One of the most obvious and overlooked connections in BDSM studies, is the one with Affect Theory. This field’s focus on relations of influence, power and emotion seems to overlap perfectly with the qualities of BDSM phenomena. However, you’d be hard-pressed to find works discussing BDSM and Affect Theory. The link, however had been itching in the back of my brain for nearly a year.

BDSM and Affect Theory

While working on an edited volume on BDSM and Embodied Knowledge, I kept frowning about the lack of phenomenological affect theory research. This was especially true when I was thinking about the definitions of BDSM. The question that kept popping into my head was: okay, but how about feeling? It’s rather odd, that a set of practices that is so focussed on creating sensations, would be defined without mentioning them at all. BDSM is consensual, yes. It involves powerplay. It may or may not be sexual or erotic. But from a practitioner’s point of view, what makes it BDSM is how it makes them feel! The combination of BDSM and Affect Theory, then, is much needed in kink research.

And then, just when I thought I couldn’t stand the itching anymore, I found a CfP. A Nordic Feminist Journal, called NORA, was putting together a special edition on Intimacy and Affect Theory. And that was the trigger I needed. So, I sat down and started writing. I basically disappeared for a week and wrote the entire first draft in one sitting. It’s rather odd, but once a thought has matured enough in my head, it needs to be put on paper. And that is how my paper about Pleasurable Fear was born.

Concluding thoughts on my fear paper

Sadly, NORA decided not to accept my abstract (don’t worry, I did do heavy edits on that one). But three months later, an editor approached me with the question whether I had something to submit to their journal. I showed him the still unedited first draft of this fear paper. And after a double-blind peer review process, it was accepted with minor revisions! Though I do not really agree and opted for major revisions instead, it does show that even when you feel that all your hard work goes unappreciated, sometimes it just needs to find the right audience. I’ve never seen a more enthusiastic review report in my life. Now I sleep with that report under my pillow, to keep myself warm during the cold winter nights.

With this project, as well as any other project I’m working on, I can always use your feedback. So if you’d like to read it and give me some pointers, just send me a message. As a thank you, I will acknowledge you personally on my website, with a link to your personal website attached. And if you want more updates on my projects, just look in the sidebar and subscribe to the newsletter!