Does an interest in BDSM indicate a pattern of abuse in earlier life?

Not necessarily. I don't think a lifelong inclination towards bdsm can be explained by a few well deserved beatings as a small child, especially as others similarly treated showed no such interest. But it may be so in some cases.

Is it because we were taught to admire saints and martyrs who suffered terrible tortures, and as small children we were constantly exposed to graphic illustrations of martyrs in churches and religious books? At an impressionable age I was encouraged to believe that sacrifice is good, and we should admire tortured people, but sex is dirty.

With the awakenings of sexuality, after years of single sex education in total isolation from the opposite sex, as an adolescent I found bdsm exciting, and read lots of books that depicted violence and torture, increasingly in a sexual context, but without the opportunity to share my sexual thoughts and feelings, which the culture I grew up in regarded as unclean.

As an adult I have learned from many kinds of experience, and that of others of both sexes, to understand the elements of sexuality and where they come from. I am able to have a sexual relationship that does not involve bdsm, and I would prefer that to coercing a partner into doing things that she doesn't enjoy.

I believe in individual freedom, including the freedom of women to exercise choice in how and when they participate in sexual play. On the way I have acquired knowledge and skills that enable me to participate fully in a bdsm relationship that also respects the woman and her thoughts and feelings.

The wonder of fantasy, though, is the limitless way it opens up new and unexplored avenues in the mind, enhancing both pleasure and mutual understanding.