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9
FEB

Kink is Political – Universalism

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm CET · LGBTQIA+ & Friends
VIRTUAL

Quick Info

When:
9. February 2027, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm CET
Where:
online
Format:
discussion
Who can join:
LGBTQIA+ & Friends
Constellation:
solo, paired, groups - all constellations welcome (everyone needs a ticket)
Language:
English with translated subtitles
Recording:
No, this session is not recorded.
Questions:
Message us via info@karada-house.de

Tickets

Tickets

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Kink is Political – Universalism (Kink is Political (template) (general)) [Digital]
5,00 €
Unlimited

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It is, perhaps, all too easy to find oneself frustrated by someone else proclaiming something to be universal. Sometimes, it is profoundly alienating when it doesn’t land. Others, it feels like there is something more insidious and coercive going on. In this session, we’ll examine what becomes visible the moment we proclaim something to be universal and what happens the moment when we deny it. Thinking through things like Darwin’s politically charged insistence insistence in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals of a universal, shared descent of humanity, the UN Statement on race of 1950, and the work of structuralist anthropologists, we’ll think through some of the reasons many on the left fought vigorously in the name of universalism.

We’ll ask: how do concepts of the universal cause harm?  Is there a good version of the universal, or at the very least, something about universalism that’s worth salvaging? When might we want to deploy universalist concepts? Is there something about talking about sexuality that makes us particularly prone to invoking the universal? What would it mean to try to adopt universalising pedagogies that take less for granted? 

About this series

Kink is Political is an online discussion with Addie Tahl, Georg Barkas, Andrea Rimon, and occasional special guests. Participants are invited to join a discussion during which we unite critique with an emphasis on the practical and day-to-day issues and challenges of kink, intimacy, and relationships.

Focusing on concepts central to BDSM, leather, rope, and sex-positive communities, it interrogates widely adopted approaches and commonly held notions. It aims to understand the politics of kink beyond the language of sexual liberation and politics of sexual liberalism, both frames that have proven insufficient in addressing widespread harm, a rising international tide of sex-negativity and reaction, or in guaranteeing that the most marginalized can sexually flourish.

Kink is Political is an examination of the contexts and consequences of how we talk about and understand gender and sexuality. It is a forum to think about how kink spaces and practices operate, what works, what doesn’t, and what we can use to build something better.

Facilitator

Smiling person with short red hair indoors

Addie (she/they)

Addie (she/they) is a Vancouver-based educator and co-founder of Studio Allegory where she provides ongoing rope education as well as workshops in a variety of other kink topics. She is a switch and self-suspender, and her diverse background informs her instruction. Her happy place is nerding out on technical tidbits, breaking down ‘soft’ skills into specific trainable habits, and finding ways of ...

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Person holding red rope with intense expression.

Georg Barkas (they/them)

Georg Barkas is an intimacy educator, researcher, and rope bondage performer based in Vancouver, Canada. Their focus lies in the deconstruction of established norms and approaches to kink, intimacy, and sexuality. Their background in academics (physics, mathematics, history, and philosophy) is used to approach historically psychological aspects from different perspectives. Author of “Archaeo...

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https://www.studio-allegory.com/

Andrea Rimon (she/her)

Andrea Rimon is an artist and educator focused on movement, culture, and touch.insta: @andrearimon

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More Information