Is BDSM a religion?

[denuseri]

I'm a person who thinks a lot. And since I've noticed that inside a BDSM community there is a lot of similar patterns, habits, general conduct, rules and sort of an own language too - could it resemble a religion sort of? Mistresses/masters who are in fact worshipped as goddesses/gods. And I find it strange to hear that many are feeling such powerful emotions and devotion almost like under a spell or trance of some kind.

Do you ever think about who is it that you are actually worshipping? What if it's not really a human at all? And if it's not God, then who is it?

Alltough this thread would be better placed in the religion and philosophy section of the forums I will respond here.

It is easy to see how an outsider to the community might mis-construe some of the more formalized practices and lingua argot to be of a theological nature; however, if anything it is more of a philosophy for those of us that adhere to the more ritualistic and or symbolic elements of BDS&M.

The practice of bdsm is no more in conflict with our respected faiths than the sexual practices of the vanillia world are to thiers.

If anything it is less in conflict with many of the D/s aspects of patriarical based faiths as well as many eastrn theologies.

It is also easy for the mis-informed to make snap judgements based on incorrect assumptions.

If the feelings of devotion and love that a submissive and a Dominant feel for one another appear to be so overwhelming or in essence appear to be acts of mutual worship to casual outside observation, it is only becuase they are in so many ways more genuine than those of vanillia couples who still reside isolated within the confines of self made prisons filled with doubt and mutual loathing.

And in that regard I pity them.