I identify as asexual—that is, I do not experience sexual attraction (though I do experience other forms of attraction, such as romantic attraction). I'm also into lots of things that fall under the umbrella of "kink" or "BDSM" (which stands for bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism), which is often considered purely sexual (to the point where you often hear terms like "kinky sex" being used as synonyms for BDSM). There's a lot of misunderstanding about how these two orientations can coexist in one person, and so I want to write a bit about that. Much of this post is based on a discussion I led at a meeting of RACK, the student group at the University of Chicago for students interested in or curious about BDSM.
