Shadowplay: Journeys to Our Abandoned Selves

Role-playing is a common practice within the bounds of kink, fetish, and/or BDSM erotic encounters. The application of Jungian Shadow concept to the erotic or SM role-play practices is explored in this article, which is an update to the author’s 2007 chapter Shadowplay: SM journeys into ourselves. Areas such as past trauma, cultural trauma, issues around gender and power, and therapeutic aspects of engaging in role-play in the context of BDSM encounters are explored.