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“[The Mindful Consent Model] can potentially be applicable to all beings who recognize these process dimensions, thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations as a component of their experience when they’re making a decision,” she says.

According to Tokyo, the model must be seen at an intersection between social and relational power and privilege and that “people must support others with less privilege to make decisions that have the same social valence and social currency.”

“There’s been a common theme of people saying, ‘I’ve always known it to be inside of me, I just didn’t know how to express it,’” Seggie says. Speaking to Vertigo, Seggie reflected upon the steps that he took at his first Pride of the Hide social event during Mardi Gras 2018, in which he had to scale the fire escape stairs to get into the venue at Kings Cross. He describes these spaces as forming a welcoming and inclusive community, sentiments which were shared by Warsi in the panel talk.

“On that note, the BDSM culture in the fetish community helps create foundations and structures that people can operate in. There’s conduct, there’s protocols, there’s traditions, there’s identity, and there’s the tribe aspect that helps people foster those experiences and makes them feel good.”