UCLA Professor Dies During BDSM “Mummification” Game

The death of UCLA Professor Doran George, 48, has shaken the university after he was found dead during a bondage session at the home of a Hollywood executive Skip Chasey.  Chasey is known as Master Skip in the BDSM (Bondage, Discipline, Dominance and Submission) community.  George, who insisted on being called by the pronoun “their” rather than “he” or “she”, was found wrapped “head to toe in plastic wrap and gaffer’s tape, with small breathing holes at the nose and mouth.”  George died in something called the “mummification” sex play.

George, who was born Duncan Gilbert, taught in the UCLA disability studies and LGBT studies programs.  George received a PhD in Culture and Performance, UCLA Department of World Arts and Culture, a MA in Feminist Performance, University of Bristol, United Kingdom, and a BA in Experimental Dance, Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Arnhem, Holland.

George was found in a room made out as a dungeon with  padded floor tiles, a metal cage and a padded examination table for BDSM play.  A “Kinky site” defines mummification as:

“an advanced form of bondage in which a person is partially or fully cocooned in materials such as plastic wrap, a body bag, plaster, bondage tape, duct tape, bandages, pallet wrap, vet wrap or other medical wraps. This process leaves the body completely restricted and immobilized.”

Thus far, there is no finding of the cause of death and Chasey is not yet charged.  The case could raise difficult questions about consensual harm.  It seems likely that this was a consensual sexual encounter and one assumes risks when engaging in something called mummification. However, there is also the question of negligence and the failure to monitor such BDSM play.

There is also an interesting media element to the story.  George appears to have preferred that people use “their” rather than “him” or “her.”Alicia Gaspar de Alba, a UCLA professor,  informed colleagues

“Those of you who had the honor of taking this course or being in one of Doran’s discussion sections know that their heart was as big as their laugh, and that their dedication to social justice was informed by their own queer immigrant experience.”

Publications like the Hollywood Reporter used “he” while others seemed to try to use George without pronouns.

This gray area (indeed 50 Shades of Gray) between criminality and consent is evident in the case involving NXIVM founder Keith Raniere and Smallville actress Allison Mack  who have been accused of running a sex slave cult.   A criminal complaint alleged some women members were ordered to have sex with Raniere, or risk having their nudes released to the public.  That obviously negates consent but there remains a murky line in such cases.