BDSM culture is carried by the people who practice it, and by the practices themselves. This list is not a full endorsement of every person on it. The names are landmarks on a map of modern kink, starting points if you want leather history, rope, the feminist sex wars, Japanese SM film, or professional domination. Everyone here is an adult.
Activists
The activists on this list are Patrick Califia, Viola Johnson, Jack McGeorge, Lord Morpheous, Desmond Ravenstone, Gayle Rubin, Cynthia Slater, and Mollena Williams-Haas.
Rope, craft, and media
Rope and the craft around it run from mid-century fetish media, starting with Irving Klaw, through Japanese kinbaku lineages, and on to European and North American educators and extreme-bondage authors. The names in that line are Go Arisue, Matthias T. J. Grimme, Jeff Gord, Lee Harrington, Seiu Ito, Irving Klaw, Randa Mai, Midori, and Jay Wiseman.
Artists, authors, and photographers
Artists, authors, and photographers take up a large overlapping share of BDSM history. This directory does not open their work lists.
Dominatrices, models, and directors
Dominatrices on the list: Asa Akira, Charlotte Bach, CoCo Brown, Melissa Febos, Leslie Fish, Mistress Matisse, Domenica Niehoff, Eva Norvind, and Betty Paërl. Models: Dana DeArmond, Sharon Kane, Eri Kikuchi, Lorelei Lee, Bettie Page, Princess Donna, and Madison Young.
On video, Jeff Gord is tied to House of Gord and Naked Gord. Peter Acworth is tied to Kink.com and Public Disgrace. The Nikkatsu SM queens on the list are Junko Mabuki, Ran Masaki, Nami Matsukawa, Izumi Shima, Miki Takakura, and Naomi Tani, adult performers in front of the camera. The directory is a way into longer biographies, not the biographies themselves.
