Sexual Outsiders: Understanding BDSM Sexualities and Communities
by David Ortmann and Richard Sprott
Sexual Outsiders is a sex-affirming, adventurous exploration into the erotic world of BDSM, Kink, Leather, and Fetish sexualities and the communities that comprise them. Refreshingly free of psychobabble, the book’s psychological and philosophical framework is smart and accessible – a guide for the professional as well as the layperson, a resource for everyone from the advanced scholar to the curious high school student. Available from Amazon >
Praise for Sexual Outsiders
"Every once in a while, a book comes along that shines like a star in a vast, dark sky of words. While the subject matter — BDSM sexualities — hardly seems like the stuff of which literary classics are made, David Ortmann and Richard Sprott’s brave new book, Sexual Outsiders: Understanding BDSM Sexualities and Communities, is certainly worthy of note." — (OUT in New Jersey)
"Read and learn from these warriors for sexual freedom as they show us how to explore our precious inner wilderness."
— Dossie Easton, MFT and co-author of The Ethical Slut
"Ortmann and Sprott discuss the way society misunderstands a potentially healthy set of sexual behaviors and definitively dismiss popular claims that BDSM practitioners are mentally unwell or that their behaviors result from abusive childhoods. Instead, they describe the eroticism of power, the playacting of shame, and even show how this kind of play can serve as its own form of therapy. The heart of the work is the individual stories of Ortmann’s clients.”
— (Publishers Weekly)
“The case studies were brilliant and kept me turning the pages in anticipation of how each story would turn out. This book is a wonderful contribution to our field.”
— Neil Cannon, Ph.D., LMFT.
"This BDSM guide offers in-depth information for the curious, newbies, and the skeptical. The tone is both readable and supportive in describing components of sexual behavior commonly included within BDSM: restraint, pressure, sensation, and power exchange. Throughout, elements of consent, community, mutuality, and safety are emphasized. Especially useful are case studies and sample dialogs. Kinksters, friends and families, and helping professionals are all at risk for misunderstanding BDSM owing to a lack of knowledge. This strongly recommended primer will go a long way toward supporting safer and more enjoyably diverse sexualities."
— (Library Journal)
"Sexual Outsiders breaks new ground. David Ortmann and Richard Sprott are pioneers in developing this roadmap for kink-affirmative psychotherapy. People in the BDSM community, or those practicing in secrecy, will read this book, especially the moving personal stories, and feel like they are in a support group. Professionals will have their minds - and knowledge base- opened and expanded."
— Margie Nichols, Ph.D.
“Books like Sexual Outsiders will prove to be a positive catalyst toward ending social stigma.”
— Winston Wilde, DHS, LMFT.
"Sexual Outsiders should be mandatory reading for all ethical clinicians.”
— Dorothy Hayden, LCSW.
"Sexual Outsiders is destined to become a classic of the genre."
— Race Bannon, co-founder of Kink Aware Professionals and author of Learning The Ropes: A Basic Guide to Safe and Fun BDSM Lovemaking.
"Sexual Outsiders is a brave and lucid exploration of ways honest, open, intimate sexuality can help to heal some emotional and psychological wounds, and of the need for self-understanding to make such intimacy possible."
— William A. Henkin, Ph.D and co-author: Consensual Sadomasochism: How to Talk About It and How to Do It Safely.