Lessons in BDSM - universities are promoting sexual fetishes to students
January 1, 0001
We were recently sent images of a ‘Kinkster’ stall at the Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) Freshers’ Fair, where first year students were approached by members of the sexual fetish club and invited to whip a rubber dummy, which was strapped face down on the table.Contemporary reporting and the society’s own pages indicate BDSM-related promotion on campus, which is not something most people would expect to encounter during the first weeks of university life.
The mother of one of the students said that her daughter was distressed by this but feared complaining to the university. The story was reported in the Times, but did not cover the fact that older students were actively approaching young freshers and inviting them to take part in fetish activities.
This questionable behaviour could be regarded as sexual harassment and must be considered in light of the Office for Students (OfS) harassment and sexual misconduct condition (E6). Just because it relates to a club promoting LGBTQ+ proclivities does not make it acceptable!
It is not just ARU which is allowing a sexual fetish club to operate as part of the student union. Several other British higher education institutions have official kink clubs, including the universities of Durham, Keele, Lancaster, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Strathclyde, York and Warwick. Dundee University’s kink society states on its Instagram page that it is now no longer affiliated with the university, despite still being called the ‘Dundee University Kink Society’.
As well as university-sanctioned fetish clubs, several universities run ‘fetish-themed’ nights including the University of Reading, which hosted a ‘Fetish-Themed Club Night to celebrate sexual expression while promoting safe sex and destigmatising fetish culture’ as part of its SHAG (sexual health awareness guidance) week in September.
The University of Durham’s fetish club has been in operation for 10 years, with the president telling an interviewer for Her Campus magazine that kink ‘covers everything beneath the BDSM umbrella (bondage, discipline, dominance, submission and sadomasochism), fetishism, -philias, plus plenty of other things that don’t quite fit within any of those categories. Basically, it’s anything that goes against what’s considered by society to be sexually “normal”, whatever that is!’
She said that the society was established to help students safely practice dangerous sexual activities, because ‘… there’s a chance of harm both physically and emotionally, whether you’re topping or bottoming for a particular act, and therefore we put a great emphasis on making sure people feel equipped with the right information to prevent harm as far as possible.’
Normalising risky sexual behaviour
That’s the issue here; such clubs claim they help students explore sexual kinks in a ‘safe way’, but students are highly likely to have their boundaries eroded and pressured into taking part in increasingly risky and degrading acts. There is no way that sexual fetish clubs can guarantee that such sexual acts will not cause harm to young students, therefore university authorities should not allow them to be advertised on campus.
After the story was published, a Times columnist mocked the concerned mother whose daughter was approached by members of the kink club at Anglia Ruskin by quipping ‘who among us is not’ hoping for ‘a little light sadomasochism’.
Rowan Pelling writing for Unherd argued that kink clubs are ‘complementary’ to students’ education, writing that exploring ‘the dynamics of pain and pleasure, as well as mastery and submission, is invaluable for students of English literature.’
The Brokenbottleboy substack author also criticised the Times piece for featuring FET, describing us an ‘extreme pressure group’ who wanted only to ‘scaremonger’ and ‘start a witch hunt.’
These journalists completely missed the point that Freshers’ Fairs exist for societies to recruit new members, and in this case the kink club members accosted two young women and directly asked if they wanted to whip the dummy. Anyone claiming that such behaviour is harmless has no understanding of how safeguarding works.
It’s hard to imagine university authorities allowing a stall featuring a real person strapped down to a table while older students invite 18-year-olds to take a whip to them. But this is the reality of such clubs – the definition of sadomasochism is ‘deriving sexual pleasure, from the infliction of physical or psychological pain on another person or on oneself or both.’
These clubs are not just a secretive world for a few members, they openly state their goals of recruiting more members, including young students who have never had a sexual relationship.
An interview with the president of the Dundee University kink club says they are recruiting younger members by ‘posting the socials on other websites, to let people know we want as many people involved as possible’ adding that they have events with ‘a few people who are virgins, but they’re coming on the basis that they think they’ll enjoy a kinky lifestyle.’
The only way that sexually innocent young people will have heard of such clubs is through the promotion of the events via the university or on social media.
Imagine turning up to such an event having never had a sexual relationship, only to learn about ‘Rope 101’ tutorials, which teach people how to tie up sexual partners.
‘A lot of people don’t know that if you tie someone up wrong, it can cut off circulation,’ warns the Dundee kink club website.
Anglia Ruskin’s kink society claims one of its objectives is to ‘empower … members to explore their desires safely and confidently’.
However, on the club’s website it has a ‘kink test’ quiz which asks students to mark on a sliding scale whether they strongly agree or disagree with various fetish scenarios. The first page asks if students identify as a man, woman, non-binary or a trans man or trans woman, meaning to begin with it is promoting gender ideology as normal.
It goes on to list 10 pages of statements including:
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I like to sexually degrade and/or humiliate my partner(s) during sex
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The idea of torturing someone sexually, is appealing
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I enjoy dressing or behaving like a child, or engaging in child-appropriate activities such as colouring in or a colouring book or going to a playground
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I like it when my partners plays or acts like a pet animal (dog, cat, pony etc)
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I like inflicting pain during sex/BDSM and seeing the results of it (marks/bruises, makeup running by tears etc) afterwards
This is not ‘empowering’ – it is sanctioning sexual abuse, as well as implying that sexual fantasies involving children and animals are acceptable. University authorities are failing to safeguard students by allowing such societies to operate freely.
Most freshers are around 18. Mainstream guidance recognises that judgement and risk‑perception continue to mature into the early‑mid 20s, which is precisely why institutions should err on the side of caution, especially when young people are leaving the security of their families for the first time.
Parents do not send their child to university expecting them to be approached by people trying to socially normalise risky sexual activities which seek to degrade and humiliate participants.
The Government has recently announced plans to bring back maintenance grants for disadvantaged students in order to enable them to have financial support to go to university.
Taxpayers are unlikely to want to fund higher education if universities allow the promotion of sexually deviant lifestyles on campus.
Students’ Unions are charities with a duty to advance education for public benefit. Providers are also subject to an OfS regulatory condition on harassment and sexual misconduct. Against that backdrop, promoting societies whose core purpose is BDSM and fetish practice is a poor fit with the educational mission and carries avoidable safeguarding risk. Universities should withdraw official endorsement and advertising, and review policies to ensure compliance.