about this project:
This website presents a digital ethnography of London Alternative Market (LAM).
It aims to perform like LAM, as a central hub, making BDSM, Fetish and Kink communities and their knowledge, more visible and less stereotypical.
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This is an ethnographic project of London Alternative Market and offers an exploration of the relationship between digital technologies and BDSM, Fetish and Kink markets in London.
This research has aimed to ask:
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This ethnographic project was conducted within London Alternative Market, situated in Revolutions Bar on Leadenhall Street, London between November 2017 and March 2018 .
After obtaining the approval of the London Alternative Market crew, participant observation and semi-informal interviews were performed at the LAM venue in Leadenhall once a month with market buyers, store-holders and the LAM crew. All participants were given a research information sheet and asked for their explicit informed consent before contributing.
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Identifying the digital aspects of London Alternative Market, this research was also supplemented by online analysis of social media used within and around LAM and of other BDSM, Fetish and Kink market websites. Online methods included researching LAM’s online presence: their main website and social media including Facebook, Twitter and Fetlife, and how sellers used social media to market their commodities. Extensive screen shots were taken over the period and notification settings were used to help produce a series of posts in order to analyse content over time.
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For ethical reasons, all participants names in this research have been anonymised and personal details removed.
Part of this study aimed to ask how London Alternative Market could be respresented as an online website, and wanted to collaborate with participants themselves as to what this should include.
When asked this in interviews and informal discussions, some participants responded that the website should help provide a "journey into alternative spaces" (Luca), or help provide connectivity between mediums such as social media and store holder websites. Others suggested it should offer advice on the basic aspects of BDSM, Kink and Fetish communities, such as things to watch out for, advice on terminology and jargon, as well as descriptions of what to expect before arriving. ​
Multiple participants also suggested that the main focus of the website should also help to overcome the stigma and stereotypes surrounding BDSM, Kink and Fetish communities. This includes depictions of the community as 'scary', 'naughty' or 'too strange'. Taking these views seriously led to the main difficulty when constructing the website. This was not how to structure it, but what aesthetic to use and how it might be be designed so as to avoid perpetuating these stereotypes.
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"What would be really cool is having a map on this site of the floorplans that you can click on and they take you to their page online. I’m sure then people would find us down here cause we’ve had days with a massive influx upstairs and then not a lot of people come down.
You can also come downstairs and walk the corridor without going down to the basement. It's twice the experience if you get them to come down here because there's so much more. The ones that know the market come in early and come straight down." (Darren, Storeholder)
Subsequently, a balance has been made between sticking to the colours of black and red which are consistently used within the BDSM, Kink and Fetish community, online market websites and kinky social media; whilst also providing a less threatening design, and more community based structure, to avoid perpetuating the stereotype of BDSM,kink and Fetish communities as horrifying, dangerous or strange.
The website is password protected for the purpose of maintaining participants confidentiality. It will be shared with the LAM crew to see if any particular aspects of the website might be useful for them to use in the future.
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As a final note, i would like to thank all those who got involved in this research project. A huge thank you must also go to the LAM Crew for their support, for answering my persistent questions, and for helping me to understand the importance of BDSM, Kink and Fetish objects.