, although the practice can also be found in Africa and was practiced by some Native American tribes. In many of these instances, suspension was used in various rituals, such as coming of age, or religious ceremonies during certain times of the year.

Piercing

The number of cultures around the world that have used some kind of piercing within their cultures is difficult to count. For many tribal communities, both in Africa and the New World, piercing was used as a rite of passage for becoming an adult. Some rituals and celebrations involved the piercing of the skin to demonstrate the strength that had been gained and the resilience of spirit.

What is Cultural Appropriation?

Cultural Appropriation is the adoption of cultural aspects of other cultures in a manner that is perceived as exploitative or disrespectful. The fashion industry is often guilty of this as they “borrow” (meaning steal) design ideas from culturally significant clothing styles that are often used for ceremony or have other significance to the culture from which the inspiration comes. However, the fashion industry isn’t the only industry that does this. There are many industries, including the music industry, the food industry, and especially the advertising industry that make use of significant parts of other cultures as a way to appeal to their audience.

How Does Cultural Appropriation Affect Kink?

When it comes to kink and world cultures, it has become such a melting pot of influence and ideas that it’s often difficult to separate them all and pinpoint where something has specifically originated. Of course, that’s not the case with all of it since we have a clear line from Shibari to Japanese culture.

I will actually take Shibari as an example of something in kink that generally not thought of as having been appropriated. Yes, its roots lie within Japanese culture, but the core of what Shibari is exists within the kink community. The use of elaborate ties and artistic expression through the ties is exactly how Japanese culture embraces the art of rope tying today. For both the one doing the tying and the one being tied, it is an exercise in patience, skill, and care that goes into each knot, and each wrapping of the rope.

In a similar way, piercing and cutting aren’t generally seen as cultural appropriation within the kink scene because the scenes that incorporate cutting and piercing are generally well planned out and have a very ritualistic feel to them. Perhaps you are using piercing and blood as a way to release past trauma, or maybe you’re using it as a way to reconnect to your emotions. Whatever the reasons behind this sort of play, my experience in practice and in talking with others has been that it is always something that is done with reverence.

Where things can become tricky often falls back into fashion choices for BDSM and Kink. We will frequently see submissives and slaves in the kink scene dressed in ways that perhaps denote other cultures and their caste system. This isn’t always the case, and there are plenty of subs and slaves who are decked out in leather, viny, and PVC, but even those materials can be fashioned to look like various types of dress that could represent a lower class citizen in some parts of the world.

What you do and how you play in the privacy of your dynamic is one thing. I don’t ever wish to kink-shame anybody, but how you present yourself and your dynamic to the public (meaning kink events) can have a big impact on how you are perceived. Dressing up your submissive as a belly-dancer or in clothing inspired by Middle Eastern harems is not giving the cultures these styles come from their due respect. Again, it’s fine within the confines of your own dynamic within your own personal space, but you don’t want to be disrespectful when you’re in more public settings.

Last Thoughts

Cultural Appropriation can be a difficult idea to comprehend, especially if you come from a place of privilege. Why would somebody be offended if you’re wearing your hair in a style that is traditional to their culture when you are not a part of that culture? What is the difference between honoring another culture’s traditions and disrespecting them?

Especially within the Western World, we have become such a melting pot of cultures that it can often be difficult to determine what is and is not acceptable, and often cultural appropriation in society goes unnoticed as some trend takes hold and spreads. We want to try to be as careful as we can to be as respectful as we can when it comes to how we display our kinks and our roles when we’re out in public.

If you have questions, ask them to somebody who is a part of that culture and see what their response is. We often don’t see our privilege when we’re the ones benefiting from it, so let’s try to find ways to show respect to those from whom we have borrowed and adapted some of our own kinky activities.