The Next Generation (TNG) is a nationally recognized group of kinky people who seek to educate and socialize members between the ages of 18-35 into the kink community. This chapter explores information provided by 20 TNG groups on Fetlife.com using thematic analysis. The major emergent themes are education with an emphasis on age, socialization, asking questions, and resources; common rules with an emphasis on personal ads, photography, alcohol, and consent; and the purpose, planning, and etiquette of Munches.
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Kink has a broad range of activities and roles that make it impossible to research as a whole. Therefore, scholars explore specific aspects of BDSM (bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism, masochism) to build upon the multifaceted realm of kink. BDSM is a practice that has been brought to the public through varying popular culture events such as films like Belle de Jour (1967), 9 ½ Weeks (1986), Secretary (2002), and Fifty Shades of Grey (2015). BDSM has been studied from several lenses but remains a rather understudied form of expression. Current studies focus on specific aspects of BDSM such as kinky people of color (Cruz, 2015), technology use between BDSM sexual partners (Rubinsky, 2018), BDSM live webcams (Grant, 2014), blogging about BDSM (Mondin, 2017), negotiating gender (Simula & Sumerau, 2017), age play (Tiidenberg & Paasonen, 2019), the legality of BDSM (Gilden, 2016; Mincer, 2018), and the influence of Fifty Shades of Grey (e.g., Kratzer, 2020a, 2020b).
The purpose of the current study is to explore a form of social media used by kinky people (kinksters) as an avenue for building community among the younger members of the kink community. A nationally recognized group of kinksters called The Next Generation (TNG) seek to socialize and educate members between the ages of 18-35. This study explores their Fetlife.com group webpages to gain insight into the information they share with their members to integrate them into the kink community.