#culturerevolution

[3standardstoppage]

ON THE BARRICADES: Revolution & Repression Originally published by CITY LIGHT BOOKS in 1968 - republished MÖREL books 2019 @citylightsbooks @morelbooks "This documentary of the temporarily- aborted revolution of May, 1968, in France is made exclusively of material gathered in the streets of Paris - a primer and a working model of continuing revolution plus repression around the world; the faces and places in this version happen to be French; change the accents and uniforms, and the same photos will do for Berkeley, New York, Berlin, Prague, Buenos Aires, or Resurrection City, the same war all over, no factual captions needed: sup- ply your own for whatever country you are in, for whatever campus you are on, add a local ingredient or two, and stir." Text: Anonymous Poems, Slogans and Graffiti from the walls of Paris #onthebarricades #revolution #repression #1968 #culturerevolution #64 (at Stanton Street) https://www.instagram.com/p/CeY_5tHF4Dk/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[her-culture]

Clothing Catastrophe: Consequences of Fast Fashion

SADIA WAHID 

 Irresistible deals and holiday sales on the latest trends are bound to allure us into the world of fast fashion where stylish clothing is simply cheap. When we explore fast fashion stores such as H&M, ZARA, and Forever 21, chances are clothing made from China, Bangladesh, Brazil, India, etc. are more prevalent. However, the story behind who made these clothes and where they originated from are disregarded due to the obsession and thrill of buying inexpensive clothing. Fast fashion comes with the deadly price of environmental concerns in the form of pollution and exposure to harmful chemicals. This fast fashion frenzy had also led to unjust labor practices and treatment of workers in order for industries to make a profit.

Polyester is immensely prominent among fast fashion industries. However, this synthetic fabric portrays a major role in polluting water due to being composed of non-biodegradable microfibers. These microfibers shed from polyester garments pose as a grave threat to both marine and human life due to the onslaught of plastic in oceans. Hence, marine organisms, such as planktons, are at a higher risk of consuming microfibers found in their natural habitat, which in turn may be exposed to humans as these microfibers progress up the food chain. Microfibers also infiltrate our waterways, thus poisoning drinking water. Also, microfibers host bacteria, thereby exposing humans to diseases and infections, including gastrointestinal infections. In addition to water pollution, the production of polyester contributes to air pollution. Fast fashion industries release substantial emissions of carbon dioxide yearly in order to produce polyester clothing. To elaborate further, the cheap prices of fast fashion creates an environment of consuming and discarding clothes. Thus, microfibers contribute to the overflowing of landfills as numerous clothes are discarded.

Additionally, fast fashion clothing is associated with hazardous chemicals known for their bioaccumulation, hormone disruption, toxicity, and considerable amount of carcinogens. As clothes continue to cast off and accumulate into landfills for several years, toxic chemicals and dyes will contaminate groundwater and soil. Dyes that are used to make leather clothing serve as major polluters of rivers. Some clothes are sprayed with formaldehyde to prevent mildew and wrinkles during shipping. Therefore, an overabundance of clothing with this chemical can engender allergic reactions. This chemical is also linked to cancer, skin ulcerations, heart palpitations, eczema, and asthma.

Cotton production is also highly popular in fast fashion industries with detrimental effects to both humans and the environment. Excessive quantities of water are required to develop cotton clothing, thereby promoting water shortages and droughts in many regions. In fact, the Aral Sea in Central Asia depleted as farmers used the water to make cotton. Large amounts of insecticides and pesticides are also utilized globally in order to prevent crop failure. Hence, for every cotton clothing produced, a small trace of pesticides are used. Traces of these pesticides have also been detected in water used in our everyday lives for drinking, cooking, and bathing.

