Nazi themes in BDSM

(also posted in my personal Livejournal)

Apparently Max Mosley, the head of Europe's Formula 1 organization, is in the middle of a scandal involving a leaked sex tape that shows him taking part in a "Nazi"-themed BDSM scene with five (I think it was five) sex workers. While he's suing the tabloid that leaked the video, everyone else is calling for his resignation.

I'm not sure what to make of this. I saw excerpts from the video - not the whole thing - and, really, it seemed like a pretty normal BDSM scene to me. The "dungeon" was just an apartment. There was nothing overtly "Nazi"-esque about it. The uniforms the "guards" wore were black pleather with white shirts - no insignia of any sort, much less a swastika. And the "prisoners" wore the generic black-and-white-striped outfit, which you see everywhere.

On the other hand, when it was Mosley's turn to be one of the "guards" (he's a switch, I guess), he did speak in German (allegedly; didn't hear it on the excerpts I saw). And when he was the "prisoner," he was subjected to a search for lice, which is widely known that the concentration camps did.

Even if he was intentionally incorporating Nazi themes, though, I suppose I have to ask why that is a bad thing. I mean, Nazi military "style," I suppose you could call it, is incredibly pervasive in the BDSM scene in general, though not necessarily explicitly so (like those cool hats that some dominatrices wear!). That, and I suppose it's akin to the rape fantasies that are often enacted - and enjoyed - by people in the scene. They'd all agree that real rape is abhorrent and violent and utterly disgusting, but that doesn't mean they can't play make-believe. Same with people who use Nazi themes in their scenes.

Then again, apparently Mosley's dad was a huge fan of Hitler, and Mosley himself met his wife at a fascist rally. So it's possible that Mosley really does think the Nazis were cool guys. But then again, if people already knew that he had such racist etc. views, why did nobody call for his resignation until this tape came out? :/