BDSM, Interaction Rituals and Open Bodies

In this article, based on ethnographic fieldwork in Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, Sadism and Masochism (BDSM) communities in Sweden, I explore the ritual aspects of BDSM. Drawing on Douglas and Collins’ theories of interaction rituals, I analyse the creation of emotional energy during humiliation practice through connection and intimacy between the participants. The article examines how the ritual aspect of BDSM sessions can be understood as an enabler of expressions and emotional energy. BDSM becomes a free zone in which bodies are allowed to be open in a Bakhtinian sense, that is, transgressive and beyond control.