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The Structure of Kink Identity: Four Key Themes Within a World of Complexity
Abstract
What is the structure of kink identity? Using a thematic analysis design, our study explored this question through 70 in-person interviews with adults 18 years and older living in Northern California who identified as kinky. Four key themes of kink identity emerged from our analysis: sex, power, headspace, and community. Although there were great variety and diversity in how these four themes were characterized -- both as separate and overlapping themes, we were able to conceptually group these themes into seven discrete subthemes based on how our 70 participants narrativized their kink experiences during interviews: (1) intertwining of kink and sex; (2) intense physical sensations (SM); (3) sensual experiences (fetish); (4) eroticizing power differentials; (5) fluidity vs stability of power role in kink activities and relationships; (6) community connections; and (7) headspace or altered states of consciousness. That our thematic analysis developed into these seven subthemes suggests that kink identity is a multidimensional structure of complex and diverse aspects.
... Kink and fetish identities are explored and expressed on platforms such as FetLife or in Reddit forums (for a list of kink and fetish related subreddits see r/NSFW411/wiki/index) [42]. Such public conversations are destigmatizing and de-pathologizing, as BDSM activities are often identified with violence, perversion, and sexism [43,44]. ...
In the digital age, people increasingly explore and express their sexual identities online. The management and development of digital sexual identities can provide opportunities of empowerment on the individual, interpersonal, and societal level. At the same time, social media users are confronted with risks of sexual disempowerment in terms of identity de-validation, social exclusion, discrimination or even criminalization. The review article summarizes the current state of research on six selected sexual identities: (1) heterosexual, (2) LGBTIQ+, (3) asexual, (4) kink and fetish, (5) polyamory, and (6) sex worker identities in digital contexts. Covering a variety of social media platforms and cultural backgrounds, the review demonstrates that digital sexual identities are best understood as multifaceted socio-technical phenomena with ambivalent outcomes.
The primary aims of this paper were to (1) quantify frequencies of BDSM self-labels, (2) describe patterns in subtypes of BDSM involvement (i.e. fantasy, behavior, and identity), (3) compare BDSM-related involvement among two samples: members of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF) and a non-NCSF sample of adults interested in or practicing BDSM, and (4) understand whether BDSM identity specialty interest group membership is associated with enhanced health (i.e. coping and mental health). Data were drawn from archival survey data on sexuality and health. Participants (N=1036) identifying as BDSM practitioners completed BDSM identity and behavior measures. A range of BDSM identities were endorsed with the most common being “dominant” and “submissive”. NCSF members adopted BDSM identity labels more frequently compared to general adult BDSM practitioners. Dominant and submissive fantasy and behavior varied by gender, sexual orientation, and relationship status. For example, cisgender men reported elevated patterns of dominant and lowered submissive BDSM involvement. Regarding the sample, compared to non-NCSF members, NCSF members were significantly more likely to endorse higher dominant and submissive fantasies and behaviors, and reported better mental health and emotion regulation. Finally, submissive fantasy involvement displayed statistically significant, but weak, positive associations with psychological health. Findings are discussed concerning future public health practice, theory development, and research.
Powerplay, or the consensual power exchange between “Dominant” and “submissive” (D/s) role partners, is common practice within BDSM culture. To many BDSM practitioners, their D/s role is an integral part of their sexual identity, informing not only their sexual scripts but also their non-sexual social interactions. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) text analysis software was used to process 261 participants’ responses to prompts asking them to write erotic and relationship-themed narratives. Using a data-driven approach to model selection, we regressed participants’ engagement in BDSM and D/s powerplay role identification on standardized language frequencies. Stories from more active BDSM practitioners’ narratives used more perceptual words, suggesting potentially mindful, intimate, and detailed storytelling, whereas non-practitioners used more tentativeness and death in their writings. Moreover, language reflected D/s role attributes, with Dominants exhibiting ownership, responsibility, and other-focus, and submissives referencing power dynamics and self-focus in their responses. Findings are consistent with existing literature on BDSM power relationships and relate to psychosexual well-being.
