- – Where kink and trauma connect
Source: Elle.in.
INDIA – From face masks and scented candles to solo date nights, gym memberships, long walks and massages, the self-care movement comes with something for every occasion. Whether it’s the highs of a long-awaited promotion or the lows of a failed relationship, self-care is an admirable choice to make for yourself. An absolute essential, if online mental health movements are anything to go by. But what if we lived in a world where self-care looked more like blindfolds, leather cuffs, mouth gags, ten minutes of spanking or half an hour of bondage? The words kink and self-care may not typically be found together in mainstream dialogues around BDSM or even vanilla sex, but the word ‘trauma’ often pops up.
Perhaps that is exactly why the idea of categorising BDSM as a form of self-care feels increasingly important. You may have heard of the stereotype– only the traumatised choose BDSM. Vanilla sex is supposed to be for well-adjusted people in happy relationships while the assumption remains that only the dissatisfied and damaged would choose rougher forms of sex.
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