The vast public square we that we bumble around in otherwise known as the Internet, has afforded us connectivity with scenarios that we may previously have only been able to experience in the realms of books or in specific places. Media Ethnographies is the study of online communities and for this project I will be narrow focused on a niche that for me transpired rather organically, the art of Shibari. As a niche pertains to a specific place for a specific purpose and a media niche is further defined as a distinct place for content, Shibari seems to tie in well with these parameters, excuse the pun.

I won’t divulge how I stumbled upon Shibari but it triangulated things that I already held great affinity for such as yoga, art and kink. If it sounds like I’m speaking a foreign language, you’re correct. During the mid 1400’s Japanese warriors popularised quick capture techniques, where rope was used to restrain enemies on the battlefield. This method is derived from the martial arts practice of Hojojutsu and in the West we have adopted the term Shibari to describe artistically and aesthetically driven ‘ties’. I am interested in this niche as it is a new form of creative expression for myself from both a learning and observational perspective. I follow a variety of Shibari content creators across social media platforms have noticed a motif of self empowerment across the board.

My interest in looking like a human macrame pot plant rapidly blossomed through exposure to online communities where I could evolve and up level my skills through photos and tutorials, be it a lot of them exist behind paywalls. ‘Online Ethnography does not only study a medium & its users, but also social and cultural phenomena which are not less real than those observable offline’ (Airoldi 2018, pg 662). Shibari feels like secret handshake to a hidden door, as it doesn’t appear to be mainstream yet, but that’s only in my limited observations.

I will be exploring Shibari dualistically through my own content creation and researching it ethnographically as a means to map where this art form is being explored and proliferated online and who it’s audience is. This is the juncture where I seperate my research definitively as being solely on Shibari, as previously stated an aesthetically driven practice, from ‘Kinkabu’ which drives a more sexually driven lens of rope bondage.

I’ve always been the ‘bunny‘ in Shibari but I want to explore being a rigger and I will use this shift in paradigms to observe this not so secret world. I did of course ask our robot assistant about ‘Shibari as media niche’ and it reminded me of the following elements which are important to consider.