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As the law stands, if something non-consensual happens during BDSM play, victims may face trouble in getting prosecutors to press charges. And charges which manage to be successfully brought to court today are often tried under standard assault law rather than as sexual assault—and victims who seek justice under the former lack key protections offered to those who do so under the latter. Legal clarity on BDSM practice would also help in the prosecution of domestic abusers, who sometimes claim that their behavior was part of consensual play, by helping to legally distinguish genuine BDSM practice from sexual abuse.It's worth noting that legal BDSM recognition could help reverse the social stigma against kinky sex as well. It's no secret that many try BDSM at some point in their lives; according to the 2005 Durex Global Sex Survey, 36 percent of US adults have experimented with some form of bondage, and that was before the 2011 release of Fifty Shades of Grey. Yet many still consider BDSM strange or embarrassing. "While awareness is increasing and acceptance is too, [BDSM] is still very taboo," said Ruth Neustifter, a relationship therapy professor at the University of Guelph and active BDSM player. "It frightens many people, and it's far from their conception of what's normal."Our laws serve as a ledger of our shared social values. Though statutes against gay sex were at one point rarely enforced, they legitimized homophobia and officially condemned homosexuality. By failing to recognize a public right to engage in BDSM, we condone the idea that kinksters are not normal. Explicitly recognizing their legal rights would signal that our society accepts kinky sex and recognizes its practice as a legitimate sexual identity. It would serve to manifest the promise of Lawrence v. Texas, a ruling meant not only to grant adults true sexual freedom but to ennoble their personhood as sexual beings. Sex is an intimate, inextricable part of our identity. If American legislators are willing to grant gays and lesbians recognition for their identity, it only follows that they should do the same for kinksters and grant them the liberties they deserve.Neil McArthur is the director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at University of Manitoba, where his work focuses on sexual ethics and the philosophy of sexuality. Follow him on Twitter.Though statutes against gay sex were at one point rarely enforced, they legitimized homophobia and officially condemned homosexuality. By failing to recognize a public right to engage in BDSM, we condone the idea that kinksters are not normal.