This article is part of the O&P Wiki.

Contents Criticisms See also External links

BDSM Rights

BDSM Rights is the belief that people whose sexuality or relationship preferences include Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, or Sadism and Masochism ("BDSM") deserve the same human rights as everyone else, and should not be discriminated against for pursuing BDSM with consenting adults.

When confronting discrimination against BDSM by governments, employers or other organisations, the concept of BDSM Rights provides a way of introducing arguments based on human rights laws and conventions. This is particularly relevant in European countries, where the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) provides many of the safeguards which are enshrined in constitutional rights in other countries.

Criticisms

However, in O&P (and some areas within the BDSM play scene, such as edgeplay), this approach is limited due to the ability of governments to override personal freedoms for the greater good ("for the protection of health or morals" in the words of the ECHR.) Furthermore, the concept of inalienable rights can be at odds with the consensual nonconsent present in ownership relationships.

See also

• Ethical systems
• Consensual nonconsent
• Safe, Sane, and Consensual
• Risk-Aware Consensual Kink

• www.bdsmrights.com, a site that collects links relevant to BDSM Rights.
• European Convention on Human Rights

This article is published under the terms of the GFDL. People with profiles on The Slave Register can improve the master copy of this article there: see the O&P Wiki help page for details.