User Reviews

Bay Area educators and community folks volunteered and appeared in this student film that was meant to be for a class project at SFSU - 10 minutes was the requested project amount from the instructor. Well, the film-makers ended up making one of best intro to BDSM documentary movies that I have ever seen in my many years in this lifestyle. The film quality, lighting, editing and artistic approach quite exceptional. It is a great film for educators, mental health professionals, and other sex-educators. It is offers a sex-positive approach which takes the Newbie step-by-step in a PG-13 manner. The film has been on the film festival circuit and receiving rave reviews.

This film is a classic and very much needed as an education tool. Every University and college that has a ethnic studies, social justice, counseling, psychology, and sociology departments should have this as part of their teaching tool presentation. All medical school should have this so that doctors can deal with a variety of lifestyles in a healthy manner. This will reduce the stigma and also redefine the various pathologies that are in the DSM-IV-TR books (American Psychology Association).

If general, people should be exposed to various orientation and lifestyle that they are not familiar with. This one offers the real deal ( not from a research point of view) the people and educators involved in the topic of BDSM/Fetish/Kinky, alternative loving and adult play..

About the documentary Quoted from their website: "Topics of pain, abuse, stereotypes, race and community are broached in BDSM: Its Not What You Think! Mixing interviews, dramatizations and archival footage, this funny and educational film picks the brains of various Bay Area kinksters in order to debunk some of the myths surrounding BDSM play." Get the DVD it finally came out. http://www.bdsmdocumentary.com/ check out the trailer and buy the movie.

The first thing to note is the number of esteemed personalities involved in the film. Sybil Holiday, Janet Hardy and Nova & Atticus (of the Fetish Flame podcast) are just a few of those that shared their thoughts and experiences to this wonderfully informative and insightful film.

Abuse, pain, slavery, feminism and more are touched on in this all too short documentary. This film explores the most often misunderstood aspects of what BDSM entails. It should be noted also that the term "BDSM" is used to reference all aspects of the community in the film. Whether you are Leather, Kink or Fetish and do not consider yourself a part of the BDSM community, this film addresses common questions and misunderstandings faced in all of the above lifestyles.

While the film is short in length it is far from short on how relevant it is. Every question I have personally ever been asked or had myself is covered in the discussions that take place in the short 30 minutes. Of course this is not meant to answer all questions directed at someone in the BDSM lifestyle, that is a task no DVD is up to, it does cover the most important (safety, consent, abuse) and most frequent (who, why, what).

Straight and to the point without a wasted moment, "BDSM: It's Not What You Think!" continues to be the best video resource for getting someone comfortable with the BDSM lifestyle, in my opinion. Wonderfully directed, unscripted answers to important questions and a wealth of information, this film is a must have for every household that wants to be understood and accepted by people close to them that question what BDSM is all about.

My personal 3 favorite points in the film are: Janet Hardy's observation that people that love spicy food may be more kinky than they know, Janet Hardy's discussion on negotiations and the final scene; which ties together the entire intent of the film and adds the fun component.

This film is great, I love it. I have seen it about 95 times and honestly every time I see it I find something new. It's great for beginners and everyone else. It's tasteful, funny, well-informed and researched, based in experiential learning, and does not fall into the trap that so many films about sexuality and kink fall into - tokenism and exoticism. It is respectful of the bdsm community and gives novices a good taste of what safe, sane, consensual bdsm and kink are. My only complaint is that it is too short - I would have loved a full length hour version, I am sure there is enough material to fill that space. Thanks for the film!