I happened across this thesis, for an M.A , by a man from Minnesota, by the name of Riley Zahn. It is saturated with references to queer theory and is a fascinating insight into the relationship between sado mascochism and how men, who call themselves women, conceptualise what it means to be a woman. He seems to be a heterosexual man who fancies himself a Lesbian and, rather alarmingly, appears have been, or is, a middle school teacher.
The thesis focuses on people who identify themselves as “transgender” or “non-binary”, are over 18, and practice BDSM (Bondage, Discipline and Sado Masochism).
Gayle Rubin
One of the earliest people he quotes is Gayle Rubin, a well known queer theorist, academic. Here is an exceorpt from her paper on “Thinking Sex”, which is quoted in Zahn’s thesis. As you can gather Rubin is pro-trans, pro-prostitution and an apologist for paedophilia.
I took a detour to look at the full paper, by Rubin, which you can read below: 👇
Rubin covers many niche sexual practices, along side homosexuality, to describe a world where gay sex is labelled deviant but, she also extends the list of sexual practices, which, she argues, are subject to oppressive state regulation. These include commercial sex, porn and sexual acts such as sado-masochism, public displays of sex and what she, coyly, calls, “cross generational sex”. Zahn singles out her view of BDSM as another repressed sexual practice which is “at the bottom of the heteronormative, western, sex, hierachy”.
The obsession with inverted hierachy is central to queer theory /gender identity ideology and seems to be embedded in gender identity formation as men seek to reject the idea of “male privilege” by identifying out of their sex. They do so by adopting the identity of women, who they see as a victim class. Below is Rubin’s graphic representation of the sex hierarchy as she sees it. 👇. In the, inverted, world of oppression Olympics the transexual, transvestite, fetishist and paedophile are elevated to the top tier.
In case it is not clear, Rubin highlights that these are the people who saw the successes of the gay rights movement and rallied to fight for their own rights: irrespective that their “successes” would have detrimental impacts on the rights of other groups. Women’s rights, child safeguarding and Lesbians and Gay men, are all negatively impacted by the push to force sex denialism; particularly by forcing us to accept men, who claim to be women.
For Rubin, the failure to support something as fringe as NAMBLA, (Man/Boy love association) will be a stain on the history of civil rights. NAMBLA and the ACLU spoke out against the criminal steps to combat child porn. Rubin thinks this legislation emerged because it is borne out of a moral panic.
Men who want to have sex with boys are painted as the ultimate transgressers, who are persecuted by the State and abandoned by the mainstream civil rights movements. The Livingston referred to here 👇 is a woman hounded for nude photos of her own young son. Rubin uses this case, rather than men arrested for extreme child pornography, to advance her argument. This is disingenous /dishonest.
Legislation introduced to counter child pornography is described as agressive in protecting childhood innocence and failing to recognise the sexuality of the young (notice the shift from “childhood” to “the young”). She is not alone in advocating for sexual access to children under the age of consent.
You can watch this presentation, by Rubin, on the feminist disagreement on sex/sexuality/ porn etc. This is from March 2022.
At the end she is asked about the role of Qanon in promulgating the ridiculous conspiracy theory that Hilary Clinton was involved in a paedophile ring. This allows her to posit her views in a way to make herself appear reasonable. This is what she says on child molestation. This is a peculiar way to frame paedophilia, it suggests the feeling is never acted upon and is where the rebranding of “no-contact” Minor Attracted People originates.
You can watch this here 👇.
Just as an aside the former trustee of Mermaids, Jacob Breslaw, who was forced out because he spoke at a conference, defending paedophilia, covered the work of Gayle Rubin in the module he taught for LSE.
Back to the BDSM Fetishist.