Purpose of Review
This review summarizes recent empirical and theoretical scholarship pertaining to two primary ways that BDSM is conceptualized, specifically as a unique sexual orientation or as a form of leisure experience. This review helps clinicians understand how BDSM is currently positioned by scholars and by some within the BDSM community.
Recent Findings
Recent studies have found strong support for both the sexual orientation and leisure perspectives, distinctly. The sexual orientation approach currently focuses on a somewhat narrow segment of highly invested BDSM participants, while the leisure approach accounts for a broad range of diverse participation and experience.
Summary
BDSM can be understood as both an orientation and as leisure for many but not all participants. Both perspectives share the same underlying multidisciplinary substrate. Although the emphases of the orientation and leisure approaches are different to some degree, the sexual orientation perspective (OP) and the serious leisure perspective (SLP) seem to account equally well for sexual identity centered on BDSM. Understanding both perspectives provides a more complete understanding of the variation and complexity of BDSM.
With heightened cultural visibility and greater opportunities for connection, individuals with kinky sexual desires (e.g., BDSM, sexual fetishism, sexual role-playing) are increasingly constructing sexual identities that foreground their kink-oriented desires. However, we know little about how kinky individuals negotiate stigma as they construct sexual identities and engage in intimate practices which provide meaning and coherence to their sense of self. This study examined identity sentiment among an international sample of 265 kink-identified individuals. Participants were asked whether they feel negative, positive, or mixed about their kink identities. An exploratory latent class analysis of narrative data revealed four distinct types of stories: unelaborated affirmation, elaborated affirmation, compartmentalization, and isolation. Stories revealed that stigma, concealment, isolation, and self-pathologization represented sources of stress and negative self-evaluation. Involvement in a kink community and viewing one’s kink identity as a journey of growth and exploration were described as helping participants develop resiliency against societal stigma and mental health challenges. Implications of these findings for social psychological theories related to stigma, narrative, and minority stress are discussed.
Sexual arousal by dominance and submissiveness was long considered as pathology. Surprisingly, approximately half of respondents (n = 673) were excited by their partner’s submission or their own submission. A strong preference was found in 8.2% of respondents. 6.1% of respondents were not even excited by equality, but only by disparity. The respondents differed in the type of disparity that they prefer, and how strongly they preferred this disparity. We suggest that sexual arousal by dominance and submissiveness is related to a common mating strategy.
Background:
Bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism (BDSM) is gaining popularity through the mainstream media. Nevertheless, very little is known about the prevalence of BDSM-related fantasies and activities in the general population.
Aim:
To determine the prevalence of BDSM fantasies and behavioral involvement in four different age groups of the general population in Belgium.
Methods:
By use of a cross-sectional survey questionnaire, the level of interest in several BDSM-related activities was investigated in a sample representative of the general Belgian population (N = 1,027). The questionnaire evaluated interest in 54 BDSM activities and 14 fetishes. Self-identification as BDSM practitioner, situational context of BDSM practice, age at awareness of these interests, and transparency to others were queried.
Outcomes:
Individual item scores and summary scores on four BDSM categories were included in the analyses.
Results:
A high interest in BDSM-related activities in the general population was found because 46.8% of the total sample had ever performed at least one BDSM-related activity and an additional 22% indicated having (had) fantasies about it. Interestingly, 12.5% of the total population indicated performing at least one BDSM-related activity on a regular basis. When asked whether they saw themselves as being interested in BDSM, 26% stated this to be the case and 7.6% self-identified as BDSM practitioners. Interests in dominant and submissive activities were comparable and, remarkably, were highly intercorrelated. BDSM and fetish interests were significantly higher in men than in women. The older group (48-65 years) had significantly lower BDSM scores compared with their younger peers. Of participants with a BDSM interest, 61.4% became aware of it before 25 years of age.
