Community ?

I humbly ask that we as a culture quit referring to ourselves as a "community".  We are not, we are a population of kinksters, ropesters, leather people.

For there to be a community it means that we are unified with something in common. Honestly, we have small collections of people who might be unified for a season on a specific topic.

IMHO, the worst thing to happen in the past 3 decades was the creation of BDSM as an umbrella label.

The Bondage people (see rope) still hang with mostly their own, educate their own and create their own Cultures.
The Discipline people (see D/s, M/s) still hang with mostly their own, educate their own and create their own Cultures.
The S&M people (see dungeon crawlers) still hang with mostly their own, educate their own and create their own Cultures.

Do they intermingle? Yes, of course but when push comes to shove; they retreat to the "community" that makes them feel safe.

So are we a global community of kinky people?  Heck no, we are a kinky population, consisting of many smaller communities made of even smaller tribes / pods.