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University of Chicago
A poster promotes the Nov. 1 meeting of RACK, the BDSM club at the University of Chicago. Click the image for the full-size version.
It's a club where you might, in fact, use a club: Harvard University has joined the small but growing roster of U.S. colleges that have approved official student organizations devoted to kinky sex.
Harvard administrators were to formally approve the group, Harvard College Munch, on Friday, The Harvard Crimson reported. The recognition means the group, which has grown to 30 members since its informal founding earlier this year, can officially meet on campus to discuss issues related to the bondage-discipline, dominant-submission, and sadism-masochism communities, known collectively as BDSM.
More important, its founder told the newspaper, speaking under the pseudonym "Michael," is that the move bestows "the fact of legitimacy."
While Harvard's club drew widespread attention this week, it's far from the only BDSM club officially recognized by, or at least tolerated at, U.S. colleges.
At the University of Minnesota, Kinky U is Student Organization No. 2370. It meets weekly — after office hours "for maximum safety and confidentiality" — to discuss "topics related to kink and the kinky community."
At Tufts University in Medford, Mass., Tufts Kink started meeting this semester.
"I think there’s a number of students who feel sort of isolated and alienated, and I think it's very powerful for them to have just a place where they can express themselves and a place where they can make friends," co-founder Anschel Schaffer-Cohen told The Tufts Daily.
There's no national registry of campus BDSM groups, but consensus is that the oldest is at Columbia University, in New York, where Conversio Virium meets on campus every Monday night at 9.
"Conversio virium" is Latin for "conversion of forces," and the group says it dedicates itself to 'the full exploration of BDSM, both in its sexual and spiritual aspects."
"We encourage acceptance and communication between members," its charter says. "We urge them to learn from each other's play styles and experiences and to set aside any assumptions they may have about who people are and what they do."
Actual sex isn't allowed at such on-campus gatherings, which usually host discussions or the occasional live demonstration of safe and consensual kinky sex.
The point is to "raise general awareness of kink and to promote acceptance and understanding of BDSM," according to the bylaws of Risk-Aware Consensual Kink, or RACK, at the University of Chicago.
RACK is an intellectual group, it says, not a play group. It provides "resources to students who are interested in or curious about BDSM" and demonstrations that "give students an opportunity to learn from experienced members of the BDSM community about safely practicing kink."
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Leave a Comment:
I find it disturbing and disgusting that so many people make sex and this type of "self expression" such a high priority. What happened to the days when sex was a private matter between two people? If deviant behavior like this is at the forefront of your identity...seek help. That's not normal.
And, to those of you who think I'm prude for saying this, yes, I like sex. 50 shades is fiction and the books even allude to the fact that it's not normal to engage in and enjoy that kind of interaction. Otherwise there would be no need for confidentiality.
You allege bdsm is not normal and is in fact deviant. Evidence please.
BDSM was normal when women were property. It was normal when Kings kept dissenters in the dungeon.
It is only normal for those who have failed to evolve.
How about the fact that people who engage in this behavior look for partners who declare they're "safe and sane"? That makes it sound like they're the exception, rather than the rule, doesn't it?
WalkWithMeInHell You seem to be confusing torture with BDSM. Please learn the difference.
KW, I don't know about you but when engaging in any activity that can be dangerous being 'safe and sane' is always a general requirement. Personally, I still have a problem riding along with my mother-in-law after an incident a few christmases ago.
@KW
Don't try to use logic on them. Their only pathetic comeback is to insult you.
Consensual sex without all the props and physical pain is not generally dangerous, unless you have some kind of health condition and can't handle a rise in heart rate.
@Oh
Trust me, I know the difference. I know more than most of these modern neophytes, I was going to clubs that hosted parties to these people in the 90's. What I am pointing out is the same prehistoric mindset. It is also incredibly immature. "Yay, I'm gonna play dress up just like when I was 5 years old. Except in overpriced superhero outfits. Then we are going to play the 'mercy' game, until one of us sprays DNA on the other."
KW
Frankly BDSM also isn't typically dangerous by definition. Certain practices included in bdsm can be. But when that acronym covers actions ranging from use of blindfolds to bloodletting its hardly accurate to describe everything that falls under it as dangerous by nature.
Anyhow, this is all a bunch of hubbub about nothing. This BDSM craze is just that a craze. Fifty Shades convinced all these unsatisfied and unloved women that this is the "in thing", it must work so well because it is written on a 6th grade level.
This "fad" now in college is no different than when bi-curious girls were supposedly the college hipsters in the 90's. Soon this fad will fade away, until it is back to the core people who get dermatological viruses from improperly maintained hot tubs at their parties.
..There are no words.
De-evolution...
Wow, heaven forbid we have a nativity scene on a lawn or a virgin mary statue on a ski slope, even the 10 commandments in a building.. but we have a BDSM course Mom and Dad can pay for.. taken by kids so morally and socially misguided its all ready to late. And we continue to just roll down the hill.... sigh
Congrats on being a reactionary moron and not reading the article. This is a student group. Not a degree path.
