Science on BDSM

[tessa]

Recently, BDSM has entered the plotline in episodes of several popular primetime television series, made-for-TV movies, and motion pictures.

About damn time.

This increased focus on BDSM by the entertainment industry may have been sparked by the national news coverage surrounding the trial of the BTK serial killer in 2005, primed by the prior arrest and conviction of John Edward Robinson, the first known cyber serial murderer who attracted his victims through a shared interest in BDSM (Gross, 2005).

That serial killers are linked and connected to "shared interest in BDSM" in this way says we still have a looooooooong way to go.

The near absence of empirical research on BDSM makes it impossible to know the exact factor(s) underlying the thematic trend.

I will gladly volunteer for the first case studies.

A key difficulty in researching BDSM is the lack of formalized, uniform definition of terms, agreed-upon by scholars and practitioners of this alternative form of sexual expression.

Exactly. We as a community can't agree on it all, so why should they do any better at it?

Over 40 mammalian species have been identified that bite while mating; among humans, approximately 25% of both men and women report having been sexually aroused by a partner's bite.

Hey, I resemble that remark.

As suggested by the Kama Sutra and as raised by Ellis in 1927, "pain" may not be an appropriate term or applied concept in the context of sadomasochism, in which (regardless of the underlying reason) pain is experienced as pleasure resulting in sexual gratification. This paradox led to a paradigmatic shift away from a singular focus on pain, as pain itself is not perceived as erotic for every practitioner of BDSM and may be included in only one of many BDSM rituals practiced by those who do. As BDSM includes the desire or need for submission, domination, and humiliation for sexual gratification (often without requiring pain), the definition of BDSM shifted to a focus on the construct of an erotic power exchange.

Somebody, at least, got a clue.

Results from a research project by Dr. Pamela Connolly among a group with bondage and sadomasochistic interests (BDSM) showed that “no evidence was found to support the notion that major disorders -- including depression, anxiety, mania/bipolarity, and obsessive-compulsivity -- are more prevalent among members of the BDSM community than among members of the general population”.

“Indeed, if anything, our findings suggested that members of the BDSM community are less likely than others to present with major disorders.”

Moreover, BDSM players had no greater levels of psychological sadism or masochism, disorders in which the sufferer either derives pleasure out of genuine cruelty (not the play-acting kind) or compulsively seeks out harmful levels of pain.

Loved every word of that!

Men into BDSM scored significantly better on a scale of psychological wellbeing than other men. (I really want to hear what Doms here have to say about this theory. And I wonder, does this apply to male subs too?)

If it does, it won't apply in the same ways. A dominant male brain is wired differently than a submissive male brain. There have been fascinating case studies done on that concept.

I do feel like the odd one out because the impression one gets is that almost all submissives have been abused.

I think it's just that abusive situations are highlighted as the what-not-to-do (rightly so), and those circumstances garner more attention when they're shared.

(Now this surprised me, because I always thought that there were more women into bdsm than men.)

Maybe because women verbalize (as well as type) more abundantly than men about such things? Just a guess. Although, I bet there's a study on it somewhere. And if not, again, I'll gladly volunteer.

Interesting stuff. Thanks.