Difference exists between assault and safe BDSM

TO THE EDITOR:
In regard to Colin Campbell’s letter (“Feminists lack response to DTH’s BDSM column”) in Friday’s DTH, I must say that Mr. Campbell is confused.
There is a world of difference between a female submissive being flogged by a male dominant and a woman on the street being assaulted by a knife-wielding ne’er-do-well. That difference is consent. Sex positive feminism isn’t concerned with what consenting adults do in private. If one cannot discern the difference between consensual and non-consensual activities, I don’t believe that the discussion that Mr. Campbell is looking for will be able to go very far at all.
Rory P. Haggard
Class of ’06