(This post is part of a series about the history of kink online.)
Today I am back to discussing one of my favorite parts of Internet history: Usenet.* In the early 90s, Usenet was one of the only places where kinksters could connect to each other online. The first major newsgroup for kinksters is called alt.sex.bondgae (a.s.b) and started in 1989. In the mid 90s, however, a.s.b became increasingly overrun by spam, leading users to form an alternate newsgroup in 1996—soc.subculture.bondage-bdsm (s.s.b-b).
S.s.b-b was similar to a.s.b in many ways. A large number of frequent participants were folks who had simply migrated over from a.s.b in search of a forum with a little less spam. When working on my thesis research around rape and BDSM I did not find a significant difference between the types of conversations going on in these two forums. (I’d gladly be corrected by an experienced user, however, if such folks wonder by!) In many ways, s.s.b-b was a.s.b part 2.
It is worth noting, however, that within the Usenet-verse, s.s.b-b and a.s.b had some relevant differences. On Usenet, all groups belonge to categories called hierarchies—for a.s.b it’s ‘alt’, for s.s.b-b it’s ‘soc’. Different hierarchies generally cover different topics, are managed by various groups, and operate under different guiding rules. The ‘alt’ hierarchy is a free-for-all of topics with no need for user approval to create new newsgroups. ‘Soc’ is part of a more regulated group of hierarchies** which require a voting process to approve each new newsgroup’s charter.
As part of the ‘soc’ hierarchy, soc.subcutlure.bondage-bdsm also had access to anti-spam bots—a plus, given the reason for migrating from a.s.b. was largely due to excessive spam. And s.s.b-b also faced a different Internet culture at it’s inception than a.s.b had. When a.s.b started, very few spaces had ever existed on the Internet for discussion around kink.*** By 1997, copies of the s.s.b-b FAQ were surfacing on the Internet for people who did not access to Usenet, and Internet providers such as AOL were providing a larger audience access to Usenet.
The s.s.b-b newsgroup is an important part of kink Internet history—and, though the popularity of Usenet died down significantly starting in the early 2000s, you can still see a few stragglers having legitimate conversations on s.s.b-b—here is a post from last weekend.
Click here to check out s.s.b-b for yourself, over at the google groups forums.
*In the early 90s, for folks who were privileged and nerdy and winners of a certain geographic-lottery, there was an online community of newgroups (which are a lot like message boards) called Usenet. And Usenet is one of the very first places kinksters ever had to gather online.
** Known as the Big Eight
*** One of the only, BBS, is referenced in this post; H/T @ Peter Tupper
There was an almost exactly parallel history for the spanking newsgroups. It started out with alt.sex.spanking (a.s.s.), but that was eventually overrun by spam, so it was replaced by soc.sexuaity.spanking (s.s.s) – subject to exactly the same advantages and constraints.
These groups really had an enormous effect on those of us who had grown up in the pre-internet age. Until I found a.s.s., almost the only resources that were available outside big cities were magazines, and because they were commercial it wasn’t clear that they represented a community of any kind. They were all focussed on male fantasies, and although they had “readers’ letters” that were purportedly from women it always seemed likely that these were from the Editor’s pen.
It was only when I discovered a.s.s. in about 1994 that I realised that many of the strongest voices were female and that many of the best stories were by women who shared my fantasies from the opposite perspective. That was when I realised that spanking was something I could actually do with consenting partners who would get just as much kick out of it as me. It changed my life.
HH @ArtofPunishment