Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.05.2016, Page 13

blackface, then that is, to put it mildly,
somewhat tasteless.
However, when it comes the culture
of my own community, even the most
incessant forms of appropriation of
BDSM elements have only managed
to slightly annoy me so far. It might
even have resulted in the occasional
face-palm followed by a deep despair-
ing sigh. The reason why I have per-
sonally never been angrily offended
might be because popular culture has
always flirted
with fringe sexu-
ality. In the years
after the Second
World War, the
European conti-
nent was shocked
that ‘The Story
of O’ (a rather
graphic BDSM-
themed novel)
won a prestigious
literary award.
Grace Jones flirt-
ed somewhat with
BDSM symbol-
ism in the 70s and
Madonna went
all out in the 90s
while artists like
Britney Spears
and Rihanna sang
about S&M and
being a “slave for
you” in the 2000s.
The point is that popular culture’s
appropriation of BDSM culture has
been around for a while, and even if
it often completely misrepresents
the reality of what BDSM culture is,
this kind of appropriation has been
more or less tolerated for at least two
reasons: 1) people who are actually
BDSM-oriented have been less than
comfortable with coming out of the
closet and doing any real complaining
(well, not any-
more, here we are,
time to do some
serious nagging!);
and 2) those who have
appropriated BDSM cul-
ture have always, to some
extent, been allies or at the
very least not been actively
opposing the BDSM commu-
nity. Sure, E.L. James has not the
faintest idea about what BDSM is
and grossly misrepresents the values
of our community, but she has never,
to my knowledge, ever insinuated that
people of BDSM orientation do not
have the right to some kind of real rep-
resentation in our culture on par with
members of other queer communities.
And so, for all the misinformation in
‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, or Rihanna’s or
Madonna’s crazy BDSM caricatures,
we tolerate it.
However, there comes a point when
the appropriation of BDSM culture
stops being merely annoying and
starts being hurtful. Last time I lis-
tened to “Ég er eins og ég er,” as per-
formed by the Palli himself, my heart
filled with anger and my eyes filled
with tears. I used to proudly stand in
the crowd during the Reykjavik Pride,
singing this anthem to diversity and
free love, knowing in my heart that
when the time came, surely Páll Ós-
kar would support us. He of all people
would know what it is like to be clos-
eted, to not be able to tell your friends
or family, to meet prejudice everywhere
you go, to lose your job or your children
because of your sexuality. As it turned
out, however, this was not the case.
The BDSM community has its own
history of oppression, its very own
aesthetic and its own symbols of em-
powerment, some of which date back
hundreds if not thousands of years.
Before Páll Óskar asked the Icelandic
BDSM community to go “make their
own parade,” I did not really mind the
blatant appropriation of these sym-
bols in his performances. After all, I
thought we were on the same team.
This whole time I actually thought
that Páll Óskar’s use of the bondage
suit was his quiet nod of approval the
BDSM community, if not his own way
of saying that he was one of us. This,
too, was not the case.
There will be people who will say
these are just glittery suits with no
inherent meaning and that Páll Ós-
kar had no intention of imitating
the BDSM aesthetic. This could very
well be true. But intentions are irrel-
evant here. These bondage suits are
“just” glimmer costumes in the same
way that a Native American headdress
is “just” a headband with feathers or
blackface is “just” brown face paint. To
those who do not want to learn, these
symbols are of course meaningless,
while to other communities they might
be of immense cultural importance.
Personally, I do not mind the use of
BDSM elements in pop culture, least of
all when it is by an amazing performer
like Páll Óskar. But these elements
quickly come off in his stage perfor-
mance as just being inconsiderate and
upsetting when he tells BDSM people
to go “make their own parade.”
Finally, I wish to point out that this
article was written for the purposes of
education, seeing as this is something
that has been called for on numerous
occasions. Many in the queer commu-
nity, BDSM people included, will dis-
agree with what I have written, and that
is ok. I speak for myself and myself only.
By writing this I hope to contribute to
an ongoing debate in our communities
where people will agree and disagree,
debate and argue, and hopefully, in the
end, learn something new.
SHARE: gpv.is/BDSM
Words by
THOMAS
BRORSEN
SMIDT
Photo by
ART
BICKNICK
MAKE YOUR
OWN PARADE
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 5 — 2016
13
It often
completely
misrepresents
the reality of
what BDSM
culture is
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