Public Submission Ritual

The interesting reading is toward the bottom. I have marked it with "The following you must read." This post is safe for work. The only possible shock may come from your potential revelation at the end.

BSDM refers to human sexual behaviors but these do not necessarily result in sex. BSDM often is about control. Wikipedia clarifies B&D as bondage and discipline, D&S as domination and submission, and S&M as sadism and masochism.

In the past, sadomasochistic activities and fantasies were regarded by most psychiatrists as pathological, but have been regarded as increasingly acceptable since at least the 1990s. Indeed, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) asserts that “The fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors” must “cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning” in order for sexual sadism or masochism to be considered a disorder.[Source]

For the reading below, it will help to understand the definitions of dominant and submissive.

A dominant person enjoys controlling a submissive person. Reasons for this are said to include demonstrating skill and power, having ownership of another person, and being the object of affection and devotion. Domination may be the fashion in which the dominant feels most comfortable expressing and/or receiving affection. … the sadist is a pleasure giver and not one primarily seeking gratification from the suffering of others.

A submissive person is one who, of their own free will, seeks to submit to another. Submissives vary in how seriously they take their position, training, and situation. Motivations for engaging in submissive behaviour may include relief from responsibility, being the object of attention and affection, gaining a sense of security, showing off endurance, and working through issues of shame.

[Source]

The following you must read. It is reprinted in full here with permission by Bacchus of Eros Blog (NSFW!). Sometimes you find a gem of a post and it just cannot be written any better.

Wow, is this kinky or what?

On wednesday, I will walk up to one end of a long line of men. Sometimes there are women, but it’s always mostly men. They are there to watch me, and I am there to be watched. I start at one end, smile at the first man I encounter, and begin. Slowly. Carefully, I take off my glasses and fold them neatly, just like my nighttime bedroom ritual. Then I lean over and unzip one long black platform boot, and then the other. I present each piece of footwear as proof — as if the sudden shortness in my height, and its message of vulnerability isn’t evidence enough. I am now smaller, more feminine, and a little more helpless. I take off my earrings, my necklace, deliberately placing the girlish silver with my glasses. I’m usually still smiling now, because it’s time to take off my belt. I know what’s going to happen. I unbuckle the metal and leather, sliding the belt through its loops around my waist, which serves to loosen my pants and move the denim to and fro as I work the belt free. The top straps of my g-string always peek out; I can’t help this. I unzip my hoodie and peel it off, revealing the light cotton tank top I always wear. And even though it makes no sense, I always take off my stripey arm warmers, because if I don’t, they *make me* take them off. So I do it in a subtly slow demonstration, one opera-length glovelet at a time. Next, and last, I unclip my hair, letting my almost waist-length black and blonde locks down over my now-bare shoulders and arms.

They all watch. Then I wait for their commands, and their approval. I do what they say, unconditionally, and this is an unspoken agreement between me and the men. Hardly a word is said, and I make sure to smile as I softly pad past all eyes, which are on me, even if just for a flicker or two. Then at the end of the line, I slowly dress — I like to take my time putting my clothes back on.

That’s Violet Blue — well, anybody, really — going through airport security. As she explains:

[W]hat I related to you above is very much my experience when I go through security…. [W]hen you think about it, the modern process of going through pre-boarding security has far more kinky sexual elements than it should. Here’s why:

* You have to undress.

* While you undress, you are being watched and sized up.
* It’s a power-exchange scenario.
* Lots of uniforms.
* You are totally vulnerable, and it is humiliating.
* You are exposing intimate details of your person and dress in front of dozens of strangers.
* Your submission is unspoken, it is a rule, and it is unconditional. Your submission is for public consumption.
* There is a constant threat that a stranger will touch you. They can touch you anywhere, and in your most intimate places if they want to.
* There is an undercurrent and tension that they will open your posessions and touch your private items, such as your underwear, clean or dirty.

* It is nonconsensual. And in garden-variety BDSM practice, even this is forbidden territory.

As well it should be, in BDSM and at the airport.

[Source]

Violet Blue writes sex articles for the San Francisco Chronicle and got her start by blogging about sex. She also podcasts for you Apple hipsters. BoingBoing has more details.

The pitch – sex, the hit- the monologue, and the homerun – the tie in to airport security! Never again will walking through the checkpoints be a drudgery or inconvenience. The airport is exciting! Well now, how’s that for a Friday?