Clothing factories in various developing countries are not regulated, therefore exposing workers to atrocious labor conditions that often result in major injuries or death. In garment and knitwear factories, workers encounter poor lighting, malfunctioning machines, dust and smoke inhalation, and exposure to electrical wires and poisonous chemicals. For instance, they are exposed to harmful chemicals such as toxic phthalates and amines from specific dyes, thus causing miscarriages, birth defects, cancer, and hormone disruption. Pesticides from cotton are linked with brain tumor, fetal damage, and sterility among these workers.

Factory workers strive to overcome poverty, economic hardships, and provide for themselves and their families by earning a decent pay, having safe working conditions, and basic security. Instead, they confront low salaries for working lengthy hours in a hazardous atmosphere as labor industries become more cheaper and workers become expendable. Child labor is also exploited in these factories as underage workers as young as 10. These workers have long shifts of approximately 10-12 hours, sometimes even for 16-18 hours on a daily basis. In turn, workers are cheated of overtime pay as they acquire low wages for doing grueling tasks for long hours, thus being unable to maintain a living and possess basic needs. In addition to this, breaks are denied to workers and their health and safety are neglected. These factories are also composed of faulty machinery that pose as a threat to workers. In fact, the notorious Rana Plaza collapse of 2013 in Bangladesh is due to advanced machinery being situated in a building  constructed out of cheap and unsturdy material. Also, the poor condition of this building, such as cracks in walls, were being ignored, thus leading to this collapse.

Furthermore, fast fashion is also infamous disempowering women as garment factories are composed of  approximately 80% women on a global scale. These women typically range from 18 to 26 years old and a majority of them earns less than $2 a day for working in this arduous environment. Women encounter discrimination within this workforce as they tend to get paid less compared to men, thus limiting their access to only low paid jobs with inadequate chances of obtaining a promotion. They are also at the risk of being fired due to not being prepared to meet the demands of their employers as the tasks are proven to be too difficult and dangerous. The lack of security also place women in a series of unfortunate predicaments as they become vulnerable to sexual harassment and abuse.

There are numerous ethical alternatives one can take to resolve and reduce the destructive effects of fast fashion. For instance, checking out ethical brands such as Dorsu, Krochet Kids, Alternative Apparel, and Reformation enables us to make a huge difference in the fashion industry. Companies like these use sustainable fabrics and processes in the form of recyclable materials and organic fibers instead of dyes and harmful chemicals. Ethical brands also ensure a safe, fair, and clean work environment along with helping individuals conquer poverty. Although this method of slow fashion is expensive, these high quality clothes are long lasting and these companies value the interests of their workers. If more people invest in slow fashion, then the fast fashion industry will experience a major decline in profit, thus compelling this industry to manage better and partake in fair practices in order to appease their customers.

Donating serves as an ultimatum to both the high-priced slow fashion apparel and the disposable low-quality fast fashion products. These clothing items can be donated to thrift stores, consignment stores, and local recycling centers to prevent landfill excess. The thrift shop staff examines the donations in order to determine what to resell and what to recycle. These clothes are donated to charity by non-profit thrift stores. Consignment stores abide by the same process, except when your clothing is resold you receive part of the earnings. They also return pieces of clothing that they don’t desire back to ensure that the clothing does not waste in landfills. Textile recycling centers tend to break down your clothing into textile fibers to create new garments through yarn and carpet padding. You can also shop at certain thrift stores such as Swap.com and Beacon’s Closet in addition to consignment stores such as ThredUP and Buffalo Exchange to buy sustainable clothing at an affordable price. In addition to second-hand shopping, vintage shopping enables you to recycle clothes and obtain high quality clothing at a lower price. Therefore, you can sport a unique and retro look that is not found in typical stores.

Overall, as consumers, we are responsible for encouraging this appalling and addicting environment of fast fashion as we continue to demand for cheap clothing. Thus, we need to be more conscious of who made our clothes and how the danger of death looms over them everyday as they try to fulfill our greedy demands. We also need to be mindful of many suffering from environmental issues caused by the production of these vile clothing. By spreading awareness to the cruelty behind fast fashion, we can fashion forward by saving our environment and people through a sustainable mindset and approach.

