Abstract/Summary

This thesis research examines the mechanisms of socio-legal governance which misunderstand, misrepresent and marginalise BDSM and Kink sexualities and intimacies in the socio-legal imaginary in England and Wales. Focusing on BDSM and Kink lived experiences, including cultures, communities and activities, this thesis will explore how BDSM and Kink identities are constructed, depicted and regulated as deviant and aberrant on both social and legal axes. Following interdisciplinary approaches, using a social constructionist paradigm and Foucauldian conceptions of power and governance, this ethnographic socio-legal research investigates how the construction and depictions of BDSM and Kink sexualities are based on misconceptions imposed and maintained by authoritative outsider perspectives, which seek to erase, punish or normalise BDSM and Kink-associated practices. Such processes render BDSM and Kink expressions of intimacy ‘unthinkable’ and ‘unknowable’ (Lamble, 2009) in both social and legal contexts. Using primary data collected from 24 semi-structured interviews with BDSM and Kink-orientated persons based in England and Wales, this thesis presents and explores opinions on: the criminalisation, legal governance and regulation of BDSM and Kink; conflicting views held by the general public about BDSM and Kink; and social governance mechanisms and processes of othering, which are informed by and contribute to justifications for further socio-legal marginalisation of BDSM and Kink sexualities. This research further examines the impact of misconceptions perpetuated about the BDSM and Kink communities on members of these intimate subcultures, demonstrating the desirability of redressing the current socio-legal position in England and Wales. Finally, in a bid to determine the feasibility of redressing the socio-legal conceptions and treatment of BDSM and Kink sexualities in England and Wales, this research presents novel and evidence-based social and legal strategies through mobilising the lived-experience-informed recommendations of the participants of this study.