We are 2 and possibly 1...things go on and off, but if you don't count the breaks it's a relationship of...dang, many years (even with the breaks). I wouldn't necessarily say that people into BDSM have happier marriages, but I am convinced that having a healthy BDSM relationship helps having a healthy relationship, where the needs of the respective partner are really taken into consideration. What also strikes me, is that at least in my limited experience, BDSM relationships seem to work better communication-wise than vanilla relationships do.

We were both still very young when we met, so there was no BDSM dynamic (or even a word for it) at the beginning of course. What definitely changed when we started exploring (oh, the memories) was that the power struggles we used to have just went *poof*. So many of the little things that nagged away on our relationship to each other simply vanished. It was no longer a topic. I knew that I didn't have to prove my value by being bitchy. He knew that he didn't have to push me around to get what he wanted. I seriously think that the whole D/s dynamic bought us some time, and changed the dynamics in our relationship to the better. And that's not talking about the deep, emotional bond you can create...

Now, I'm not trying to say that this is something you cannot achieve in a vanilla relationship. But I think that it might be something easier to achieve in a BDSM-related one.