This article was published on the HerCulture blog. If you would like to submit an article, head on over to HerCulture to learn more about our writers and our magzine. Additionally, check out our social media (twitter, instagram, facebook, and tumblr!), our handles are herculture. Give this post a like and make sure you follow us on any of our accounts. By the end of December, we would like to reach our goal of 400 people on this tumblr account!

Start a culture revolution!

x Likhita

[slatestonemusic]

#HipHopPSA from @hiphop4justice THIS SUNDAY! SPREAD THE WORD. Special Guest: @speech__ of @arresteddevelopment__ #HipHop4Justice #BlackThoughtsMatter - #culturerevolution #globalhiphopnetwork #GlobalMediaNetworkGroup #1000Network #HipHopStandUp (at Phenomenal Radio) https://www.instagram.com/p/CD6fQSQj7la/?igshid=145qk2hcn3m7e

[know4life]

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was more than a dreamer, he was evolving into a revolutionary #RedistributeThePain #JusticeOrElse #BuyBlack #DoForSelf #Independencematter #UnityIsTheKey #EconomicBlueprint via @CultureRevolution Watch full video: https://t.co/p6Zy4nWe9p https://t.co/1ni3RreLny

[amigdalesart-blog]

war weapons #nisnil #cultureRevolution

[emiliocheng]

#culturerevolution #maotzetung DM （在 上海七寶古鎮-七寶教寺） https://www.instagram.com/p/BqmS2GtHpc2/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=kvyeojz4qxk2

[slatestonemusic]

#HipHopPSA from @hiphop4justice ...#THISISNOTAGAME JOIN US TONIGHT!! *See flyer for details. #HipHop4Justice #culturerevolution #GlobalHipHopNetwork #1000network #NetworkDistribution #TheHustleNetwork #GlobalMediaNetworkGroup #thehypemagazinenetwork #NerveDjsNetwork #MixxMafiaNetwork #MBTVnetwork #acwbroadcastnetwork #TheNetwerk #WuWorldNetwork #RadioNetwork #livepodcast #PodcastAlert #podcast #TRUTHwaiversfornoman #HipHop #hiphopculture #WeWillNotBeSilent (at Phenomenal Radio) https://www.instagram.com/p/CC12ch6Ay3_/?igshid=5m2pyihk8vf2

[moodibrudi]

🔺🕊🔮#MarkZimmermanArt #DigitalCollage #SacredPrince #Prince #OrganicPleasureStudio #OrganicPleasureGallery #MyIdolsAreDeadAndMyEnemiesAreInPower #MyIdolsAreDead #CultureRevolution 🔮🕊🔺 (at Organic Pleasure Gallery/Studio)

[know4life]

RT @BlkNarrativeTV: @CultureRevolution: Black people in America make up about 12% of the country's population, yet we have an annual spending habit of 1.3 Trillion dollars. Our unity is more powerful than an atomic bomb. #RedistributeThePain #BlackDollarsMatters #JusticeOrElse https://t.co/0WzAIQZx77

[emiliocheng]

人民公社 #culture #culturerevolution （在 上海七寶古鎮-七寶教寺）

[her-culture]

I saw this post on our HerCulture instagram page and it made me smile. I thought I would share it with you  guys. Also shameless plug, but if you are looking for inspirational quotes and pictures you should follow @herculture on instagram!

[her-culture]

Experiencing Gender Neutral Parenting since 1988

POOJA BANERJEE

Being born as a woman in a patriarchal society is always challenging. A well-behaved daughter, an accommodating sister and a good wife are projects like expectations that pursue to create your culturally accepted image. However, my case was different. I am the only child of my parents and the eldest grandchild of the family. My mother was merely 21 years old when she gave birth to me. Like any other young and inexperienced mother, she had no idea how to raise a child, let alone a daughter. Her naïve nature was the result of her early marriage at the age of 19, and the incessant reminder by the consanguineal family of her duties as a woman.