Now that we know the waters in which he swims…time to go back to the thesis. Riley tells us he is a “transgender woman” who began his “transition” age 24. He claims his involvment with BDSM predates his “trans” identity. I can believe him. Fetishising ideas of submission and dominance seems the perfect gateway drug to begin disassociating from your sex and repositioning yourself as part of the “victim” class. He detects a particular interest in BDSM from the “trans” community. Colour me shocked.
He is awash with references to his privilege as a white male, who had his college tuition fees paid, by his parents. However, he thinks he has repudiated this “male privilege” only to humble brag about his “passing” privilege. At the same time he rages against the women who write about men like Zahn. Here is a clip from the dedication in his thesis.
He talks about his experiences of BDSM, with an ex girlfriend, who only ever knew him when he began adopting woman face. He finds he is now free from the expectations of playing a male role in heteronormative sex.
He is most interesting when he describes a BDSM session woth a woman who adopts a masculine identity. He recounts a painful encounter where his “safe” word was ignored and left him with painful, scab covered, nipples.
What he took from this experience is a twisted sense of validation for his faux-women persona. Even he seems to suspect his own motivation but he casts doubt aside to cling to the idea he has just experienced sexism and misogyny and then proceeds to share (imagined?) experiences of sexual harassment by men. Notice also that he still claims the victimhood of being “visibly trans” when it suits. 👇
Furthermore he expands on his version of womanhood, which he appears to have imported from the 1850’s. If he acts as a submissive he is conforming to expectations for his identity but, of course, he allows himself a get out clause for when he takes a dominant role; then he is subverting expectations like a proper radical, “trans feminist”.
Riley is also a performance poet, of sorts. You can find his content on his YouTube. Here is an excerpt of one about a Terf who lives on his shoulder. He lives with this doubt and fear of exposing his male sex but cannot resist the epithet of “bitch”.
There are other signs of his fragile sense of self and the unfairness he feels is at the root of how his maleness is perceived. Not the use of the word bitch, again, about women talking.
Naturally Zahn is keen not to be exclusive so he covers the enjoyment of BDSM by the asexual community, covers disabled kink, and explores the racial politics of dominance and submission. For asexuals it is a way to explore sexual practices /roles in a non-sexual way…apparently.🤷♀️
For the disabled it offers an opportunity to explore sexuality in ways that may, otherwise, be denied them.
Zahn has interesting things to say about the role ethnicity pays in BDSM role play. Some participants objected to partners who proposed incorporating their own ethnic identity into sexual role play. Others were sensitive to the optics of using race play when they identify as a dominant white person.
Zahn is anxious to offer a corrective to this stance, which may serve to limit the options for a person of colour, as the white person may be centring themself at the expense of people of colour. His trepidation is evident in navigating this terrain.He is clearly terrified of the unexploded bombs of politically incorrect opinions.
More interesting still is the notion of “suspension of geniality” for a white people. In effect ignoring issies of consent /care for this group. White people are fair game and thus their consent can be safely ignored. Let that sink in. This is not sex specific so he is basically saying white women can have their consent overruled…
Zahn seems to accept the legitimacy of this position, though he will go on to oppose his inclusion in this category.
Whist he is happy to endorse a “suspension of geniality”, for white people, in general, heaven forfend if you see him in this category: this is “transphobia” 👇.
I find it interesting that he exhibits feelings of self disgust. The clue may be in his knowledge of the theory of autogynephilia.
Zahn ties himself in knots in his attempt to deny reality and be as inclusive of as many purported social justice warrior talking points. He does make one statement that I would agree with; which suggests he may be capable of accepting the truth. He is so very nearly there in this point. 👇
He is trapped both by the immutability of his biological sex and his retreat into a sexist stereotype “of a gender” role. The BDSM practice allows him to cos play as submissive which he associates with the female sex; yet he still needs to play act as dominant. 🤷♀️.
If you want to follow up on Zahn’s execrable poetry you can visit his YouTube channel. He does not seem to have an easily identifiable presence on social media, that I can locate, but he does have some old content here 👇
Here is a sample of his wisdom.
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