Janet Hardy

In light of the Daniel Tosh firestorm this week, I probably don’t need to make the point that joking about sexual abuse is harmful, not funny. However, in the context of kink, a subculture that's already too often treated with mocking or irreverence, it’s worth restating. Safewords are necessary, non-negotiable, and not a joke.

Dominant, submissive, top, bottom, masochist, sadist... What if your kink preferences don't fit one of these labels? Does popular culture have no time for fence-sitters, or as Jay Wiseman called them, "switch-hitters"? Or does it regularly represent them without acknowledging their existence?