Pride & Kinks

[Karo]

So apparently this topic came up on twitter and you know what I figured I would bring it to UG to get the opinions of my friends here.

So for a long time the Pride events are about people celebrating their sexualities and identities that might not be the societal norm with this pride events often have kink stuff that shows up at it and some people on twitter argue to be more inclusive they should consider taking that way from the event to potentially get more people to participate.

On one hand this is about sexuality and identities and kinks tend to be part of that and culturally America is still pretty shy about anything sex related so I'm also kinda curious about other countries that have a more liberal view about this stuff are we clinging to the puritians view of sex that was brought over and there really should not be anything wrong with pride including the kink stuff?

I guess for me personally I'm not really sure where I stand on this mainly because kink is such a broad thing like when people say a kink do they mean anything that potentially could be perceived as a kink even if its not? Like people tend to conflate furrys as a stricly kinky group, but being a furry is about liking anthropomorphic animals(Even if a lot of them are into the rule 34 side of it too), but then with all the potential groups and identities that are coming out to celebrate pride I think it would be difficult to figure out where to draw the line, but I also get the idea behind if you make it more mainstream and accessible to everyone it would promote more acceptance for LGBTQ+ people.

Just for more opinions I shall include some tweets I seen tonight:

For more twitter and you feel like digging through twitter:
https://twitter.com/search?q=Pride&src=t...cal=trends

[Maniakkid25]

*Deep breath, sigh* Well, if ever a topic was written for me...

I honestly don't know which side I'd stand on in this particular case. The problem is both sides have valid arguments, and I don't know who I agree with. On the one hand, such exposure to kinks can potentially be paychologically damaging, especially if it's because of someone the kids know. On the other hand, isn't the whole point of the event to be able to embrace who you are? If they are going to be denied such a safe place at a goddamn Pride event, where the hell can they go?

...I'll just go ahead and say it: as someone who has been struggling with understanding their sexuality since I was 12, I'd really REALLY like a place where I can go and not be judged. I already do enough of it to myself; I don't need the fucking help! But at the same time, I can understand those people who say "keep it in the bedroom". But if I had to choose a place to expose a child to such a world, and I had NO CHOICE BUT to expose them, a controlled setting like a Pride parade is probably better than just letting them stumble into the world by themselves (I have...seen many things that make me uncomfortable. I do not wish to speak any further than that). I just...don't know which side of the argument I agree with more, and I'd probably need to do more research into sexual psychology articles to be able to come to a more informed conclusion. Right now, I don't have an easy answer.

Also, PLEASE DO NOT DERAIL THE THREAD by asking me what the hell is going on with me!  It's off-topic, and I'm not totally comfortable talking about it freely just yet (despite what my Youtube career would have you believe...).

[Moonface]

Personally I think that there should be a divide to a degree between the pride event that involves being proud of your sexuality for orientation/sex/gender, and that which involves displaying it with sexual kinks. Pride parades for me have always seemed to be primarily about LGBTQ+ pride and to show that it is normal, and although showing off kinks for that is also trying to show those as normal, I feel it makes a conflict where people may be fine with LGBTQ+ and their children being made aware of that, but not fond of the kinks being attached to it. It's also conflicting when there's a kink on show that people just find weird, and in turn may find the person doing it weird also, but because it gets displayed by a non-straight/binary/etc. person the weird label potentially gets attached to the entire person, including their non-kink sexuality. People may not want to be associated, especially in public, with all or some kinks, and may not attend or be fond of a pride event because of that. I personally could not feel comfortable at an event that has people dressed in dog costumes and kids petting them, because it's just too weird to me and I don't feel like younger kids understand what they're actually interacting with. That's not to say I disagree with anyone who does that (or any other kink I just find hard to stomach, such as say, scat play), but a look of disgust by someone who dislikes the kink is likely to be viewed as being disgusted by the entire package when that may not be the case (and likely isn't, otherwise why attend a pride event?).

I feel that a celebration of what is always seen by the public that doesn't have kinks would be best for the wider, overall populace, as it not only lets more people be involved, but it also doesn't cause a conflict of acts that are usually private being made public. Then there should be another celebration that is for the more private side of sex, where regardless of how comfortable you want people to be about it, you just don't share some things with everybody. Not everyone wants to be exposed to everything about sex, especially in public, and it would be better for there to be a choice in it that doesn't mean someone can't attend a pride event at all.

[Karo]

@Maniakkid25 I tend to agree with the more research needed thing now of course it might already be there, but I don't really have any particular kink or really interact with a kinky community to really be interested enough in digging around for it.

