(download link at bottom)
Regarding paraphilias (i.e., kinks), basically, what it boils down to is that as long as sex (or play) is consensual in the true sense (i.e., all people involved are able to freely give consent, absent of any major power imbalance, soft coercion, desperation, etc.), it's really nobody's business what the participants choose to do. Of course, there will always be exceptions, but generally speaking, this rule seems to be well-supported.
The notion of consent and manipulation is one of the main themes explored in the documentary Graphic Sexual Horror, which delves into the world of Insex, a BDSM content website that featured live online shows.
After a few years of great financial success, Insex eventually was forced to shut its doors after being pursued by US federal prosecutors. Rather than fight a lengthy and expensive legal battle, the owner PD (who was coincidentally a former Carnegie Mellon professor) sold the company. You can read more about Insexhere.
Before the company was sold, Synapse Films spent some time at Insex, which culminated in this documentary. The entire documentary is interesting, but what's perhaps most fascinating are the interviews with the women who were featured in the content.
The documentary homepage is here.
The following is from a review of Graphic Sexual Horror posted at Twitch:
The phrase "Graphic Sexual Horror" actually derives from the all-caps warning that would greet visitors at the threshold to the Insex.Com Web site during its heyday roughly a decade ago. But one can't be blamed for thinking that the title pairs well with the somewhat sensationalistic marketing copy from releaser Synapse. No, the fact that this is a documentary is never concealed, but that doesn't really diminish the lurid appeal--in fact, the promise that everything is real only adds to the titillation.
Of course that's the same lure of realism that attracted some 35,000 subscribers to "PD" Brent Scott's unique BDSM online community and interactive gallery. Shooting on stark sets sporting a "rundown, industrial look" and featuring a grim, deadpan aesthetic that gave some the impression that PD "really had captured the girls," the Insex team specialized in creative live feed sessions that allowed customers to provide real-time input and feedback. The young models would frequently plead for mercy from all sorts of gnarly acts of sadism (one that stays with you: red pepper flakes applied to the genitalia), but per S/M protocol there was always a "safe word" in reserve that they could invoke if things became too unbearable.
One might expect a doc covering such subject matter to be fairly predictable in its exploitational leanings. Yet by showing the motivations of each model to test her own psychological/physical limits--and PD's tendency to manipulate such motivating factors--Graphic Sexual Horror begins to address all sorts of intriguing and totally unexpected questions. Is there such a thing as self-exploitation? And what's to distinguish simple exhibitionism, and those who would leverage it for profit, from a legitimate, artistic, and maybe spiritual exploration of the body's limits? (I'm including "spiritual" because ecstatic states similar to those depicted in the horror flick Martyrs are briefly, but convincingly, touched upon.)
You can read the rest of the review here.
Download Graphic Sexual Horrorhere (for academic purposes only!).
WARNING: the documentary features hardcore sex, BDSM, simulated and real sexual violence. There's one scene, in particular, in which PD tries to convince a performer to continue when she clearly does not want to - it's extremely upsetting and difficult to watch. If you choose to watch the documentary, please proceed with great caution. It is a trigger for sexual violence.