SMJG is a charitable organization in the German-speaking countries. The name is short for BDSM and JuGend. Jugend is the German word for youth, and it is also used as shorthand for a youth organization. The group grew out of Sadomasochistische Jugendgruppe, which means a sadomasochistic youth group. It does not mean pedophilia. SMJG is one of the main nonprofit kink-education networks in Germany. It teaches teenagers and young adults about BDSM and sexuality. For readers used to adult-only munches and leather conferences, it is the age-capped version: peer contact, risk education, and an effort to keep safety information available to the age group it serves. This is an account of the organization, not a scene and not a how-to.
It started in August 2000. A 15-year-old could find almost no BDSM information aimed at young people and began making some. By the end of 2000 an association of young adults had formed. At first it was an online information and communication platform. From 2002 it held in-person meetings. As gatherings repeated across many cities, it became one of the main charitable BDSM presences in German-speaking Europe. The stated aim is a place for people who are sexually curious, plus education and risk awareness so that play is less likely to end in an accident.
The age cap is strict: 27. SMJG runs regular munches in 37 German cities and 3 Austrian cities, only for teenagers and young adults. Besides the monthly in-person meetings it runs a mailing list, an online forum, and a moderated chat. The forum is a peer network for talking about kink with people in the same age band. The site publishes risk and safety information about BDSM and sexuality, and topics specific to young people, including coming out and “BDSM and parents.” Services are not limited by gender or sexual orientation.
It is not a closed secret society. It shows up at fairs and street festivals, including Christopher Street Day, to correct public misconceptions about BDSM. Teenagers and young adults who are interested can get peer contact and concrete information in an age-matched setting. The topics include coming out, family, and practical safety information.
In 2012 jugendschutz.net approached SMJG.org, demanded minor-protection measures on the official forum, and threatened an inquiry with the federal department for media harmful to young persons. To lower the risk of being placed on the index of media harmful to minors, some articles were made available only during limited hours of the day. Inside the German BDSM scene, and inside SMJG especially, that was read as dangerous: if information needed for more difficult kinds of play is restricted, young people may not get safety knowledge that exists nowhere else. Arguments for censoring the site, including the claim that it would lead minors into “deviant” sex, were challenged by psychologists. One of them was Lydia Benecke, then Jugendschutzbeauftragte, the commissioner for the protection of minors, at SMJG. The fight was whether risk-education writing could stay readable for the age group the charity exists to serve.
The group shows up in press and academic citations. Daniel Erk’s 2006 NEON article Der schöne Schmerz; a 2010 Schlagzeilen feature on ten years of SMJG; Janoschek and Fellner’s 2008 University of Vienna paper Gefesselt im Netz; and citations in wider BDSM research, including material tied to the Journal of Homosexuality “SM International” dossier. It is documented German-language kink infrastructure. Young people who are curious will look for information. Peer education and risk prevention are better than silence and accidents.
