Beyond safe, sane, and consensual: Navigating risk and consent online for kinky gay and bisexual men

Kink practitioners have adopted phrases, like “safe, sane and consensual”, to describe a non-pathological approach in considering risk and harm in kink practices. However, little is known about how risk and consent are negotiated online, particularly when the kink activities occur in private rather than public or semi-public spaces of kink community venues or events. Drawing on 30 in-depth interviews with self-identified kinky gay and bisexual men, this article examines how kinky risk and consent are discussed when organising kink sessions through online platforms. Most participants were unaware of SSC or alternatives. Instead, participants employed diverse methods of negotiating consent and risk which predominantly involved in-depth communication online. Interestingly, participants were more concerned with the risks associated with meeting others online, such as catfishing, than the risks involved with kink. Finally, some participants described a laissez-faire approach to their kink sessions through not planning or discussing risk and consent beforehand