Social Work Commons^™

The BDSM community comprises a diverse group of individuals who engage in bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadomasochism, among other practices associated with role play, fetishes and leather. To date, there remains a limited amount of literature and research surrounding the personal and professional lives of those who practice BDSM, along with subsequent implications for health and mental health practitioners. A mixed method online survey was conducted to examine the lives and experiences of individuals who practice BDSM. A total of 63 participants, predominately white, North American, heterosexually identified and college educated responded to the survey. Main qualitative …

Discrimination toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) social work students can negatively affect academic performance and personal and professional identity development. Intersectionality is a conceptual approach that states that social identities interact to form different meanings and experiences from those that could be explained by a single identity. This study explored how the educational experiences of LGBTQ social work students in the United States and Canada influenced their professional and personal identities. Using an intersectional analysis, three major themes emerged: the need for social work programs to better promote LGBTQ identity and emerging social work professional identity integration, …