Deviant leisure: Uncovering the “goods” in transgressive behaviour

Leisure studies has held to a traditional understanding of leisure activities as inherently and unquestionably “good,” a view that leaves little room to consider deviance within the purview of leisure behaviour and its study within the discipline. Stebbins’ theoretical framework of serious leisure provides a context through which conventional understandings of deviant behaviour may be challenged and the limiting doxic1 perspective lifted. Qualities of serious leisure are manifest in deviant leisure activities, specifically “sadomasochism.”2 This conceptual paper offers an introductory evaluation of participation in the leisure spaces of BDSM culture subsequent to an exploratory auto‐ethnographic study. The three primary goals are to: (1) lay out conventional definitions of [deviant]3 leisure; (2) outline qualities of BDSM consistent with serious leisure in order to problematize [deviant] leisure; and (3) discuss the implications of this analysis and recommend future directions for research.