Luckily, she was married to a man who became her best friend, and did not pressure her to bear a son. My paternal family is a unique bunch of people in India. They love daughters. Period. This phenomenon began with my grandmother’s constant prayer to have a granddaughter instead of a grandson because she was tired after raising two sons for almost 26 years. Her expectation from a granddaughter was someone who would become her best friend. And that is exactly what I was for her. Discussing infatuations, boyfriends, heartbreaks, vacation stories, translating Hollywood comedies (from English to Bengali) and most importantly playing Ludo with her were few of our favorite past times. She was my 4 am soulmate - the coolest grandmother in the melodramatic Indian habitat.

Anyhow, as I had said earlier, my mother was a young, inexperienced and simple woman who had no idea what to do with her child, other than raising her. Since the day I recognized her existence in my life, I have always looked at her as a disciplinarian. She nurtured me to become a pragmatic, dedicated and determined adult. Each time, someone questioned her decision of not procreating again (they just wanted her to have a son who can take care of her and baba), her reply was simple “daughter/ son doesn’t matter, my child will lead her life the way she wants to”. Having said that, my mother did have crucial conversations with me such as what’s it like to be a girl or a woman. Her encouragement (sometimes overwhelming) to dress up like a girl, take pride in my sex, and to ensure I was aware that nothing is impossible to achieve, just because I am a girl is still in continuity. But, sometimes I wonder, would it have been possible without the reinforcement of the same ideas by my paternal family, especially my father?  “She is not our son; she is our daughter” was one of the strongest phrases that I hear even today when someone questions them about their decision of having a single girl child.

Reminiscing about these few moments, I feel how vital it is for parents to accept their child’s sex gracefully, and provide him/ her with a choice to have an opinion about oneself as an adult. We still live in a society where every human is consciously reminded of how to behave in a social setting. My parents are different. Their inadvertent practice of gender-neutral parenting made me an independent, intuitive and strong-willed individual. Yet, society did make them question their decisions as a parent of a girl.  It encouraged them to remind me of my perfect age of marriage since the day I turned 25. The serious discussion on how I need a life partner who can support me, and assure me of a happy ending was a vital part of regular evening tea talks. In the last few years, I have been flabbergasted by my parents’ stressful conversations about how their daughter is refusing to ‘settle down’, and is being a deviant girl. However, simultaneously, they also ensured that I continue my aspiration to become one of the finest development professionals (single woman still). They did not question my decision to fly to New York for my third masters or continue living in a foreign land. Trust me, when I say this - experiencing the unpredictable nature of your parents is humorous and not shocking.

Yes, I wouldn’t have been able to take some uncommon decisions as a development professional if they did not support my ambitions. I wouldn’t have been able to become a car mechanic when required if they did not inform me the importance of self-reliance. I wouldn’t have been able to be a solo traveler if they did not tell me the art of having fun while being a vigilant wanderer. And, I wouldn’t have been able to fight my own parents on several occasions if they did not teach me the motto of life-fight for your happiness. They imparted knowledge and skills necessary for any human to survive and thrive on this planet. Yet, they did stagger when they were tired of fighting the common cultural norms. On the one hand from visiting astrologers to matchmakers in order to find me a perfect soul mate; to the other extreme of singing out loud my achievements as a woman on social networks and tea parties,  their parenting style has always kept me confused. This dual nature of parenting makes me question - was I raised in an authentic gender-neutral home? Or was my upbringing the result of their conscious efforts to provide their child with a healthy and encouraging environment that they missed growing up in?

This article was published on the HerCulture blog. If you would like to submit an article, head on over to HerCulture to learn more about our writers and our magzine. Additionally, check out our social media (twitter, instagram, facebook, and tumblr!), our handles are herculture. Give this post a like and make sure you follow us on any of our accounts. By the end December, we would like to reach our goal of 400 people on this tumblr account!

Start a culture revolution!

x Likhita

[her-culture]

Do You Know What You Are Eating?

