NTV Monthly Meeting

Today our ED attended the monthly meeting of NTV (No To Violence) as a member for the first time.

At KNOTbound we recognise the conflict many people face in understanding what is healthy BDSM practice and what is, in reality, another face of violence and abuse. As a community we like to believe that we are somehow ahead of the curve in BDSM and indeed, we do seem to have some understandings to share in this space with the outside community.

However, it’s also a fact that we have abuse and violence inside our own communities and that we have people who are at risk. It’s also true that we have people who behave in violent and abusive ways and that we struggle with this reality.

There has been excellent work over the years and ongoing help for victims of violence and abuse and we support helping connect victims to this support, such as The Orange Door in Victoria A growing focus in this area is now on those that abuse and how we can work with these people to help them stop being violent and abusive. Researching and engaging with organisations that are working with people to stop their own abusive behaviour is the focus of part of our education program. In line with this, we are reaching out to other organisations to find what best practices, methods, techniques and understandings can be built into our teaching tools to help us reduce abuse in our BDSM communities.

If you would like to be part of this work, send us a message. We’d be happy to discuss how we can all work together to help us all be safer.