@Moonface Yeah that kind of a worry, but some people might consider this if we don't fight to change peoples potential perspective that people like what they like aren't we just giving into the main stream and white washing it? I feel like this whole thing is really interesting and I feel like an all age version where the kinky stuff is not allowed I think is fine, but like let say if a furry wanted to dress up in their fursuit I feel like that might potentially be okay as long as no actual kinkyness happens. (I bet the people that are into scat just bring the poop emoji) now the two guys pupping out in that picture well I feel like it can be kinda hard to tell I remmeber when I first saw a video about two guys pupping out there was a video on tumblr and the person explained at the park someone came up to the person and they were like..."What are those two doing? "They are just two dudes pupping out" and that the only way I forever describe that kink.

[Moonface]

@Moonface Yeah that kind of a worry, but some people might consider this if we don't fight to change peoples potential perspective that people like what they like aren't we just giving into the main stream and white washing it? I feel like this whole thing is really interesting and I feel like an all age version where the kinky stuff is not allowed I think is fine, but like let say if a furry wanted to dress up in their fursuit I feel like that might potentially be okay as long as no actual kinkyness happens. (I bet the people that are into scat just bring the poop emoji) now the two guys pupping out in that picture well I feel like it can be kinda hard to tell I remmeber when I first saw a video about two guys pupping out there was a video on tumblr and the person explained at the park someone came up to the person and they were like..."What are those two doing? "They are just two dudes pupping out" and that the only way I forever describe that kink.

I guess my view on kinks is that it doesn't come off as something people kick up a stink about, whereas there is one kicked up over LGBTQ+ people, and that's because the latter is something publicly presented every day, whereas kinks are not a daily life thing in public. For sure, kinks should be held in a regard of being normal, but (and correct me if I am wrong here) they certainly aren't demonised like LGBTQ+ people are, and protests aren't held in front of sex stores that sell toys and kinky shit, but are held for LGBTQ+ people. You don't see anyone raging about trans people because of the kinks they do, but because of stupid shit like gender neutral bathrooms. You can have a kink and keep it private and it isn't necessarily going to suppress someone's identity, but keeping your sexual orientation or gender private does, and I feel that making that normal is so important that if kinks being shown in pride parades has a chance to hinder progress on that, then maybe splitting them will be best until progress is made on LGBTQ+ acceptance, since even people who think kinks are normal may still not like them being a public thing, which is okay, but no one should think an actual person being their true self in public shouldn't be okay.

[Karo]

@Moonface Yeah that kind of a worry, but some people might consider this if we don't fight to change peoples potential perspective that people like what they like aren't we just giving into the main stream and white washing it? I feel like this whole thing is really interesting and I feel like an all age version where the kinky stuff is not allowed I think is fine, but like let say if a furry wanted to dress up in their fursuit I feel like that might potentially be okay as long as no actual kinkyness happens. (I bet the people that are into scat just bring the poop emoji) now the two guys pupping out in that picture well I feel like it can be kinda hard to tell I remmeber when I first saw a video about two guys pupping out there was a video on tumblr and the person explained at the park someone came up to the person and they were like..."What are those two doing? "They are just two dudes pupping out" and that the only way I forever describe that kink.

I guess my view on kinks is that it doesn't come off as something people kick up a stink about, whereas there is one kicked up over LGBTQ+ people, and that's because the latter is something publicly presented every day, whereas kinks are not a daily life thing in public. For sure, kinks should be held in a regard of being normal, but (and correct me if I am wrong here) they certainly aren't demonised like LGBTQ+ people are, and protests aren't held in front of sex stores that sell toys and kinky shit, but are held for LGBTQ+ people. You don't see anyone raging about trans people because of the kinks they do, but because of stupid shit like gender neutral bathrooms. You can have a kink and keep it private and it isn't necessarily going to suppress someone's identity, but keeping your sexual orientation or gender private does, and I feel that making that normal is so important that if kinks being shown in pride parades has a chance to hinder progress on that, then maybe splitting them will be best until progress is made on LGBTQ+ acceptance, since even people who think kinks are normal may still not like them being a public thing, which is okay, but no one should think an actual person being their true self in public shouldn't be okay.

Thats true kinks aren't really a public thing unless your kink is public...and people tend to not demonize them like being part fo the LGBTQ+. Honestly though I find the bathroom debate to be a bit silly assuming the trans person is passing you probably won't really notice them in the bathroom and if they don't pass they probably aren't going to use the public restroom.