Blame the Victorians

17:04 Thu 21 February 2008

Slowly but surely society is realising that a bit of kinky fun between consenting adults is okay. We all have our fetishes – from frilly knickers to sado-masochism – but if we all have them, why exactly are they so taboo?

Well, psychology professor Guy Grenier thinks he knows why. Mr Grenier says that for all our sexual woes, we should blame the Victorians. The biggest prudes of all time, they considered anything sexual to be dirty. And it is this line of thought that has left our society with the ingrained idea that anything that deviates from wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am is something to be ashamed of.

Of course, some sexual fetishes are deemed to be “worse” than others. While we all might laugh at people dressing up as horses for their kicks, sado-masochism still strikes fear in the hearts of many. Ok – so the fact that it’s a teensy-weensy bit painful may be one reason for its malign, but Toronto fetishist, known in the community as KW Geek (eek!), says Hollywood may have something to do with it.

“In Hollywood, [sado-masochists] are portrayed as vicious and brutal. With the people I’ve met, there’s a healthy mix of affection and brutality,” says KW. So even though pain may be involved, don’t assume that there is anything sinister going on. These people consent to what they’re doing and can stop at any point it becomes too much.

So – as long as your aren’t hurting anyone – unless that’s what they want of course – we urge you to shrug off those Victorian sensibilities and indulge. It’s probably not that weird anyway…

(Image: from Violator3’s flickr stream)