The erotic appropriation of the category sadomasochism, as well as the adoption of the acronym BDSM have been present in Brazil since at least the 1980s. Communities that imagine themselves by joining a diverse set of erotic practices and notions related to consensuality and safety have organized, marked by their (dis)identification towards pathological perspectives. Working from an ethnographic perspective, this article focuses on links, dialogues and the transit of categories and classifications among different social actors involved in the dispute over the meanings of this diverse set of practices and conventions. The production of subjectivities and collective assemblages is analyzed based on the relationship with other social actors, especially with the classifications that come from the medical-scientific field of knowledge. BDSM is located as a social site in the interstitial space between medical diagnostics, erotic market niches, and political communities.
sadomasochism; BDSM; social conventions; sexual rights; scientific knowledge
