Navigation of Feminist and Submissive Identity by Women in the BDSM Community: A Structured Literature Review

Abstract

Identities shape how people make sense of their world. Overlapping identities create borderlands fraught with tension and oppression in which individuals struggle to avoid blaming, hating, and terrorizing themselves or others when viewed as wrong/other. Women who are feminist and submissive can experience polyrhythmic realities if beliefs about feminism contradict beliefs about submission, and vice versa. In Dominance/submission relationships, the Dominant partner takes psychological and/or physical control over their submissive partner. Some people perceive this as incompatible with feminist values. Dominance/submission relationships are seen as inherently unequal, even when the submissive partner has chosen to allow their Dominant partner to make decisions and establish expectations for their conduct and behavior. Recent scholarship has explored BDSM through diverse feminist lenses, including a radical feminism, postcolonialism, sex-critical approaches and Black female sexualities. In online forums, women have discussed their challenges navigating feminist and submissive identities, yet little is known about how researchers have addressed these identity dilemmas. The purpose of this structured literature review is to examine the scholarly literature on women in the BDSM community who identify as both feminist and submissive and how they perceive and navigate those intersecting identities. Three themes emerged: agency, power, and consent as feminist constructs; normalization of BDSM; and reconciliation of feminist and submissive identities. Implications and areas for future research are offered.