Curators and galleries have succumbed to the CNN-ization of the world: They are just chasing the heat, and racing to the bottom. Now chasing the clicks. If it bleeds, it leads. I don't think they are all genuinely 100% corrupt, more lazy and greedy than anything, but it is a system which is highly succeptable to it.
Want to legitmize your kink? Attend a charity auction and throw around $10,000 and see what happens. Not any kink at auction? That's okay. Sponsor the artist by pledging to buy a work. Gallery takes commission. Artist gets a market benchmark and a sale. Gets into Artnet. Gets legit. Introduce your patron friends to artist. Have them buy a work. Have them donate it. Write it off. …And on and on it goes. Works not just with kink, but political and identity fads as well.