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A Woman’S Right To Be Spanked: Testing The Limits Of Tolerance Of S/M In The Socio-Legal Imaginary, Ummni Khan
A Woman’S Right To Be Spanked: Testing The Limits Of Tolerance Of S/M In The Socio-Legal Imaginary, Ummni Khan
Studio for Law and Culture
What conditions must be in place for s/m sexuality to be tolerated in law and culture? In this article, I consider the film Secretary as a lens to explore the imaginative limits of our socio-legal culture regarding sadomasochism. In Part One, I compare Secretary to the film 9 ½ weeks. I deconstruct the narrative and aesthetic components of the two films that uphold their contrasting normative visions, arguing that Secretary did indeed chart new ground for the sadomasochist sexual subject. Yet, a close discursive analysis reveals that the narrative relied upon other hegemonies to make the s/m couple acceptable and …