I think Amber gets it right here. Skewed perceptions of the lifestyle may cause many to shun it. Before I really understood the scene as well as I do now, I had images that it was mainly a gay thing. Also many focus on the obvious overtures of sex, pain and bindage rather than the subtler undertones of control, eroticism and sensuality. The first three are scary and wierd while at least two of the final three are more acceptable but less well known.