In the thesis the author has explored women’s experiences and reflections on submission within

the BDSM culture in UK to open up further understanding and discussion on the phenomena.
The research question was: how and why do women engage in submission in the dominant-
submissive dynamic? All in all, research aimed to fill the gap in academic writing which does
not have much information on the position and experiences of women who participate in BDSM.
It also aimed to provide readers with insight into the women’s motivation to engage with
submission in the dominant-submissive dynamic.
The structure of the thesis is quite clear and easy to follow. At the beginning of the thesis, the
author described the aim, research questions of the study and established the place of the paper in
already existing academic literature. Further in the previous research section, the author
elaborated on the concepts of BDSM, power relations in sexual relationships, consent, and
compared the notion of BDSM through pathological and sociological perspectives. In the next
section the theoretical framework was established by describing and analysing the theories of
power, erotic power exchange, simulation not replication, the structural approach of the 4C’s and
stigma. In the next section the author in details described the methodology and ethical
considerations of their research. In the last section the results of the study were analysed, and the
conclusions were drawn.
Among the strengths of the thesis, I would like to name the relevance of the topic and a large
amount of literature, which was processed by the author and later served as a good basis for
research. In addition, I really enjoyed the analysis carried out by the author, which shows that
they understood well both the topic of the study and its methodology. The ethical side of research
is also very well developed.
However, research has its weaknesses. So, I would like to see a more detailed argumentation of
the research methodology: sampling, research method, etc. Moreover, although the structure of
the work is very good and clear, at the same time, it would be even better if the work had not
only conclusions to sections 2 and to the thesis in whole, but also to 3,4, 5 sections, which would
improve the logic of the work even more.
In general, the work is very high quality, I read it with a huge enthusiasm. I hope that the author
will continue their work on research on this topic and expand its scope.