What is a Kink?
100 years of Kinks Evolution
Sex-positivity of our generation together with possibility of searching for one's sexual fantasies (kinks) and living them out have their historical background. Our ability to wonder «what is a kink?» and «what is my kink?» is owed to sexual revolutions. And sexual revolution of the XX century started earlier than you may think: Wilhelm Reich coined and described the term «sexual revolution» in the 1930-ies. It evolved to the full extent only some 30 years later, having granted to kinksters the freedom of expression and the inner right to experiments. And in the beginning was the culture of pin-up.
Pin-up: the first kink of the XX century
Pin-up came as the avant-garde, fathering and fostering the kinky-wave that has streamed into the ocean of modern kinky media-culture. Bettie Page, a kinky star of that time, was the first model for BDSM photo-shoots and short films: the adherents of scene-acting kinks related to bondage, domination, sadism and masochism used to order her photos for mail delivery. Photos and movies featuring Bettie were shot by Irving Klaw, the first kinky photographer.
The kinks of sexual revolution
Every sexual revolution generates new sexual ideas and kinks. Porn, kinky-clubs, free love and de-stigmatization of homosexual manifestations – these were the children delivered by the one of the 1960-ies.
It’s not only for the recent two thousand years that man has been busy creating objects of art based on excitement-provoking scenes – it is a much older story. Yet it’s only over the last 50 years that the art of this kind has become enjoyed by so many people. The trend was triggered by Andy Warhol and his Blue Movie, the first erotic film that received wide release and contained explicit sex scenes.
Another significant outcome of sexual revolution was the chance of development for those who preferred to be engaged in same-sex love, cross-dressing and even sex reassignment. It was only in 1974 that homosexuality was delisted as a mental disorder, and it enabled development of all kinks related to same-sex scenarios.
The third essential benefit of the XX-century sexual revolution is the occurrence of alternative relationships: open relationships, free marriage and their youngest siblings – polyamory, monogamish and consensual nonmonogamy. Not classified among kinks, they however facilitate the evolvement of the kinks with more than two persons involved. The principle of open relationships and the sense of inner right to sex outside the couple have climaxed into coining of the term «compersion» that you can learn more about from the article Compersion – A New Term in Alternative Relationships.
What is a kinky place
The atmosphere of freedom to sexual self-expression has given rise to kinky events a-la gay-parades and kink play parties, as well as kinky clubs – the designated areas where kinksters may meet, communicate and express themselves. The detailed specification of such kinky places can be found in article Eyes Wide Open: A Guide to Kinky Clubs and Kinky Parties.
When in search for kinky-parties, one can come on purpose to the city known for its kinky clubs. New York, for instance, has more than 15 clubs of the kind. The same does Paris. While true connoisseurs of kinky tourism have an entire resort – Cap d'Adge – at their service.
Those who manage to find like-minded people for setting a local kinky party stay under the shroud of mystery, yet penetrate into reality through fantasies about them. Let us recall the celebrated Eyes Wide Shut by S. Kubrick and J. Jaeckin’s Story of O and relish thinking about the number of indecent night-outs arranged behind the doors of clubs, mansions and restaurants closed for “private party”.
What is kinky in terms of sextech?
The variety of kinky sites and kinky apps (for instance, Fantasy App) enables everyone interested in kinky dating to meet each other, communicate and learn more about new kinks of other people.
The power of Internet ensures millennials to receive the broadest possible education in the field of sex. The XXI century serves us with kinky forums, sex-bloggers, apps and sites for sex education – everything collectively referred to as «the sphere of sextech». You can learn more about the kinky side of the sextech industry from our blog’s article soon.
Where are we going? The way we want
Psychoanalysis, the ‘religion’ of our days, tells us that the more integral, confident and independent, the more ready we are to let other people into our world, curious about those who are different from us. And on the contrary: when fragile and unstable, we are looking for someone like us, the ones whom we can understand.
The world of today gives us a fantastic chance of learning cultures that are totally different from ours, their sexual aspects included. Such trips into different sex worlds enable us to abandon the habit of doing everything under conventional scheme and encourage to go searching for personal way of self-expression, one’s individual kinky-preferences and fulfilment of genuine sexual desires.