Masters & Johnson estimated that 10% of the American population practice some sort of BDSM play. Dr. Alfred Kinsey estimated that as many as 50 percent of all adults experiment with some type of rough or painful stimulation during sex.

Based on research by for example the Kinsey Institute, Cosmopolitan, Time Magazine and several European universities and other sources it is estimated that between 15 and 30 percent of the adult Western population nurtures some form of BDSM emotions.

And most contemporary sexologists agree that about 10 to 15 of the adult population regularly engages in kinky sex.