Contribute to a book on BDSM
Grant Denkinson, 01 Feb 2006 19:52:57
Contribute to a book on BDSM
Call for contributions: Safe, Sane and Consensual: Contemporary
Perspectives on Sadomasochism - feel free to circulate this
Edited by: Dr. Darren Langdridge & Dr. Meg Barker
Contact: Dr. Darren Langdridge, Psychology
Discipline,
Faculty of Social Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall,
Milton Keynes, MK7
6AA. Email: d.langdridge@open.ac.uk
Dr. Meg Barker, Psychology
Department,
Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, London South Bank University,
103 Borough
Road, London, SE1 0AA. Email: barkermj@lsbu.ac.uk
Psychological and medical perspectives on sadomasochism (S/M) have
historically
been concerned with understanding it as a form of psychopathology.
In the past
(but still often today) studies of S/M have been concerned with
extreme and most
often non-consensual acts. Psycho-medical analyses of these non-
consensual acts
have invariably been applied to consensual sadomasochistic sexual
acts. Sexual
sadism and masochism are still classified as psychiatric disorders
within both
the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric
Association
(DSM - IV) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-
10). Like
homosexuality some twenty years ago, sadomasochistic sex is
considered alongside
rape and child sexual abuse as individual sexual pathology in need
of
explanation, treatment and cure.
More recently, there has been growing interest in exploring the
meaning of
sadomasochism in non-pathological ways (for instance, Beckman,
2001; Langdridge
and Butt, 2004, 2005; Ritchie & Barker, 2005; Taylor, 1997; Taylor
and Ussher,
2001) and indeed the entire special issue of Lesbian & Gay
Psychology Review
(2005) Vol. 6 (3) on SM, edited by Drs. Barker and Langdridge (visit
http://www.bps.org.uk/lesgay/lesgay_home.cfm for further
information on
subscribing and ordering back issues of LGPR). This research has
sought to
understand the stories practitioners themselves tell of their lives
and sexual
practices rather than relying on pathologising psycho-medical
explanations. In
addition, S/M has occupied a central role in many debates in the
social sciences
from the feminist sex wars in the 1970s through to present day
debates about
consent and violence as well as mental health, diagnosis and
psychopathology.
The proposed book seeks to provide further discussion and debate
about S/M
amongst and between psychologists and other social scientists. Our
understanding
of S/M is broad and includes all sexual identities and practices
involving pain
play, bondage, dominance and submission, and erotic power exchange.
Whilst the
book represents many different perspectives, it is limited to work
that moves
away from pathological explanations of S/M identities and
practices.
We welcome work concerned with the history and cultural basis of
sadomasochism,
non-pathological psychological understandings, as well as new
empirical research
from a variety of perspectives. The authors also wish to include
political and
activist writing, as well as pieces from community representatives.
We hope to include contributions from academics and activists in
the UK,
Continental Europe, USA, Canada and Australia and represent some of
the most
recent cutting edge work in the field. Prospective authors are
invited to
contact the editors at the earliest possible opportunity to discuss
potential
submissions. The closing date for chapter abstracts is 28th
February 2006 and
(provisionally) for completed chapters 30th November 2006
(electronic submission
preferred).
References
Beckman, A. (2001) 'Deconstructing Myths: The Social Construction of
"Sadomasochism" Versus "Subjugated Knowledges" of Practitioners of
Consensual
"SM"' Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, 8 (2): 66-95.
Langdridge, D. & Butt, T. (2004). A Hermeneutic Phenomenological
Investigation
of the Construction of Sadomasochistic Identities. Sexualities,
7(1), 31-53.
Langdridge, D. & Butt, T. W. (2005). The erotic construction of
power exchange.
Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 18 (1), 65-73.
Ritchie, A. & Barker, M. (2005). Feminist SM: A contradiction in
terms or a way
of challenging gendered dynamics through sexual practice? Lesbian &
Gay
Psychology Review, 6 (3), 227-239.
Taylor, G. W. (1997) 'The Discursive Construction and Regulation of
Dissident
Sexualities: The Case of SM', in J. M. Ussher (1997) Body Talk: The
Material and
Discursive Regulation of Sexuality, Madness and Reproduction.
London: Routledge.
Taylor, G. W. and Ussher, J. (2001) 'Making Sense of S&M: A
Discourse Analytic
Account' Sexualities, 4 (3): 293-314.