How romcoms made kink mainstream

'Secretary' ran so that 'Babygirl' and 'Pillion' could walk.
 By 
Teodosia Dobriyanova
 on 
A split screen shows an image of Maggie Gyllenhaal in Secretary (left) and Dakota Johnson (right; caption reads: "the evolution of the dom-com"
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BDSM and cinema share a long history – so long that coded examples of Dom/sub dynamics on screen can be traced all the way back to silent film. But it was only in the 2000s that BDSM movies managed to become mainstream enough so that we can have films like Babygirl and Pillion. So, how did kink become so popular? And is more representation necessarily a good thing?

Mashable spoke to Liam Wignall, senior lecturer in Psychology at the University of Brighton and editor of The Power of BDSM, and screenwriter Caitlin Parrish (G20, Supergirl) to find out.

Topics Film

Picture of Teodosia
Teodosia Dobriyanova
Video Producer

Teodosia is a video producer at Mashable UK, focussing on stories about climate resilience, urban development, and social good.


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