Clinical implications:
There is a high level of interest in BDSM in the general population, which strongly argues against stigmatization and pathologic characterization of these interests.
Strengths and limitations:
This is the first thorough study concerning prevalence of interest in and fantasies about a wide range of BDSM-related activities in the general population worldwide. Although our findings tend to argue against it, we cannot completely rule out participation bias introduced by non-interest in the non-completers. In addition, some topics might have been subject to interpretation by the respondents.
Conclusion:
Interest in BDSM is present in most of the general population. Further research is needed to destigmatize it by confirming BDSM as a leisurely preference rather than a psychiatric affliction. Holvoet L, Huys W, Coppens V, et al. Fifty Shades of Belgian Gray: The Prevalence of BDSM-Related Fantasies and Activities in the General Population. J Sex Med 2017;XX:XXX-XXX.
Purpose of review
This review is to characterize the theoretical and empirical literature about alternative sexual behaviors, predominantly known under the umbrella of bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism (BDSM, also known as “kink”). The overview is to aid the clinician in understanding how particular studies might fit into the larger context of the scholarly and empirical literature in order to judge the generalizability of conclusions. The specific concern of whether there are health disparities for this stigmatized sexuality is considered and explored.
Recent findings
The literature contains a wide range of positions and perspectives, ranging from always pathologizing BDSM behavior to proposing therapeutic functions of BDSM behavior. There are significant differences across professions in treatment of BDSM, and the medical literature is noted for being disorganized and piecemeal and starting to change over the past 5 years in ways that addresses the earlier problematic approaches that may have hindered clinical practice.
Summary
Empirical evidence suggests significant stigma impacting the health of BDSM-identified patients and impacting the healthcare service provided to kinky sex practitioners. The empirical and scholarly literature about BDSM or kink demonstrates a trend that addresses the stigma of alternative sexualities, but more work is needed.
Abstract
Paraphilic sexual interests are defined as unusual or anomalous, but their actual occurrence in non-clinical samples is still unknown. This study looks at desire for and experience of paraphilic behaviors in a sample of adult men and women in the general population. A secondary goal is to compare the results of two survey modes – traditional land-line telephone versus online. A total of 1,040 persons classified according to age, gender, education, ethnic background, religious beliefs, and area of residency and corresponding to the norm for the province of Québec were interviewed. Nearly half of this sample expressed interest in at least one paraphilic category and approximately a third had had experience with such a practice at least once. Voyeurism, fetishism, frotteurism, and masochism interested both male and female respondents at levels above what is usually considered to be statistically unusual (15.9%). Interestingly, levels of interest in fetishism and masochism were not significantly different for men and women. Masochism was significantly linked with higher satisfaction with one's own sexual life. As expected, the online mode generated more acknowledgment of paraphilic interest than the telephone mode. These results call into question the current definition of normal (normophilic) vs. anomalous (paraphilic) sexual behaviors.
IntroductionAlthough several theories and treatment plans use unusual sexual fantasies (SF) as a way to identify deviancy, they seldom describe how the fantasies referred to were determined to be unusual.AimThe main goal of this study was to determine which SF are rare, unusual, common, or typical from a statistical point of view among a relatively large sample of adults recruited from the general population. A secondary goal was to provide a statistical comparison of the nature and intensity of sexual fantasies for men and women. This study also aims at demonstrating with both quantitative and qualitative analyses that certain fantasies often considered to be unusual are common.Methods
An Internet survey was conducted with 1,516 adults (799 ♀; 717 ♂) who ranked 55 different SF and wrote their own favorite SF. Each SF was rated as statistically rare (2.3% or less), unusual (15.9% or less), common (more than 50%), or typical (more than 84.1% of the sample).Main Outcome MeasuresAn extended version of the Wilson's Sex Fantasy Questionnaire with an open question.ResultsOnly two sexual fantasies were found to be rare for women or men, while nine others were unusual. Thirty sexual fantasies were common for one or both genders, and only five were typical. These results were confirmed with qualitative analyses. Submission and domination themes were not only common for both men and women, but they were also significantly related to each other. Moreover, the presence of a single submissive fantasy was a significant predictor of overall scores for all SF in both genders.Conclusion
Care should be taken before labeling an SF as unusual, let alone deviant. It suggested that the focus should be on the effect of a sexual fantasy rather than its content. Joyal CC, Cossette A, and Lapierre V. What exactly is an unusual sexual fantasy? J Sex Med **;**:**–**.
