The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone – especially the ways we connect, date, plan things, and meet new folks.
If you’re poly/in an open relationship I am sure you have felt a big impact since Covid-19 arrived.
This article in the South Seattle Emerald spotlights several people in non-monogamous relationships, and how their multiple relationship have been impacted amid the pandemic.
This article in The Observer of Uganda speculates about the presence of BDSM in Africa. And, based on the content, is little more than an uninformed rant about BDSM by someone clueless about what BDSM actually is.
“I am tempted to ‘diagnose’ a couple in my neighbourhood as BDSM enthusiasts, because the surrounding community knows when they have sex. It always starts with a huge fight in the dead of night, which has the village dogs barking in agitation”
This quote from The Observer of Uganda tells us a lot about how woefully off-the-mark and dangerous it can be when those who know nothing of actual BDSM attempt to shape public opinion about it.
I have no doubt that domestic violence is a problem in Uganda, as it is in many other countries. But let’s please stop trying to link that to consensual BDSM, which is the polar opposite of abuse.
Check it out if you want to have a head shake, a sad laugh, or just to remember that outside the bubble of sex-positive people, there are still many out there that do not understand that there is a clear difference between abuse and BDSM.
UK sex party company Killing Kittens has received investment from the UK government through the Future Fund – a program to help companies that have been affected by Coronavirus.
The company apparently plans to use the funds towards expanding its online offerings, including a BDSM and sex-oriented social network. Watch out Fetlife?
Check out the article on CNN business.
Have some kinky news to share? Tell us about any upcoming BDSM events, new products, dungeon openings / closings, kink in mainstream media, and anything else you think kinky folks might be interested to hear about. Send your tips through to kinkweekly@gmail.com, and it might just end up on next week’s “This Week in Kink.”
Neil-M says
I wrote the following reply to the Observer article:
This author should do some research.
In all my years of practicing BDSM, I’ve never fought violently with a partner, either before or after sex. The drama queens you describe sound more like a clueless vanilla couple, quite possibly engaged in domestic violence. For practitioners of true BDSM, foreplay usually consists of quiet discussions and careful negotiations of what we’re going to do, and bears nothing in common with domestic abuse. We have safe words to indicate when we need to ease off or stop altogether.
Not to say abuse doesn’t occur within BDSM communities and private practice, but several studies have determined that people who engage in kink are generally more emotionally aware and healthy than those who don’t, and there is no statistical correlation between wanting rough sex or accentuated power dynamics in bed, and childhood abuse.
And for the record, 50SoG is a bogus representation of the lifestyle, and more about wealth fetishization.
newbiepete says
I agree! We all have to adjust our life practices these days
floggedsilly says
the poly article gave me a lot to think about