Geo Sique (Guest Poster)

As a teenager, I was one of those people who could eat whatever they wanted and still be skinny. I remember coming home from school and eating ice cream, chips, and popcorn — sometimes all in one day. I knew it wasn’t healthy, but I didn’t think it was hurting me since I remained skinny. As I started reading articles about eating healthy, I tried to avoid eating foods that were bad for my health. First, I stopped eating fast food. Then, I stopped drinking soda. Though I knew that I ate some unhealthy meals, it wasn’t until I graduated college that I learned just how awful my diet still was.

At that point, I got a job as a writer and two things happened. The first was that I started gaining weight, mostly from sitting down all day. My clothes started fitting me tighter and I started noticing a few stretch marks. The second was that as I wrote health articles, I learned more about what healthy eating really meant and discovered hidden dangers in my general diet, and I learned how bad sitting all day was. After that, I tried sticking to better health guidelines for my diet and exercise.

Recommended Daily Servings

The first thing I learned was the truth about recommended daily servings. Though I knew that I should limit my sugar and sodium intake, I never paid attention to what the limit should be or how much I was eating. All health intake guidelines will vary depending on each individual, but the recommended daily servings are still important to know to have a baseline knowledge of what you should be eating. Here is what I learned.

Regarding pre-packaged foods, the FDA recommends looking at the Percent Daily Value. Servings, with 5 percent daily value being low and 20 percent being high. Looking at this percentage is a good way to get an idea of how much of something your food has in it.

Another way to get a grasp on what you should be eating every day is to envision the portions you should be having every day. The daily recommendations are usually given in grams, which can be hard to grasp. Converting those from grams to teaspoons or daily spoons is a great way to process what your body needs everyday as well as help you know how much is too much.

Upper Limits

In researching the recommended daily servings, I was shocked to learn that the recommended daily value is not in fact the daily value that doctors recommend, but it is an upper limit. So, it is important to note that the daily value on the nutrition level does not necessarily reflect what you should be eating, but what you should not be surpassing. To say the least, it’s challenging to monitor and maintain your macronutrients.

For a starting baseline, here are the basic recommended daily servings for the average adult in the U.S.:

Carbohydrates: 225-325 grams of carbohydrates

Calories: the average adult man should consume 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day, and the average adult woman should consume 1,600 to 2,000 calories per day

Sodium: less than 2400 milligrams

Fat: 44-77 grams of fat per day

Other factors beyond age and sex should also be considered, including weight and activity level. For example, sedentary people need fewer calories while active people need more.

Too Sweet?

The biggest shock for me was learning about sugar. The daily value for sugar, as implemented by the American Heart Association, is about 25 grams, or 6 teaspoons of sugar. If that sounds like an unreasonably small amount to you, it’s because the average American consumes 82 grams or 19.5 teaspoons per day. That is more than triple this guideline, which is already an upper limit.

If that hasn’t sent you running to search your kitchen cabinets and fridge to check the levels of sugar in the foods you consume daily, you might want to consider doing it now. Many drinks, sweet snacks, and miscellaneous sauces are packed with more than the daily value recommended by the FDA.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that there is a lot of sugar in most food products found at the grocery store, but learning the sheer amount is shocking. One Vitamin Water contains over 100 percent of the daily value, one yogurt can have half the daily value. Add a couple servings of sugary cereal (the serving size, one cup, is not enough) and you are looking at twice the upper limit for your sugar intake, all before lunch.

Eating Better

After I started paying attention to all of these things, I recognized many signs that I needed to change my diet. Trying to lower my intake of sugar was the most important to me, and I realized that unless you cook your own food most of the time, it can feel impossible. I realized that my breakfast alone sometimes had more than enough sugar for the day. At first, this made me panic and I had anxiety about eating sugary foods. After awhile, this subsided and I just tried to limit sugar whenever possible, but still treat myself occasionally. I didn’t want to develop an unhealthy relationship with food and become obsessed with counting everything.

