Deviant Leisure: Rethinking “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”

Abstract

This article calls for a more thorough exploration of the concept of deviant leisure. Although deviant leisure often relies on psychiatric discourse as a primary explanation for participation, many forms of deviant leisure cannot be explained convincingly through accounts that focus on psychopathological motivations. Examples discussed herein include consensual sexual sadomasochism, self-identified human vampires, and radical body modification. Such forms of deviant leisure may be better understood by focusing on diverse social discourses and the properties of legitimate leisure experience.