BDSM
Fifty shades of Belgian gray: The prevalence of BDSM-related fantasies and activities in the general population.
Holvoet, Lien, et al.
Journal of Sexual Medicine, Vol 14(9), Sep, 2017. pp. 1152-1159.
Abstract:
Background: Bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism (BDSM) is gaining popularity through the mainstream media. Nevertheless, very little is known about the prevalence of BDSM-related fantasies and activities in the general population. Aim: To determine the prevalence of BDSM fantasies and behavioral involvement in four different age groups of the general population in Belgium. Methods: By use of a cross-sectional survey questionnaire, the level of interest in several BDSM-related activities was investigated in a sample representative of the general Belgian population (N = 1,027). The questionnaire evaluated interest in 54 BDSM activities and 14 fetishes. Self-identification as BDSM practitioner, situational context of BDSM practice, age at awareness of these interests, and transparency to others were queried. Outcomes: Individual item scores and summary scores on four BDSM categories were included in the analyses. Results: A high interest in BDSM-related activities in the general population was found because 46.8% of the total sample had ever performed at least one BDSM-related activity and an additional 22% indicated having (had) fantasies about it. Interestingly, 12.5% of the total population indicated performing at least one BDSM-related activity on a regular basis. When asked whether they saw themselves as being interested in BDSM, 26% stated this to be the case and 7.6% self-identified as BDSM practitioners. Interests in dominant and submissive activities were comparable and, remarkably, were highly intercorrelated. BDSM and fetish interests were significantly higher in men than in women. The older group (48–65 years) had significantly lower BDSM scores compared with their younger peers. Of participants with a BDSM interest, 61.4% became aware of it before 25 years of age. Clinical Implications: There is a high level of interest in BDSM in the general population, which strongly argues against stigmatization and pathologic characterization of these interests. Strengths and Limitations: This is the first thorough study concerning prevalence of interest in and fantasies about a wide range of BDSM-related activities in the general population worldwide. Although our findings tend to argue against it, we cannot completely rule out participation bias introduced by non-interest in the non-completers. In addition, some topics might have been subject to interpretation by the respondents. Conclusion: Interest in BDSM is present in most of the general population. Further research is needed to destigmatize it by confirming BDSM as a leisurely preference rather than a psychiatric affliction.
An examination of personality characteristics associated with BDSM orientations.
Hébert, Ali., and Weaver, Angela.
Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, Vol 23(2), Aug, 2014. pp. 106-115.
Abstract:
Previous research on BDSM (bondage-discipline, domination-submission, sadomasochism) tends to treat practitioners as a homogenous group and lumps dominants (desire to take control) and submissives (desire to be controlled) together. Research suggests that personality traits, such as extraversion, relate to a variety of sexual attitudes and behaviours. To date, the research on personality and BDSM is scant and often does not distinguishBDSM preferences. The current study compared BDSM practitioners with self-identified preferences for dominance to those preferring submission on their self-reported levels of desire for control, empathy, honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience, altruism, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. BDSM practitioners (n = 270; 80 dominants and 190 submissives) completed an online questionnaire package. Dominants scored significantly higher than submissives on desire for control, extraversion, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. Submissives scored significantly higher than dominants on emotionality. Dominants and submissives did not differ on empathy, honesty-humility, conscientiousness, openness to experience, altruism, or agreeableness. These findings demonstrate that there are unique features that characterize BDSM practitioners who prefer the dominant and submissive orientations.
Forbidden games: The construction of sexuality and sexual pleasure by BDSM ‘players’.
Faccio, Elena, et al.
Culture, Health & Sexuality, Vol 16(7), Aug, 2014. pp. 752-764.
Abstract:
This study aims to explore personal meanings related to the constructs ‘sexuality’ and ‘sexual pleasure’ in people who choose to write in forums and blogs about their own experience with Bondage and Discipline, dominance and submission, and Sadism and Masochism (BDSM). We carried out semi-structured online interviews with 343 people, of whom 50 (24 women and 26 men) claimed to practice or to have practiced BDSM, in order to investigate participants’ definitions of their sexual experiences and the construction of sexuality and sexual pleasure from their personal point of view and from the perspective of the opposite sex. Data were analyzed according to Grounded Theory methodology. Questions concerning the ‘normality’ or the ‘deviance’ of participants’ sexual practices were reflected in the answers of the majority of BDSM practitioners. Sexuality was construed as a ‘game’ with specific rules, and ‘pleasure’ was associated with extremely intense experiences. The relationship between the partners was considered fundamental, as it gave meaning to the sexual practice. Both dominant and dominated roles were found to be tightly linked to the possession and management of power between partners, which either confirms or reverses the social construction of traditional male and female roles.
Consensual non-consent: Comparing EL James’s Fifty Shades of Grey and Pauline Réage’s Story of O.
