The demedicalization of kink: social change and shifting contexts of sexual politics
Date
2014
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
BDSM (also known as kink) has been stigmatized through medicalization and legal control since the late 19th century. However, the recent publication of the DSM-5 has significantly changed the definition of Paraphilia, which used to be the catch-all diagnostic category for atypical sexual behaviors. This change in the DSM has affected many court decisions by way of excluding past experiences with kink as evidence. Through the analytic lenses of contextual constructionism and Foucaultian theory, this study utilized multiple sources of qualitative data to tap into the ever- changing social contexts and power politics of medicalization and demedicalization of kink. The findings of this study suggest that shifting social and technological contexts have produced what Anthony Giddens terms "institutional reflexivity" that reshapes the organizational behaviors of both institutions of social control social movement organizations, as well as the outlook of sexual politics in contemporary society.