Quote Originally Posted by SauvagePouline View Post
I don't have a movie off hand, but I can think of a book series. Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake series. Some of the books aren't as bad as others, and some might even see it as an OK representation.

But the main character is a hateful, dominant in a bad way, biotch. For paranormal reasons, she has a string of lovers a mile long. And there are threads of D/s and bondage and S/m allllllll through the books. And she has all sorts of hang ups about it. In some books she makes BDSM sound bloody, truly sadistic (not the good way) and corrupted. Others it sounds mildly acceptable.

What's funny, is that in her other series, the Merry Gentry series, the main character is quite liberated. And the representation of BDSM is fairly good. She has no problems with her string of lovers, and kinky sex is a part of herself that she embraces, rather than a scary part of her self she'd rather cover up. There is one character who is overly sadistic (again in the bad way) and beats people truly bloody, but it is quite obviously not supposed to represent normal kinksters.

But the D/s is messed up in both series. Anyone who submits is weak and has problems. Whether it be low-on-the-totem-pole werewolves, or the half goblin who gets his arse beat all the time, and clings to dominants for safety.

My theory is the author has some very kinky fantasies, but very little actual experience, and thus lives vicariously through the books (not that that is a bad thing). But, I can't decide if it is good for BDSM because it gets the idea out there, and makes it sound interesting and almost acceptable, or bad because it IS misrepresented and unrealistic, and definitely makes D/s look bad, even if kinky sex looks ok...
I'm actually a HUGE Hamilton fan. Anita Blake is one of the few female characters I have ever enjoyed for not being stuck in a normal female's overtly feminized role. The way I see it, she started out as a character who really wasn't into BDSM. Not every person out there wants to be a dom or sub so to have it thrust on you- well, I think she handles it better than some might. That might be a reason I personally identify with her- I've had the dom role shoved onto me in the past and yeah, in all honesty I wasn't the best dom back then. I'm still not at the level of many others out there (but it's not exactly a high priority right now either).

I don't know that Hamilton was trying to show BDSM originally. I think it was meant to just be a paranormal murder mystery thing, complete with love interests. I mean, how many books did it take before Anita had sex?

As far as BDSM being sadist, bloody, cruel etc- there are plenty out there who are. They may not frequent this forum but they're there. Besides, that's what the S stands for anyways.

The last book I read in the series I remember she (Anita) had come to terms with it (BDSM) a bit more. I vaguely recall her giving a lecture or something on how it was okay to like it or something along those lines. It seems to me that Anita was made to have flaws- much more so than Merry. Relationships, bdsm or otherwise, aren't the smooth stuff we dream of. Crap happens, people get dramatic. I dunno. What can I say? I'm just a fan.