I used to say there were five taboos, or at least things that required heavy warnings, in fic: death, underage, incest, BDSM, and RPS. Over the years, things seem to have changed and death is the only one fangirls are still not cool with. Three of those have become normalized through specific fandom waves: underage (Harry Potter), incest (Harry Potter [I think - I may only think that because it was my friends championing the Weasleycest], Supernatural), and RPS (NSync, lotrips, J2). I've been thinking that BDSM has become more normalized in the general culture and that's carried over to fandom. I suppose my first question should be: is that true?
My real question, though, is just what I said in my subject line: is there really more BDSM and BDSMy fic these days? It seems to me that large percentages of fic I read these days have BDSMy elements to the relationships even when they aren't explicitly BDSM. But I don't know if that's true. I happen to like reading that kind of thing, so I'm not sure if it seems like there's more because I seek it out/notice it when I come across it, or if there really is more of it.
My real question, though, is just what I said in my subject line: is there really more BDSM and BDSMy fic these days? It seems to me that large percentages of fic I read these days have BDSMy elements to the relationships even when they aren't explicitly BDSM. But I don't know if that's true. I happen to like reading that kind of thing, so I'm not sure if it seems like there's more because I seek it out/notice it when I come across it, or if there really is more of it.