Em Schwarzwald will give her lecture from the position of an independent sex researcher and somebody who has been performing and queering BDSM for more than 10 years.

She explores her strong interest in the aesthetics, ethics and politics of queer BDSM through the costumes, attire and other expressions used, created and experienced within the contexts of QueerWomenLesbianTrans BDSM from the 1970s to the present day.

For her, as a queer, there is a desire in identifying styles and even bodies as queer. At the same time, she is aware that this is a very precarious and paradoxical undertaking. Within this area of conflict, the following questions will be asked:

What does queer BDSM look like? To which meanings do players refer and which new meanings do they constitute in their plays? Do BDSM personas differ from the everyday gender and sex identity of players? How do class and race inform the creation of a BDSM persona, a style or a scene?

In her lecture, answers to those questions will be given by various queer BDSM players and sex political activists, with whom she has conducted recorded audio interviews since 2008.

The answers will be accompanied and disrupted by images collected and taken along the way.

Em Schwarzwald is a lawyer, cultural worker, queer sex political activist; she is kussembargo (http://kussembargo.com), participant at the Xplore Wien 2012 (13.+14.+15. July) and much more.

June 12th, 2012 Performance-Lecture by EM SCHWARZWALD at the VBKÖ: