According to Psychology Today, 34% of adults have admitted to engaging in “bondage play.” The survey respondents were apparently Norwegians, so I’m not sure precisely how those results would translate to Americans, but the point, I suppose, is that sort of thing is more common than many might imagine. So common, in fact, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)—what an academic mouthful—thought teaching all about it was a good idea. It turns out it really wasn’t:

Graphic: Slaves in Bondage (1937). Wikimedia Commons. org. Public Domain.

Campus Reform reported this February that Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) abruptly canceled an “Introduction to Bondage” workshop after facing strong opposition online. Now, internal records obtained by Campus Reform show that the university spent more than $100 on various supplies ahead of the event, including nylon rope.  

Well, if you’re going to teach a vital academic discipline, you need appropriate supplies.

The university paper The Collegiate Commons reported that the planned bondage workshop was upcoming, and revealed that the event instructor, “Fynch,” is the author of pornographic stories, including at least one story involving a graphic description of gang rape. Fynch also has an account on a website with ties to child pornography, per the outlet.

So, obviously a highly qualified, contemporary, scholar.

The Office of Health and Wellness had scheduled the event as part of its “Healthy Relationships Week” open to all students.

The Indiana University School of Social Work (IUSSW) also reportedly promoted the event.

Far be it from me to disparage what consenting adults do behind bedroom—or wherever—doors, but the Campus Reform article does at least partially, potentially, answer one vital question: within which legitimate academic discipline does bondage fall?

It’s all too easy these days to attack academia for its deviation from traditional academic disciplines into all manner of “studies” navel gazing. It’s also rational, accurate and fun.

Might bondage fall under STEM? We know math, and everything else productive is racist, so presumably one should avoid buying white nylon rope, and science might reasonably be involved in figuring angles, load bearing, calculating stresses, measuring lengths of non-white nylon rope, and the scientific possibilities are endless. Computers, of course, might be involved in any number of ways, particularly where child porn is involved.

English too, though academics don’t much like that word anymore, might have a place in documenting the techniques, theory, and philosophy of bondage. And of course, in preserving all manner of “pornographic stories” for posterity.

I shudder to imagine what music might accompany such things. Wagner, perhaps?  Atonal music?

Art, whether sculpture, drawing, watercolor or painting would surely have a role.

Interpretive dance might be a bit…constrained.

History might be a fertile field, though most of that would inevitably involve recitations of slavery, torture and oppression, so maybe not.

Social work does seem to be nearly perfect as these days, schools of social work are constantly tying themselves up in knots trying to be more woke than any other department or college.

I’m a little confused, however, about how an “Office of Health and Wellness” might be involved. “Healthy relationships?” Again, I suppose if everyone was willing, even eager, such practices might be healthy in some way, but another vital question might be: do sexual practices, even those involving 34% of Norwegians—who knew they were so naughty?--belong in a university curriculum?  In Indiana?

When I took my undergraduate degree—English and music, not bondage—way back when, woke was not yet awakened. To be sure, among some faculty, there were stirrings, but no one would have imagined such a “workshop,” even one taught by such a renowned scholar, appropriate and for three reasons: (1) sexual practices/preferences weren’t discussed in polite society, or for that matter, in college. (2) Anyone suggesting such things a part of any legitimate academic discipline would be mercilessly ridiculed. (3) There’s no time.

That’s perhaps the biggest reason it would never have happened. In learning any genuinely academic discipline, there is never sufficient time to learn everything one ought to learn and should want to learn. How priorities have changed.

Now, and then, bondage is pretty much a matter of on-the-job training. Particularly now, any bit of information one might want to find on such things, American or Norwegian, is available with the click of a mouse.

Sadly, it appears western, or at least Indiana, civilization has lost an opportunity to advance academic knowledge:

Graphic: Campus Reform screenshot

Oh well. Maybe they can return the rope for a full refund, or just keep it for the faculty lounge

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.