Staci Newmahr: Article Analysis

Decent Essays
In Staci Newmahr’s article, she details research collected over four years of being embedded in a sadomasochist (SM) community in northeast United States called Caeden, where she participated, observed, and interviewed other members of the community. Overall, Newmahr argues that SM is not about sex, which is contrary to popular beliefs in the media and in academic research (Newmahr, pg. 317). Rather, she argues that SM is serious leisure, which could be compared to activities like rock climbing or snowboarding. Newmahr draws on Robert Stebbins’ definition of serious leisure, which is characterized by perseverance, leisure as a career, learning new skills, durable benefits, unique ethos, and personal identity to describe SM (Newmahr, pg. 318).

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