Consent Culture USA

Sex geeks Maggie Mayhem and Kitty Stryker were chatting one late night when the subject got to bad experiences in kinky situations. Exchanging horror stories from the dungeons and bedrooms of their respective pasts, they came to the grim conclusion that if they had a dime for every time their boundaries had been violated in the “sex positive” community, they could go to the bank with it. And yet neither of them had ever thought to consider most of their experiences sexual assault.

It was a sobering realization, and one that spurred them to develop the Safe/Ward workshop, an interactive space to talk about entitlement culture and consent culture in kinky/altsex spaces. What was originally intended to be a couple blog entries encouraging communities to cast a critical eye on their own practices around reports of sexual assault quickly became a fiery discussion, with some people thanking them for their honesty and others condemning them for it. Now they plan to tour as much as they can and present Safe/Ward wherever they go, in the hopes that local groups can use their tools to combat abuse in their spaces.