And kudos to you for being so blatantly ignorant. Its a group, course, a horse by a different color.. whats it matter? its still on campus and allowed by the campus, talk about trivializing.. can you see the trees though the forest?
Trvializing. Mmkay.I want you to go to your nearest college. Find any three college groups. Ask them if there's any difference between that group and their degree path.
I see many things. Most importantly I see nuance and detail and recognize that people getting together to talk is not equal to flagellant orgies in the public square.
Any christian group on the campus can build / praise all the virgin mary/ten commandment statues they want. No one is preventing them from doing so.
Interesting that the Pinko Leftist Libtards in charge of Harvard worked for years to hamper recruiting by the CIA and Military. Yet those degenerate dirtbags promote this nonsense. Irony.
Who is promoting it? They're simply allowing students their right to have a club that represents their own interests. they aren't endorsing it, just letting it happen because thats the rule.
And no, they wouldn't allow a beastiality/ pedophilia club because thats illegal according to state law. Get your head out of the sand.
How utterly Victorian.
I suggest that everyone write to Harvard Dean and tell that office what you think about their liberal idiocy. This furthers education in no way, and only brings dangerous and deviant behavior into a new realm of craziness. The world is looking at us thinking we are f'ng out of our minds. The punishment for being caught doing this kind of thing ranges from death to imprisonment across the world. What's next? Are we going to protect them as a discriminated group? Do they get a special room at work to meet? Anyone who thinks this is another "group" who should be able to meet in the open on campus should be horse whipped. What are you building in this country?? You don't need discussions or training for heterosexual behavior - mom;'s and dad's told you about the birds and bees. I don't recall there being any discussion about leather, whips, nipple pinchers, doms and slaves in there. Why? Because it isn't nature and that alone should give us pause. This is sexually deviant and dangerous behavior that leads to no good end. It is never enough with these people - they move on to greater things - so people - let's not allow this!!!
It further's education in now way? Except how to safely practice it.
The only people outside of the US thinking we're losing our minds are reacting to the people all enraged over a freaking student group.
You don't need discussions or training for heterosexual behavior? My god I can only hope you understand how much epic bull@!$%# that is. Yeah, just lay on your back and let the man do his business. That's all you need to know.
You're really hurting over this, huh?
Sounds like this club is just what you need! ;-)
That's the ticket! Write a letter!
AHAHAHA
Dante,
I'm sorry, but you sound like an idiot. Harvard is a private coeducational institution, and will do as it likes, regardless of what the general public says; at the end of the day, Harvard is Harvard, and is still the highest standard of qualifications in the workplace / one of the few institutions that competes on an international educational scale. Furthermore, anyone who has taken a basic psychology class would tell you that "human nature" encompasses more than just the status quo--in fact, such deviations actually shed more light on what exactly is "human nature." Who is to say that mom and dad knew more than what we're finding out right now?
God,
he's butthurt.
It's almost $40,000 a year to attend Harvard. And they are offering this ridiculous subject at an Ivy League school? The founders must be spinning in their graves.
This is NOT why young, impressionable 18 year-olds go to college. This is abominable and wrong.
I hope parents think twice before allowing their children to attend this "school". What an embarrassment to higher education and academia.
Offering this subject?
Its a student group, not a doctorate. Egads.
Young and impressionable 18 year olds? In this day and age? Are you serious?
I knew what BDSM was when I was in college and that was 10 years ago. See, there's this thing. It's called the internet. Kids use it to learn stuff - and watch porn (oh nos!) - and I guarantee that many, many18 year olds know way more about kinky sex than you would like to think.
I went to Colombia also, and there was nothing like this way back in the stone age. LOL We went to pub where I met women and engaged in casual encounters before aids. It was awesome. Best time of my life.
Regardless of everyone's posts, I guarantee that mom and dad are NOT paying for this kind of "inellectual" exploration...though willard romney did actually say college kids should ask mom and dad for $, I seriously think M & D would raise the roof if they knew what their little darlings are discussing, especially on name-brand college campuses that cost a fortune for legit classes and diplomas. I am no prude, but this is rediculous!! And, by the way, I doubt that this kind of "discussion and practice" has little to do with a liberal or conservative slant on life...this crosses the line but probably interests up-tight ultra-conservative teavangelical repub-types more than anyone else...cut loose from mommy and daddy, strict religious upbringings, and bankrolled to enjoy the freedom afforded in college life, I'd suspect they'd go for all the forbidden pleasures more than anyone else...just an opinion.
Ha.. why not... Bill Clinton and business leaders across the USA have implemented similar clubs in their line of business. Just what a 'college' should condone for future leaders... like sexual harassment lawsuits aren't affecting lifes already.. even in the Navy.