A few things I did to reduce my intake of sugar was trading all your sugary drinks — including juice — for water. It’s difficult to find any drinks that don’t have any sugar in them without making them yourself, and since you’ll definitely be getting enough sugar from your meals and snacks, it’s best not to add on to it with what you drink.

I also limited my intake of condiments, as sauces, dressings, and ketchup, as they all add up to frightening quantities of sugar. A sad reality that I had have to face is that I needed to cut out desserts from my daily diet — though I do indulge occasionally. You can even just cut back to weekends and special occasions; this can massively cut down the harmful sugar entering your body.

Also, you can try staying away from foods that contain a lot of sodium, such as lunch meat, hamburgers, savory snacks, and bread. You can also make a habit of not adding extra salt to your meals, instead finding other ways to flavor your food like adding herbs or pepper instead.

You can also try these tips from Arizona State University’s nutritional program:

Eat mindfully and intentionally

Try superfoods that are good for your health

Consider the long-term effects of your eating habits

Don’t make yourself hangry or starve yourself to be skinny

Don’t drink too much caffeine

Don’t follow trending diets that don’t feel healthy to you

What you eat is a personal responsibility that needs to be taken seriously. You can talk to your nurse practitioner on ways to optimize your diet as part of your preventative health plan. It’s not always easy and your diet doesn’t have to be perfect, and mentality plays a large role. Avoiding diet culture is important to me, and instead, I try to avoid unhealthy foods and eat a wholesome, nutritious diet.

I measure my health by how I look and feel rather than by how much I weigh. Weight can be a scary thing to look at, especially when gaining muscle can make the pounds go up, even though you’re losing fat. However, I feel more confident after working out, and I feel healthier when I keep an eye on what I’m eating. I feel in control of my health. I even had a doctor check up and for the first time I wasn’t underweight, but at a healthy one, and being healthy is what counts.

This article was published on the HerCulture blog. If you would like to submit an article, head on over to HerCulture to learn more about our writers and our magzine. Additionally, check out our social media (twitter, instagram, facebook, and tumblr!), our handles are herculture. Give this post a like and make sure you follow us on any of our accounts. By the end of December, we would like to reach our goal of 400 people on this tumblr account!

Start a culture revolution!

x Likhita

[her-culture]

BDSM as a Logical Reaction to Monopoly Capitalistic Society

KATHERINE MEADOWS

Popular culture depicts BDSM (Bondage, Discipline/Domination, Submission/Sadism, Masochism), which utilizes sexual power dynamics as a means of furthering excitement and eroticism, in a way that generally distorts mainstream perception of practitioners. Ironically, by enforcing just one extreme of BDSM play, thereby painting the culture in a biased light, the media is demonstrating exactly what BDSM is confronting. Power is everywhere: present in institution-to-individual interactions as well as individual-to-individual interactions—including sexual relationships. In understanding how inextricably combined power and sex are, we can understand why power dynamics are the linchpin of BDSM play and get a more holistic view of this heavily misunderstood subculture.

Power is Everywhere

On bold-type phrases, interpret “power.”

To understand this concept, we have to examine what gives an entity power or what characterizes something with power. Power lends agency, running everything from machinery to the White House. As an abstract, power allows us to hold some capacity of control. Necessarily, this concept involves an exchange between an empowered entity and an entity lacking empowerment.

Forces in our atmosphere as well as the ground beneath our feet have a capacity to control where populations decide to live due to natural disasters and the motion of tectonic plates can kill.

Police officers also have the license to end a life—if they deem it necessary—and to deprive individuals of their freedom. Elected officials and representatives have abundant influence on the laws that govern our society and can even sway the governing forces of other nations. Power decides the rules and, if those rules are not followed, the repercussions. Those who have power can wage wars; the masses are the pawns of those with power.

Even micro interactions involve power exchange. The professor has the qualifications to grant a grade, and therefore, influence the likelihood that a student’s invested time, money, and hard work will result in a degree. It is within a parent’s hands to decide everything for their child until that child becomes an adult.

