Quote Originally Posted by Miner View Post
Not sure about other jurisdictions - but I have a feeling the response might be the same as here...

BDSM activity would still fall foul of the zero tolerance attitudes to domestic violence and result in a likely successful prosecution for assault and battery by the dom and (even worse perhaps) successful prosecution against the sub for aiding and abetting domestic violence (even though the sub would also class as the victim of domestic violence).

In other words - if the police or legal system get involved in any way as a result of BDSM activity it could turn nasty for the lifestylers.

The above was a bit off topic - the original post was excellent advice to all
Yes, we are off topic slightly...

I think the main reason why the law is like this in most places is to protect against domestic violence. There are so many cases of this where the victim appears to consent to it but has been bullied into doing so. So if you open up a loophole like a BDSM contract then a lot more abusive bastards will slip through the net and BDSM will get tarred with a 'domestic violence' brush which will do our already beleagured PR campaign no end of harm.

Back on topic... any moves towards getting the original post put somewhere so all can read it? Doesn't need to be a sticky - it could be posted somewhere seperate (in the story section? In a section on its own dedicated to information for new people?) with a link to it at the top (saying 'information for those new to the lifestyle'). Add some more useful newbie FAQs (which we can easily get from a quick trawl of the forums) and we have a useful resource.