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Amy's avatar

What is the argument against kink shaming? Just that shaming is bad because people should mind their own business? I can see that but it doesn’t mean I need to celebrate diapers and people wearing animal costumes and leather obsessions. Not all impulses should be indulged--just because people like something and their brain lights up when they do it, doesn’t mean they SHOULD. I shouldn’t eat candy everyday and try not to (but it is so hard) but I don’t join an online community of proud consumers of candy. What am I missing?

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Ana Maria's avatar

I think the original meaning was more like 'don't be rude about people having kinks in general, being into some weird shit in private doesn't make you a disgusting degenerate', which I'm fully on board with. Unfortunately, like everything else in social justice politics, it's been co-opted by raging narcissists to mean something completely different - in this case, 'if you object to me flaunting my kink in public regardless of whether it's appropriate or the people around me consent then you're a prude and a bigot'.

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Amy's avatar

Yes, it is not really the “kink” part, I get the desire for novelty or playfulness within a relationship, it is the implication that it can’t be something that is harmful for some people and that it should be publicly validated.

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AH's avatar

It grows right out of the "it's forbidden to forbid" bullshit (that I once bought) of the soixante-huitards & their American ilk.

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laura palmer's avatar

Sam Kris’s just put up an essay about nerd culture that sort of explains this phenomena

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Amy's avatar

Thanks, sounds interesting!

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Martin's avatar

If a kink is not dangerous, the liberal or libertarian response should be "each to their own". Though "keep it to yourself" is also a perfectly reasonable attitude.

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