The Problem with Power

All of these positions that we identify with power also come with the potential for corruption. The parent, meant to act in the best interest of the child, may abuse that child or use the child in a myriad of inappropriate and dangerous ways. The professor may blackmail the student for something that they want.Those that govern our nation may cater to their own interests rather than those of the citizens they are in place to serve.

The police officer may use an unmonitored prejudice when they rationalize whether or not to use deadly force. The officer is prone to biases like anyone else, but because their position in society holds considerably more power, these biases carry more weight. If you’ve been paying any level of attention to the news or social media trends, you are probably aware that all of these problematic dynamics are both present and in a number of instances, allowed by the Monopoly Capitalist system to persist.

In a Monopoly Capitalist society, citizens serve a few functions. Not only are they the worker bees slaving away their libidos for the benefit of the 1 percent, they are simultaneously the consumers latching that dulled desire & stimulation to empty entertainment and luxury after unnecessary luxury; Lending their meager paychecks to those who make the profits. The Protestant values our society was built on (hard work is necessary for rewards and status) helped construct the path that most Americans are pressured to take. The school system teaches us that we must get a job to earn money so that we can buy the food and shelter that we need to survive, along with the most recent iPhone, clothing fad and other necessities.This system pressures us to go to places of higher education that shackle us to our debt in the name of a more prestigious existence (a specialized job with a higher income—and a more costly certification process). Yet, this upward mobility—a cornerstone of the “American Dream”—has never been easy in America. According to the The Equality of Opportunity Project, a child’s chances of “earning more than their parents have fallen from 90 percent to 50 percent over the past half century,” while the wage gap between the top and bottom percentiles grows broader. The America that is okay with these blatant disparities is the same nation that drives home the values, legislation, and economy that keep it this way.

The Role of Power in Identity

The world that we live in carries many forms of power that consistently determine our environment by limiting options, directing individuals toward one route instead of another, and largely shaping who we are. Foucault argued that power can now be understood as the “boundaries that enable and constrain [an individual’s] possibilities for action, and on people’s relative capacities to know and shape these boundaries.” Power sculpts who we are by being present in the influences on our “possibilities” from birth.

If you are born an American citizen, you were probably born in a hospital current on specific regulatory codes enforced by the dictation of the Department of Health. You were born in a healthy, clean environment, away from toxins and unsafe conditions. If you were born in a developing country, you may have come into the world undernourished, in a war zone, or into a poverty-stricken family. Already, two very separate tracks have been paved. If you went to public school growing up, you were taught logic and the scientific method for determining truth—as well as accepted organizations that presumably follow these methods and present the facts that the masses can invest in. If you went on to higher education, you learned the acceptable and unacceptable ways in which information is integrated into cultural understanding. The process by which we determine what information to let into the canon of accepted ideas is monitored by those with the responsibility to dictate which educational facilities will elevate or condemn. As a contrasting example, religious facilities may use other measures for truth, such as what is outlined in a sacred text. Socially, some use anecdotal (subjective, empirical) evidence, which is generally unaccepted in the scientific community. As Foucault detailed, “scientific discourse and institutions...are reinforced (and redefined) constantly through the education system, the media, and the flux of political and economic ideologies."

In the American school systems, you were taught the rules of this society by parents and peers alike: red means stop, killing people is wrong, the most important goal of life is to make money, etc. We gleaned all of our symbolic recognition, moral understandings, and ideological brainwashing from the culture and society we were socialized in. We were taught everything within the confines of what the overarching systems of control allowed us to learn.

Maybe we learned about these systems: ideology, corruption, etc.—and decided that we want less restriction and more freedom of action. Sometimes, we tested the limits of these systems of control; went over the speed limit one too many times and faced the repercussions. Sometimes, we learned and sometimes, we became more curious. Sometimes, we go farther and find ourselves in the almighty face of power—facing something more than just a $100 fine—facing a life sentence, facing mortality, facing crippling debt and repossession, facing ostracization and isolation—all methods of intense control.

