Overview

• Student-run kink and fetish societies are active at Anglia Ruskin, York, Keele, Portsmouth, Warwick, Sheffield and Nottingham.
• Some groups host activities such as Japanese rope bondage workshops and a Sheffield students’ union club night featuring staged performances.
• Parents and the Family Education Trust argue the societies promote fetishes to vulnerable freshers and risk breaching universities’ duty of care.
• Universities and student unions say all societies must follow consent and safety policies and that no formal complaints have been received about the named groups.
• Society leaders describe many groups as social spaces focused on safety and community, and survey data from the Kinsey Institute and Feeld indicate higher BDSM interest among Gen Z.