#1: Consent & Safety
Many Black kink communities create a safe space for Black people to explore pleasure outside of the white gaze. This requires all involved to practice consent, accountability, and boundaries.
All of these skills are necessary for any type of Black liberation community work.
#2: Reimagining
Black Kinksters are often misunderstood, but kink is actually extremely empowering. Historically anti-Blackness sexually exploited our ancestors, simultaneously making up false narratives that we’re undesirable.
Black kink provides space to reclaim our pleasure and bodily autonomy. Most importantly, kink allows us to reimagine ourselves outside of anti-Black social expectations that police us and control the narratives about our pleasure.
#3: Orgasmic Yes
Audre Lorde knew “the erotic” goes beyond sexual intimacy. She encouraged us to reimagine what it’d be like if everything we did sparked an “orgasmic yes” in our bodies.
Kink makes room for us to practice our “orgasmic yes” in and outside of kink spaces.
#4: Shame
Another powerful thing about Black kink is that it resists feelings of shame that anti-Blackness wants us to feel about being Black.
Let’s not fall into that same trap by shaming the Black kink community.
Often it’s our most marginalized communities that have the best strategies for how we resist anti-Blackness. Let’s remain open-minded and consider the lessons we can all learn from one another on life, love and liberation.