‘Child abuse’: Washington Post writer blasted for arguing children should be exposed to ‘kink’ & BDSM at Pride

The Washington Post has been criticized for publishing an article which argued that children should be exposed to leather and BDSM fetishes at LGBT Pride events.

In an article on Tuesday titled “Yes, kink belongs at Pride. And I want my kids to see it,” writer and former sex worker Lauren Rowello wrote about taking her children to a Pride parade five years ago. She said they became confused at the sight of a “bare-chested man in dark sunglasses,” suspenders, and a “leather thong” who was being “spanked playfully by a partner with a flog.”

Though many in the LGBT community have argued against children being exposed to such sexualized elements of Pride, Rowello claimed that the experience was a good thing.

“When my own children caught glimpses of kink culture, they got to see that the queer community encompasses so many more nontraditional ways of being, living, and loving,” she declared, arguing that parents “should hope” that their kids “encounter kink when they attend” Pride because “children who witness kink culture are reassured that alternative experiences of sexuality and expression are valid.”

The article received heavy criticism on social media, with critics branding Rowello’s call for children to be exposed to adult behavior “child abuse,” “predatory,” and the “bottom of the barrel.”

“This is what she’ll say out loud. Imagine how far she’s really willing to go,” commented one woman on Twitter, while another user declared that the writer’s children “should be removed by child protective services.”

It is not the first time that a news outlet has published such an argument, with others – including GQ in 2019 – publishing similar defenses of “kink” at Pride.

In a May article for the Independent, however, writer Skylar Baker-Jordan argued that such displays in public should not be tolerated because they fail to obtain the consent from those around them.

“You may have no problem parading your sex life down North Halsted in Chicago or through Trafalgar Square in London, but others might not be so willing to participate in your fetish or to even see it,” Baker-Jordan explained, noting that “kink and BDSM are not sexual orientations, but rather sexual preferences” which should remain in a private setting.

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