He may not be as progressive, or sexy, or personable as the original material girl, but Max Mosley could end up having as much of an impact on the public discussion and acceptance of BDSM as Madonna had all those years ago (I still can’t believe she’s turning 50 this year).

Mosley, the son of British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley and the current president of FIA, formula one's governing body was outed in April by a British tabloid with a series of articles and a videotape of him engaging in BDSM play at a private party which, the tabloid claims, involved Nazi themes.

Now Mosley is now taking the tabloid to court claiming that not only was the sex play not Nazi themed, but that there was nothing wrong with it. In his testimony, quoted in a Time magazine article, Mosley said:

"I fundamentally disagree with the suggestion that any of this is depraved…I think it is a perfectly harmless activity provided it is between consenting adults who want to do it, are of sound mind, and it is in private."

While there have been plenty of terrible articles about the trial and ignorant side bars about BDSM, there has also been some surprisingly good coverage, like this piece in the Guardian.

Which begs the question; will the Mosley case raise positive awareness about BDSM? It’s unlikely to be anything like Madonna’s Sex book, and by all accounts this isn’t a very nice guy, but by putting the tabloid on trial he’s also putting it’s claims that BDSM is sick on trial, and that’s definitely a fight worth supporting.

Read more – Guardian: Crime and punishment

Read more – Time.com: Just A Little Harmless English S&M

Previously - Private Fantasies Made Public

_{Photo Credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images}

The Desiree Alliance is a volunteer-based, sex worker-led network of organizations, communities and individuals across the US working in harm reduction, direct services, political advocacy and health services for sex workers. They’re holding their third conference in Chicago right now.

The line up of workshops sounds great, with sessions on topics including safety, identity, marketing, violence in the workplace, and more. The site also lists a workshop called "Adult Entertainer' s Guide to Disabled Customers – 2008 Edition” I’m thrilled their including disability and hope that they’re making better use of disabled allies than some of the stuff I’ve read on this topic coming from sex workers in the past.

All attendees are pre-screened and the conference organizers take the privacy of folks attending very seriously, so they don’t allow outside media. But they’re creating lots of their own, which you can track at their blog Bound, Not Gagged.

Find out more – The Desiree Alliance Conference and Bound, Not Gagged