Princeton Students Start BDSM Group To Discuss Kink Safety, Consent

College is known as a time for experimentation, and a college campus is a place where students can come together and form university-sanctioned groups dedicated to discussing all kinds of topics. Students at Princeton combined the two ideas into Princeton Plays, an officially recognized student group focused on BDSM, reported by the Daily Princetonian.

Princeton Plays is the latest such group to pop up at an Ivy League institution, after Harvard, Cornell and Columbia. The common thread linking them is an interest in BDSM, which typically stands for some variation on Bondage, Domination, Submission and Masochism. While commonly associated with things like whips, chains and other violent sexual imagery, an anonymous group member told the Princetonian that it is not necessarily about sex.

The idea is to clear up popular misconceptions about BDSM and kink, which the general populace may have after the rise of popular media like “Fifty Shades of Grey.” The group plans to meet twice a month, but these meetings will not be sexual in nature; rather, they will feature open discussions on concepts related to BDSM and even bring in speakers to promote safety and consent.

Princeton Plays members who spoke to the Princetonian emphasize that those two things are cornerstones of BDSM culture, rather than the violent image some may have of kink communities. Privacy will also be valued, per the report, so anyone who is interested in joining will not be called out or harmed for it.

Despite the group’s vocal interest in making its meetings as safe and productive as possible, some see it as an example of increasing sexual degeneracy on campuses.