Cartoon by Ben Heine, from Philosemitism
How and why does the picture above affect you as it does? And how would it affect your perceptions if the flags were exchanged or replaced? Let’s say the girl, placed on all fours, had the Norwegian flag tattooed on her bottom and the man thrusting into her was wearing “Taliban” colors, would the pic still be sweet?
Sex transcends the direct actions required for procreation and constitute a very powerful component of politics. The candid nature of the cartoon above brings this to bear with full force, and captures an aspect of the Israel-Palestine conflict which is rarely discussed. To what extent does the Israel-Palestine conflict have a sexual component? A quick study of the acronyms of BDSM and BDS provides us with material for some interesting reflections.
BDSM stands for bondage, domination and sado-masochism. Wikipedia defines it as “consensual sex between two or more individuals, who use their experiences of pain and power to create sexual tension, pleasure, and release“. Here then, pain and power are sources of pleasure and the key word is consent. Perhaps the most famous person to play around within the realm of BDSM is Madonna, who manages to do what she does precisely because she is in it for fun (as well as the buck…). Unless you consent to watching her, Madonna is as unable as she is unwilling to impose BDSM upon you. Remove the consent, and you are left with violation, abuse and torture. Nab a woman of the streets and impose your sexual fantasies upon her without consent, and we put you in jail.
BDS stands for boycott, divestment and sanctions for Palestine. Study the forces behind the BDS movement and we find that, as in BDSM, pretty much anything goes. So Mads Gilbert gets to close his eyes to the Hamas base in the basement of Shifa Hospital, but brings tears to the eyes of union delegates when speaking of the “horrible Israeli devil-machines – the drones“. In January, friends of Palestine ran riot in the streets of Oslo for days without being punished. This autumn, a boycott proposal quietly slipped onto the agenda of the NTNU board and was discovered only by chance. And in Tel Aviv the Norwegian ambassador repeatedly whitewashes the truth in order to maintain Norway’s image and refuses to engage in dialogue with one of Norway’s few critics, while at the same time insisting that Israel recognizes the genocidal movement of Hamas.
BDS is quite simply a political equivalent – and not the only one – of the kinky sex practices of BDSM. There i the pain – sometimes by proxy, the power and powerlessness of ruling the day or being temporarily beaten back, the manipulative seminar-series at NTNU (BDS), the axioms of master-and-servant (BDSM) and good-evil (BDS), the thrill of interrupting someone’s lecture by chanting slogans (BDS) or handcuffing your lover to the bed(BDSM), the snarl of the lash across your thighs (BDSM) and the glee of shooting throwing rocks at the Israeli embassy (BDS).
The significant differences between BDS and BDSM go beyond that of consent and intent. The line of demarcation runs directly through the core of your vanity. Vent your emotions in the context of BDS, as NORWAC doctor Mads Gilbert suggests that you do, and you are a righteous champion of justice. Vent your emotions in the context of BDSM, and you are a pervert.
The naked truth of the matter is that if there is any proper place for sadism, it must necessarily be – in a limited and very candid sense – in the bedroom. As opposed to what cynical rabble-rousers believe, there is no legitimate place for it in politics.
Mads Gilbert should not be winning hearts and minds by screaming about “horrible Israeli devil machines“.
