CLAGS Presents: Exigent Sadism

Are there circumstances under which a concept as alienating as sadism may point us in the direction of something new? Psychoanalysts theorize and Dominants know that our sadistic impulses are not necessarily pathological. If that’s true, what do we make of violent desires, especially when those link up with traumatic histories? Might there even be vulnerability in sadism and if so, what does it make possible? In this moderated dialogue, Yin Q and Dr. Avgi Saketopoulou will consider sadism as an ethical practice and a form of care, though a risky one – what Saketopoulou calls “exigent sadism.” Exigent sadism involves the sadist’s ‘bending of their own  will’ to risk an encounter not just with other’s/their bottom’s opacity, but also with their own. You may know what we mean: times when the sadist goes so far that they feel the deep current of their own dangerous desires crashing into them, times that require that they, too, surrender. Moderated by Kassandra Sparks, this conversation will draw on Yin Q’s experience as a lifestyle leatherperson, dominatrix, and mother, as well as Saketopoulou’s psychoanalytic practice and her engagement with the aesthetic domain in her recent book, Sexuality Beyond Consent: Risk, Race, Traumatophilia.

ABOUT THE SERIES:

This event is part of Power of Leather, a series of in-person dialogues, interactive performances, and community events exploring leathersex, sadomasochism, and leather culture. The series is presented by CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies at CUNY, and organized by Laura Westengard and Kassandra Sparks. You can find the full lineup here.

RSVP:

RSVP is required for in-person and virtual attendance. Tell your friends, students, study group members, Doms, subs, pups, kittens, toys, Mommies, and Daddies and invite them all to join. In-person capacity is limited, so please arrive early! 

ACCESSIBILITY: 

• There is a ramp and electric door to enter the building. There are wheelchair accessible bathrooms on every floor.
• Only some bathrooms are gender neutral. 
• Microphones and a sound system will project audio for in-person attendees.
• ASL interpretation will be provided for all attendees (in-person and virtual). Live captioning will also be available on our virtual livestream. 
• Chair and floor seating will be available, as well as space to stand. Chairs will be moveable and have backs. 
• Wearing masks is encouraged. Attendees are also encouraged to test beforehand and stay home if they are feeling unwell. 

STRADDLING LEATHER & ACADEMIA: 

These events straddle two worlds that are often kept separate, despite their many unspoken overlaps: the leather community and academia. Our goal is to create a space that is welcoming to those with experience in academia, leather and queer communities, or all of the above.

• If you are a leather or queer person with little (or no) experience in academic settings, we hope these events offer you a different forum to discuss leather culture. We will do our best to keep language accessible, and we invite you to ask questions and/or participate in discussions.
• If you are an academic or student with little (or no) exposure to leather culture, we hope these events introduce you to new frameworks for understanding queerness, queer publics, identity, and desire. We will do our best to flag explicit or controversial conversations. We encourage you to sit with discomfort that might arise and remain curious about it. 

SPEAKER BIOS: 

Yin Q (b.1974, they/she) is a parent, writer, curator and core organizer with Red Canary Song and founding member of Kink Out. Yin’s writing has been published in BUST, Apogee Journal (Columbia University), We Too, Stories of Sex Work and Survival (The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2021), and Afro Asia (Duke University Press, 2008). Their media work includes “Mercy, Mistress,” an autobiographical pilot based on their experience as a dominatrix (Poppy Liu; EP Margaret Cho), and Fly In Power, (co-directd with Yoon Grace Ra), a documentary for Red Canary Song and the short video, Yang Song, Fly in Power. Yin has brought sex worker art activations to Leslie Lohman Museum, MoMA PS1 (Resident Artist, 2020), Performance Space New York, Brown University (AAPI Resident Artist, 2023), and Storefront Gallery for Art & Architecture.

Dr. Avgi Saketopoulou is a Cypriot and Greek immigrant and a practicing psychoanalyst. She is the author of “Sexuality Beyond Consent: Risk, Race, Traumatophilia” (2023, NYU Press), co-author of “Gender Without Identity” (2023, UIT Press), and completing a manuscript on the currents of sadism and the thirst trap of trauma.

Kassandra Sparks is a writer and artist based in New York City whose work examines perversion, fetishization, and ritual as gestures of experimentation. She is a PhD Candidate in Sociocultural Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, and her dissertation research looks at how professional BDSM sessions erotically stage dramas of capitalism and colonialism. Her work has been or will be published by DSQ, WSQ, New Sexuality Studies (Routledge Press, 2022) and Sex Work Now (NYU Press, 2024). She is on the board of CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies at CUNY and is a frequent collaborator with Kink Out. She is working on a documentary about the history of the BDSM industry in New York City.