That's interesting about the data coming from studies of offenders, and the predisposing factors in paraphilia (abnormal sexual practices).

I think a lot of wrong conclusions have come out of studies that have focused only on offenders, because there is more incentive to study offenders, and they are more accessible.

Without studies also carried out in the general population, it is easy to draw false conclusions.

For instance, how can something be regarded as an abnormal sexual practice, if we don't know how prevalent this practice is in the general population?

With today's freedom of access to discussions like this, maybe we can begin to understand the wider picture.

That aside, I would be far happier to agree that an interest in bdsm relates to the ability to form relationships, than to a history of abuse.

Whether bdsm is an example of paraphilia is another very good question! I believe fantasies involving some element that we include in the scope of bdsm are extremely common in the general population.