I’ve been thinking about so-called sex radicals lately. You know, the “pro-sex” (aka pro-commodified-sexuality) crowd who thinks it’s super awesome to engage in “power play” in sex and watch porn that includes fucking machines (or whatever). They throw around the word ‘vanilla’ to describe any type of sex that looks like you actually care about your partner’s safety and well-being. They claim that they are just so outside of what is socially-acceptable and that they are, essentially, a sexual minority.
This attitude is also seen with supposedly progressive people (*cough* Bill Maher *cough*) crusading against “political correctness”. This strain of back asswards liberalism believes in just “saying it like it is” and not “censoring” themselves. They act as if they’re fighting against The Man, but the result of their cavalier fuck-all attitude is that people get hurt. Not just “Oh, you hurt my feelings” hurt either. More like “Oh, thanks for keeping me as a permanent underclass through bigoted language” hurt. When you profess how little you give a damn about this, you are The Man.
The “pro-sex” and the anti-PCers both believe they are outside the norm of what is acceptable. However, what is so radical about calling Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin a bitch? They’re women in politics who you just demeaned with a gendered slur. Congrats. And what is so radical about hierarchal sexual relations? Isn’t that, ya know, exactly what we’ve been doing all along? Oh, I see though, you are aware that your Nazi/prisoner S&M role playing has clear power differentials. Well, I’m glad you read that chapter on WWII in your high school history book. Reenacting hierarchical relationships that are already present in the culture and calling it a part of your sexual orientation is not revolutionary. It’s just magnifying preexisting oppressive paradigms tenfold.
Your hip irreverence is not bold. Your hearty embrace of commingling power with sex is not in opposition to existing sexual norms. Knock it off and actually get radical.
Against All Evidence 
Yup.
One of my co-workers was bragging about how she was doing a “Nazi Dominatrix” strip show at a Fetish ball on Sunday night. I asked her what she thought was cool about glamourising genocide or acting as a middle man for some arseholes fantasy. No reply.
Word.
Good job speaking up about that. Really, what is it that makes something like that sexy to anyone anywhere?
I’ve got a post in the works about such sexual “kinks” right now. Today, I picked up the one “feminist” zine on campus and there’s a list of different sex-related acts (mostly “kinks”), and you’re supposed to check off what you are interested in and use it as a discussion point with a partner. It’s hilarious and terrifying, like most sex-poz material.