Tsaros, Angelika.
Sexualities, Vol 16(8), Dec, 2013. pp. 864-879.
Abstract:
This article explores questions of sexual agency and consent in mainstream representations of BDSM using Pauline Reáge’s Story of O and EL James’s Fifty Shades trilogy as examples. It addresses normalizing tendencies and explores to what extent BDSM can be represented before being rejected by mainstream readers. Based on critiques of both novels, I outline the degree to which the concept of consensual non-consent, that is, the illusion of suspended consent in order to facilitate erotic power play, works in both novels. A close reading reveals a return to more traditional notions of femininity and female sexual agency in Fifty Shades, as well as a growing tendency to normatively limit the depictions of sadomasochistic desires.
Consent is a grey area? A comparison of understandings of consent in Fifty Shades of Grey and on the BDSMblogosphere.
Barker, Meg.
Sexualities, Vol 16(8), Dec, 2013. pp. 896-914.
Abstract:
Whilst the Fifty Shades trilogy has increased public awareness of BDSM (bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadomasochism), the understandings of consent depicted in the novels remain reflective of those prevalent in wider heteronormative culture. Responsibility for consenting is located within the individual (woman) and consent relates to sex rather than to the relationship as a whole. This contrasts with understandings of consent currently emerging on the BDSM blogosphere where the locus of responsibility is shifting from individuals to communities, and the concept is opening up to encompass awareness of intersecting social power dynamics and interactions beyond the sexual arena.
“Unorthodox Rules”: The Instructive Potential of BDSM Consent for Law
Theodore Bennett
2018/3. Journal of Positive Sexuality, vol 4, issue 1, p.40-11
Description
In the case of Doe v George Mason University (2016) a Virginia District Court recently held that BDSM activities were not protected by the right to sexual liberty provided by the Constitution’s due process clause. This was because BDSM activities were said to involve “inherent risks to personal safety not present in more traditional types of sexual activity”, and therefore states can restrict such activities because they have an “interest in the protection of vulnerable persons”(Doe v George Mason University, 2016, p. 45). This case’s emphasis on the potential “dangerousness” of BDSM embodies sex-negative reasoning in that it frames BDSM “sexuality and sexual practices primarily as risky” and “difficult to manage”(Williams et al, 2015, p. 6). This type of reasoning is not unique to this case but instead reflects the sex-negativity of the broader legal approach to BDSM (Kaplan, 2014). Law has historically treated BDSM as a type of dangerous “violence” rather than sex (Hanna, 2000-2001) and has criminalized injurious BDSM activities despite the consent of participants (Ridinger, 2006; Kaplan, 2014; Haley, 2015). That consent typically makes other “violent” injurious activities lawful, such as body modification and contact sports (Weinberg, 2016), reveals that BDSM is nevertheless treated differently due to a negative evaluation of its perceived sexual “immorality” (Egan, 2007) and “deviance”(Kaplan, 2014, pp. 137-138). This paper seeks to break with the current legal approach and follows Kaplan’s (2014) lead by instead adopting a sex-positive legal approach to BDSM. One aspect of a sexpositive approach to BDSM is the recognition of the “unique …
The Role of Consent in the Context of BDSM
Cara R. Dunkley and Lori A. Brotto
Sexual abuse : a journal of research and treatment. April 2019.
Abstract
Consent represents a central focus in the controversial realm of BDSM—an overlapping acronym referring to the practices of Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, and Sadism and Masochism. Many authors have argued that the hallmark feature that distinguishes BDSM activity from abuse and psychopathology is the presence of mutual informed consent of all those involved. This review examines the relevant literature on consent in BDSM, including discussions on safety precautions, consent violations, North American laws pertaining to BDSM practice, and the role of the BDSM community with respect to education and etiquette surrounding consent. Practical information relevant to professionals who work toward the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse is provided. The explicit approach to consent practiced by those in the BDSM community is proposed as a model for discussions around consent in clinical and educational contexts. Criteria for distinguishing abuse from BDSM and identifying abuse within BDSM relationships are outlined. It is our hope to demystify the consent process and add to the growing body of literature that destigmatizes consensual BDSM practices.
Consensual Sadomasochistic Sex (BDSM): The Roots, the Risks, and the Distinctions Between BDSM and Violence
Eva Jozifkova
Curr Psychiatry Rep (2013) 15:392
Abstract
When practiced consensually, sadomasochistic sex is being increasingly accepted as an alternative sexuality. Here I suggest the possible evolutionary roots of the preferences, draw distinctions between violent, abusive and “healthy” practitioners’ partnership, provide clear behavioural markers of the respective situations, and underline some specific problems connected to this sexual preference. Some of the problems are well-known in the community of its practitioners, although they have not yet been described in medical nor scientific sources.