Even if we didn’t encounter this backlash, we certainly grew up hearing about those who did. Part of our societal education is to learn about those who did not play by the rules and how they were made examples of. Now, fear becomes a mechanism of control, wielding power. Institutions, especially “prisons, schools, and mental hospitals” set a clear standard and promoting conformity in society. “Their systems of surveillance and assessment no longer required force or violence, as people learned to discipline themselves and behave in expected ways,”John Gaventa of adds.

Where BDSM Enters the Picture

Power permeates life in the ability to provoke something. Because of this fact, we are constantly surrounded by very subtle, inbred modes of control— constantly subjected to unquantifiable power dynamics, that we largely avoid consciously recognizing, because it would hinder functioning smoothly in this social system.

BDSM brings these power dynamics to the table and forces participants to recognize them and move within them. To understand these dynamics is a kind of power in itself because it is the first step in expanding the capacity for changing the instruments that alter and dictate who we are. Practitioners experience what it feels like to be entirely in control of the situation or to experience complete impotence (and not just if the scene gets weird). By allowing them to fully invest in roles they do and do not play within society, BDSM allows people to confront their staggering lack of power as an individual. Play can be very cathartic, with a potential for both great healing and great shattering.

Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby

Power permeates the sexual field similarly to the way it permeates institution-to-individual interactions. For example, sex may be used as an exchange for money or advantageous situations. Some individuals may find it empowering to entice others through sexual attraction, just as it is a show of empowerment to deny sexual interactions. Maybe you find the physical show of power (domination) as a turn on.

Generally in sex, a duo can be classified into one of two categories that do not necessarily align themselves with the opposing: Dominant and Submissive. One gives, one receives. One controls the situation, the other allows themself to be operated. This juxtaposition can go as vanilla as one person initiating or guiding the other or as intense as a BDSM scene that is orchestrated to follow an agreed upon script. There may be pairings of two Dominants and two Submissives, but the power play remains the same. How pronounced the power dynamics are determines where on the scale from “Conforming” to “Deviant” the sexual act falls.

Think about the nonverbal conversation that goes on during sex (inside and outside BDSM play), from the point of initiation. Perhaps it starts with a dialogue between the eyes—lingering just too long on the lips or body. When a hand crosses the threshold and is placed on a knee, an arm, or directly onto the other’s genitals, a question has been asked—namely, “is this okay?” If the person being touched is uninterested or has been read wrong, they will [ideally] verbally or nonverbally respond conveying that information. Or they may respond with another question: moving in to kiss the initiator or touching them back. The one acting is the one showing power, as power is the ability to do something specific. A couple may show power equally and at the same time. Or perhaps, one member of the group will take a stronger leading role, directing which positions are utilized. This isn’t to say that the passive member is void of power, as they always have the power to refuse advances (except in cases of harassment, coercion, sexual assault, and rape). Even during a sex act, if the Dominant directs the Submissive in a way that the sub dislikes, they can respond either verbally (“stop”) or physically by assuming a role of power and redirecting the action to something that does please them. Power often operates to benefit the entity with power; and in sex, the goal is generally that all parties involved get off in some way. To directly facilitate one’s own orgasm or excitement is to assume a role of power. To negate another’s eroticism is also a utilization of personal power. In this light, BDSM becomes a “set of tools for sandboxing...mainstream power dynamics,” according to freaksexual.com, “by providing a safe space to experience and confront, in a corporeal way, all levels of power and control.”

Conclusion

In a world where power permeates every interaction, social construct, and institution, human beings are constantly sculpted and directed by subtle forces that surround everything we know. By bringing these power dynamics into a space where they can be physically confronted, negotiated, and controlled in a way that is ultimately pleasurable, BDSM provides a cathartic release for the tensions that a Monopoly Capitalist society presents.

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x Likhita