The nation’s first university student club focusing on a range of sexual practices known as BDSM might be established at National Taiwan University (NTU).
A student known as L has launched a petition to establish the club, which he said would explore ideas related to sexual practices including bondage, dominance, submission, sadism and masochism, while working to battle stereotypes.
L, a second-year student, said he has been interested in gender issues since junior-high school, and that he hoped to find others interested in the same topic by launching the club on campus.
Photo courtesy of National Taiwan University students
L said that despite media reports of deaths during hypoxyphilia, also known as erotic asphyxiation, or accidents during bondage, BDSM practices place significant emphasis on safety, technique and communication between consenting adult participants.
L said that the proposed BDSM club, like the Gay Chat club, would explore issues of sexual behavior among BDSM practitioners and participants. The club would primarily seek to rectify or clarify BDSM practices, L said, adding that the lack of understanding can create a “closet” that many BDSM adherents find hard to escape.
“We hope to let others explore BDSM, while explaining the actions performed during bondage and S&M from other lenses and angles to dispel rumors and inaccurate information about BDSM through our club events. We also hope to prevent any tragedies,” L said.
NTU Director of Student Affairs Chen Tsung-fu (陳聰富) said there are regulations on the founding of student clubs.
Aside from a petition of establishment, a proposed group must be reviewed by a 20-member panel of professors, students and other faculty members, with more than half of the group consisting of students, Chen said.
The club’s approval is still under review, he added.
Meanwhile, academics reached for comment said they approved of the idea of the club, but added that any events would have to be in accordance with proper sex education and under the predication of mutual respect and acceptance.
Taipei Medical University Hospital department of psychiatry head Tsai Shang-ying (蔡尚穎) said that although the medical term “sexual deviation” exists, it is not commonly used. In the rare instances it is employed, it typically applies to inclinations such as fetishism or exhibitionism.
What distinguishes a deviation is whether the actions or inclinations have reached the stage of harmful dysfunction or otherwise harming the body or psyche, or leading to the disruption of social mores or laws — such as harming others by whipping or looking at people’s bodies without their consent, he said.
If the inclinations influence an individual’s actions, then they should seek medical attention, Tsai said.
Shu Te University of Science and Technology Graduate School of Human Sexuality assistant professor Shih Chun-ming (施俊名) said there are different methods of approaching sexual activity, including some that are very formal. Some people use role-playing to derive pleasure from sex, as well, Shih added.
The common conception of BDSM slants toward the negative and most people consider it to be a deviant form of sexual activity, Shih said, adding that being different does not necessarily equate to being deviant or wrong.
If the student club’s goal and mission focus on the expression of sexual pleasure under safe conditions, its efforts should be affirmed, Shih said, adding that he was willing to give the students his backing under such conditions.
BDSM Company, the nation’s first open BDSM group, which was established 10 years ago and is also the only professional performance group using bondage and S&M as its main theme, said it looked forward to the students’ attempt, adding that over the past decade, the public’s perception of the topic has greatly improved and is more accepting.
However, it added that fears of bondage and S&M are not just from particular events, but are a byproduct of what the group termed society’s fear of bodily lust or outright rejection of sex.
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