In June, Instagram purged dozens of accounts making sex-related content — including those of kink communities and spaces in London — without warning. Whilst social platforms seeking to deplatform sex-related accounts is sadly nothing new, this particular crusade came at a crucial time — amidst a moral panic around kink driven by right-wing media, and a more general, yet still rampant, temperature-checking of the sexual climate (Are we in a sex recession or is everyone lowkey having kinky sex? Is sex negativity the new sex positivity? What’s a femcel?) .
At the same time, depictions of kink — whether accurate or not — have perhaps never been so widespread, from TikTok’s #KinkTok sitting at over 12B views to Julia Fox getting vacuum-sealed in a beauty campaign by ISAMAYA and countless major brands from Margiela to Balmain creating kink-influenced designs worn by celebs like the Kardashian-Jenners.
Amidst these tensions, the kink community has remained a vital arena for self-expression, exploration and inclusivity. Inside this mini report, we explore kink’s rise through fashion, self-expression through the sensorial, and the radical value of the kink’s concept of play.
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