Course on fashion design also has students watch BDSM video showing sex toys, whips
An Iowa State University professor gives students extra points for listing their “preferred name” and “pronouns” in a beginning-of-class assignment, according to The Iowa Standard.
Fashion design Professor Kelly Reddy-Best also has students watch a video presentation about “BDSM” sex apparel as part of her “Dress, Appearance, and Diversity in U.S. Society” class, the report states.
The report includes several screenshots of assignments and presentations from the class.
One appears to be students’ first assignment; it instructs them to share their “name and preferred name” for five points, as well as their “pronouns” for another five points. It also tells students to share their major, year in school, hometown, and “favorite thing to wear.”
Another assignment involves watching a video of Reddy-Best and Juliana Guglieimi, a professor of fashion merchandizing at Thomas Jefferson University, discussing their research on the sex practices, according to the report.
In the video, “Paddles, Strap-Ons, Latex, and Leather: Negotiations of BDSM Women’s Dress, Embodiment, and Bodies in Motion through Spatial-Temporal Dynamics,” Guglieimi defined BDSM as a “subcultural group where individuals participate in consensual sexual practices and behaviors.”
Couples who practice BDSM sometimes do so for reasons involving “spirituality, therapy, healing needs and a desire for a community connection and leisure activity,” Guglieimi said.
Guglieimi and Reddy-Best mentioned that some participate in “watersporting,” or urinating on one another, and “paddling” as part of sex.
Their presentation (pictured) showed students photos of scantily clad women, sex toys, whips, “strap-on” penises, and collars.
The Iowa Standard reports more:
Participants in their research indicated they wore certain colors to indicate if they desire anal sex, top or bottom preferences during intercourse, peeing on each other, fisting, etc.
Storylines utilize different clothing. One highlighted by the presenters depicts “age play,” which is a person pretending she is a 5-year-old girl. …
The implications of this research are supposed to be used to assist in understanding a “community of women who are seeking sexual liberation.” They’re hopeful it reduces the stigma around BDSM and those who participate. They’re hopeful the work informs women who are interested in participating in the BDSM community as well.
Other universities have offered similar courses and events in the past.
One at Harvard Medical School teaches enrollees how to provide “affirming care” for patients involved in adulterous and sadomasochist sexual lifestyles, The College Fix reported.
Claremont McKenna College also hosted a series of talks about sex and BDSM with a porn star in 2018.
The event and others have sparked backlash. Last fall, Rhodes College in Tennessee canceled a BDSM sex workshop, hosted by a campus chaplain and taught by a dominatrix, in response to complaints, The Fix reported.
MORE: UChicago Sex Week includes love enchantments, ‘sexual pain’ workshop
IMAGES: Fashion & Justice Research Lab/YouTube
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