tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1306283393664592343.post7219778266821219192..comments2023-10-11T05:20:40.493-07:00Comments on The Kyle Phoenix Blog: Race, Sex, and BDSM: On “Plantation Retreats” Where Black People Go to Serve Their White “Masters” | Daily KosKyle Phoenixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05191679229660092558noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1306283393664592343.post-79487155757607092342013-10-29T18:06:14.833-07:002013-10-29T18:06:14.833-07:00Would I go to this retreat? Yes. I don't kno...Would I go to this retreat? Yes. I don't know how I would access it---because I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate me and my pad (or video camera) present but I would need to see "slavery". Consensual slavery. I think maybe the revulsion that we've shown everything but Roots the TV show, to "see", to look slavery has to do with our inability to deal with race----an illusory construct. If race and racism are dreams, then slavery was a nightmare---obviously an erotic nightmare for some---and I say "some" because we, of color, carry slavery with us now. As a shared memory, as an accusatory spear to chuck at White people constantly (I consult in public schools---our brown children are hurling race at their White teachers as weapons that they know deeply unnerves them---because ultimately White people now have no idea how to manage race either.)<br /><br />I'm spinning, I know. I find that race does that to any conversation because it is a mental illness---white supremacy---as the article says. It's impossible to cogently discuss madness. In sum, I think what the White and Black folk are doing at this retreat is accessing the invisible Power Foucault talks about---they're accessing it to inter-relatedly examine race and racism in the most primal and intimate ways possible. They are making the imposed memory of slavery real. <br /><br />I was thinking to myself---if I were to sign up, find my caveats for what I would and wouldn't allow---could I endure 2 weeks? Who and what would I be and how would I view my current world---full of cell phones, computers, authorship, teaching at universities, freedom to walk free, eat anything---would I get it? Would I understand the intense expanse of my freedom if I were to abdicate freedom? Would this be of incredible value to people of color? Since we have no Shoah---perhaps we need to concretized our imposed memories? Would I be willing to cross the final "No" and give sexual permission in that context.<br /><br />Would I understand why the concept that so many people of color hold: "I wouldn't have been a slave" can only exist when you're in no way threatened by that subjugation? Could I, intelligently, cunning, strong, free---be made a slave so easily? <br /><br />While I don't have an erotic interest in BDSM, I think this retreat is incredibly intriguing on so many levels that I'll investigate it further.Kyle Phoenixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05191679229660092558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1306283393664592343.post-7564123884873105632013-10-29T18:06:03.893-07:002013-10-29T18:06:03.893-07:00I bring up those that personal school tale and my ...I bring up those that personal school tale and my theory to say that I can access this. I don't know if I agree with it. I don't know if it's my position to agree with this. I have never felt it is my position to agree on anyone else's sexuality (as long as it's consensual and doesn't harm children) just as I will not allow someone the illusion to believe that they have the right to consent, accept or agree to my sexuality. My crotch is not for anyone's casual inspection and discrimination. But I bend that rule of sovereignty back upon myself. From that I can hold BDSM neutrally and role-playing slavery neutrally.<br /><br />When I incorporate that people of color, myself included think about slavery often---compare so much to it, have it as an imposed memory nexus in our reality frameworks---I both cringe and nod in understanding. I often push people to look at the practice people of color have of reminding one another about our history IN slavery. We constantly remind each other whether it's in word--nigger---or deed---labeling discrimination---whether we can prove it or not as racially based. In many ways White people have maintained the institutions of slavery but people of color have maintained the emotionality and psychic field of slavery. And yes, with good reason, we were most impacted by it negatively. Yet I've always wondered what were the positives. I generally wonder this when I see people of color in extreme, crushing poverty---I wonder what was the difference. I wonder if perhaps having something to do, having some purpose, even slavery is better than drugs or sexual prostitution or multi-generational poverty. It's a harsh joke---but slavery insured people of color job security. That psychic security, that knowledge that one had a Master who managed life and all of it's complexities must and is attractive. I say is because isn't that what BDSM includes, someone managing your mind and reality for you?<br /><br />Kyle Phoenixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05191679229660092558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1306283393664592343.post-64244726683919485632013-10-29T18:05:12.891-07:002013-10-29T18:05:12.891-07:00I often bring up this class when talking about my ...I often bring up this class when talking about my first exposure to the ideas of BDSM because I went all superstar student and bought not only all the reading list books but all the reference books---a semester ahead of time---as was my practice with classes---so I was well read on the material by the time I got to the classroom. There were some things like the Q Letters that were simply too extreme for my young mind to process as pleasure but I could understand how others could find joy in it. We also dealt with the confrontation of race in relationship to pain and BDSM slavery and chattel slavery. <br /><br />This article pressed me to consider a thought deeper that I've personally taught about for years---slavery for African Americans and Latinos is more of an imposed memory than an actual memory. Unfortunately we didn't possess the infrastructure and resources to record that Holocaust as the Jews have done with the Shoah project and museum. To have firsthand accounts of what happened and how it felt. The closest we may have are grandparents who remember sharecropping. In many ways we're denied accurate explanations by both slave and owners of the nightmare. And I would theorize that it's nightmarishly shameful and embarrassing qualities are why we've allowed it to go unrecorded in first person interviews though conceivably it could've happened at the turn of the century after the Civil War.<br /><br />Kyle Phoenixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05191679229660092558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1306283393664592343.post-56111418320008311202013-10-29T18:04:37.707-07:002013-10-29T18:04:37.707-07:00On first blush of this article I was shocked but t...On first blush of this article I was shocked but then I gave it a through read and some deeper thought. During my undergraduate years I took a class at SUNY Buffalo on Slavery and Sadomasochism, the relationship between the two. It was intense to say the least and initially started out as 60 titillated students and ended with about 8 of us who took the work, readings, ideas seriously as did the professor. It was taught by a Black woman.<br /><br />Kyle Phoenixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05191679229660092558noreply@blogger.com