Wake up America
Okay seriously? I can think of better ways for colleges to spend their money than a BDSM club. I mean what if they took the money they are devoting to a student organization like this and instead use it to provide textbooks for cheap, add more grants and scholarships or throw a campus wide party? Why in heck would something like this be approved by the board at Harvard of all places?
It's a student group. Student groups don't get any funding. But they need to be registered if they want to reserve a classroom for a meeting or something.
Evan,
Harvard is has the largest educational endowment in the Ivy league, and in the entire country. I know because I went to Dartmouth and they'd rub it in our faces all the time (though, Harvard was never my favorite place I must say). The place can definitely afford to subsidize cheap textbooks and scholarships--the Ivy League has a policy where if the parents make (overall) less than $70,000 dollars a year, the student goes for free. Has been this way for years. The school can do what it wants, and then some.
Gross! Ick!!
Many of us engage in a Master/Slave relationship every day... it's called WORK.
Seriously though... I used to hang around with some nice, intelligent & creative people who wasted their time being into BDSM... until I came to the conclusion that BDSM stands for Boring, Dumb, Stupid and Moronic.
I'm pretty sure that the forbidden, unlawful part of this behavior will be taken away and those involved will probably lose interest. Only in America would this become an organized lawful 'club'. I'm so glad that I have long since graduated from college. I went when college was fun and lighthearted. Panty raids were the 'hot ticket'.
There's nothing forbidden or illegal about kinky sex. Unless you pay for it, and even that's legal in Nevada.
Stealing someone's private property is illegal, though... ie: panty raids
" It harkens back to older times when the man had the control and the woman gladly gave up the control. It is about a woman being able to be that soft, tender, vulnerable girl deep inside...for a man she adores AND trusts implicitly...it is not about abuse...at least not when it is part of a healthy relationship. On the contrary it is about ultimate trust. A girl who is submissive to a man isn't treated like crap...on the contrary he takes great pride in her...he may hurt her (if they both enjoy that) but he will never harm her."
GIMME A BREAK!!! It is SO beyond disturbing that anyone would promote this as acceptable... why not say that Slavery is great too!!! And all of the abuses of women [or other groups] throughout history: "how do you know they didn't ENJOY being slaves and feel CHERISHED"!! Of course there is the Stockholm syndrome where slaves will eventually love their masters.
This mind-set muddies all of the values of freedom, dignity and equality that humanity has been struggling for. Why not take a survey around the world of how many enslaved people feel CHERISHED. I'm not talking about someone who likes a little rope play in bed...I'm talking about "lifestyle D/s", which basically means giving up all control of your life & being a fulltime slave. People who say they want this and do it of their free will? I question their mental stability. An example was Hedda Nussbaum, who if I recall was accused of abusing/killing her child, and the story came out that she herself was in a horribly abusive relationship with a B&D "master". She had voluntarily gone into this relationship... because she had such low self esteem and was so mentally ill.
I hope there is a psychiatrist present at these club meetings. D/s stands for Dumb and Stupid. Please clean this mental garbage out of your brain.
So many people passing judgement about what is right and wrong, acceptable or unacceptable. People who are into kink are no different than anyone else, they just get off on different things and a lot of it has nothing to do with a sexual release. At least they won't have to worry and think there is something wrong with them because they are into it even though many people in here act like they are holier than thou.
I am confused? If the members of an organization, feel
a need to maintain anonymity, what is the purpose of 'formal recognition', by the
college and/or university? Along the same line, what is a college or
university doing, by 'formally recognizing' an organization on campus, whose
members, won't 'formally' acknowledge their membership, in the organization? Does this strike anyone
as a bit 'OFF'.
Did I accidentally stumble onto the Onion's website??
or --
"Am I on Candid Camera?"
"It harkens back to older times when the man had the control and the woman gladly gave up the control. It is about a woman being able to be that soft, tender, vulnerable girl deep inside...for a man she adores AND trusts implicitly...it is not about abuse...at least not when it is part of a healthy relationship. On the contrary it is about ultimate trust. A girl who is submissive to a man isn't treated like crap...on the contrary he takes great pride in her...he may hurt her (if they both enjoy that) but he will never harm her."
There are many men who like to be on the receiving end of S/M as well, so your thinking is a little cavemanish..
'mince' words much?
Pathetic
This might explain why Harvard graduate Obama is running a Whore House at the WH! Obama is out doing Clinton on the poor treatment of women.
nice troll you got there.
OK the safety word today is: pulchritudinous
Now Mommy and Daddy can PAY to have their kids whipped, beaten, chained and whatever. We can have this crapola but we mustn't mention God - now we know why.
REPEAL THE FIRST AMENDMENT! NO MORE SEPARATION BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE, THIS COUNTRY IS GOING TO HELL!
Please, give me a break. Go pedal your moral views somewhere else.
This is commendable. Traditionally, only the upper echelons of corporations and governments have embraced deviant sexual behavior, while prestigious educational institutions have taken the high road. It's about time abnormal psychosexuality came out into the mainstream.