BDSM = Violence Against Women?

I've been debating whether or not to speak out about this since it will just give more publicity to those who were trying to sensationalize to get ratings, but given that I write BDSM I felt I needed to voice my outrage on the subject. For those of you who don't know, the books Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, and Fifty Shades Freed written by E.L. James were highlighted in a segment on the Today Show Friday morning. Since Ms. James is also an author with TWCS, I tuned in. If you haven't seen the segment, click here.


The first part of the piece wasn't bad. It talked a little about the books, the author, and featured a Florida book club talking about how the books had swept them away. It centered around the graphic sex in the books, which is fairly well known considering they are listed as erotica. They also had a sex therapist, Laura Berman, to talk about how she wasn't surprised by the success of the book and that Dominance and submission fantasies are among the most popular.


What upset me, along with many others who write and/or live the BDSM lifestyle was what came next. The host was joined by Dr. Drew Pinske and Dr. Logan Levkoff. It should have been a tip off when the host began the conversation by saying, "it's explicit, graphic and parts of it are disturbing." What was disturbing about it you ask? Apparently the BDSM.


Dr. Levkoff, a sexologist and certified sexuality educator, quickly jumped in and said how she didn't view the books as disturbing at all. "i think it taps into a fantasy women have in terms of role playing, getting out of their comfort zone."


Of course there had to be a counter point to Dr. Levkoff's view and that came from Dr. Drew who said, "as laura berman said in the piece, the swept away fantasy is common, but it's going beyond that into actual violence against women." That's right. You are not misunderstanding. Dr. Drew, although beating around the bush a bit, says that BDSM equates to violence against women. He goes on to say that there is a lot of violence against children as well and that people who are abused as children can become aroused by these images.


Think I'm reading too much into his comments? Dr. Levkoff doesn't think so. She wrote a blog post herself over the weekend saying how blindsided she was by what was said by Dr. Drew saying, " What should have been a segment on women's fantasies and why they are an essential part of our lives...segued into a larger (and more inappropriate) discussion on violence against women." To read the entire blog post click here.  


The bottom line, and the reason I decided to write this post was because I am quite frankly ashamed of Dr. Drew Pinske. He openly admitted to having not read the books, which in and of itself makes him lose credibility. However, dismissing an entire subculture is beyond disgraceful. Whether you are one of the many who have bought the Fifty Shades Trilogy or not, you should be offended by this man's comments. I know I for one will never look at  him the same way again when he's brought on a show as an "expert".