Commentary Human Development 2015;58:350–364 DOI: 10.1159/000446054 Putting the Social into Personal Identity: The Master Narrative as Root Metaphor for Psychological and Developmental Science Commentary on McLean and Syed Phillip L. Hammack Erin E. Toolis University of California, Santa Cruz, Calif. , USA Key Words Culture · Identity · Interpretive · Master narrative “In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity.” [Erikson, 1968, p. 130] “The ‘methodology of causation’ can neither capture the social and personal richness of lives in a culture nor begin to plumb their his- torical depth. It is only through the application of interpretation that we, as psychologists, can do justice to the world of culture.” [Bruner, 1990, p. 137] On a hot summer night in Tel Aviv in 2005, a 17-year-old Jewish Israeli named Ayelet 1 shared her views on a particularly divisive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian con- flict as part of a life-story interview: As much as I want to understand them [the Palestinians], I can’t give up my country. I can’t give up Jerusalem. As much as I don’t live there and I don’t really go to the Wall and every- thing and don’t pray and I’m not that religious. But still it’s important for me , for my people . Just one year prior, during our initial life-story interview, Ayelet had passionately ar- gued for the division of Jerusalem in the interest of peace [see Hammack, 2011a]. Now, one year later, and interestingly one year after she has engaged with Palestinians in intergroup dialogue, Ayelet presents a personal narrative subordinate to a collec- tive, master narrative in which the discursive demands of social identity reign su- preme. No longer do Ayelet’s personal views on Jerusalem matter, for what matters to Ayelet is that her personal narrative aligns with a master narrative of a particular Pseudonym. E-Mail karger@karger.com www.karger.com/hde © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel 0018–716X/16/0586–0350$39.50/0 Phillip L. Hammack Department of Psychology University of California, Santa Cruz 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 96064 (USA) E-Mail hammack @ ucsc.edu Downloaded by: Univ. of California Santa Cruz 128.114.34.22 - 7/11/2016 10:05:44 PM
Reviews the film, Fifty Shades of Grey directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (2015). Fifty Shades of Gray is based on the first book in a trilogy of romance novels written by E. L. James. The movie depicts the unfolding of a relationship between a wealthy, young businessman (Christian Gray, CEO of Gray Industries) and a young college woman (Anastasia Steele, a graduating journalism major). What makes this romance notable is the inclusion of explicit elements of kink, or BDSM (an acronym which stands for bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism ; Moser & Kleinplatz, 2006). There are two reasons why a review of this movie makes sense in the context of this journal. The first is recognition of the cultural history of intersectionality between sexual orientations/identities, and alternative sexuality practices/identities, including BDSM. The second is the impact on therapeutic contexts, as people come out more and more around kink to their therapists or attempt to try kink for the first time, encouraged or inspired by the books and movie. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved)
Drawing on West and Zimmerman's classic theory of “doing gender,” which argues that gender is something we do rather than something we have or are, as well as recent feminist conversations about whether it is possible to ‘undo’ gender, this study analyzes the role of gender in BDSM 1 1. BDSM is an umbrella term that stands for bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, slave/master, and sadomasochism. View all notes bisexuality. This research analyzes 32 semistructured, in-depth interviews; correspondence and diaries held by the Leather Archives and Museum; and 344 public discussion board threads selected for themes related to gender on a large BDSM community website. The data show that BDSM bisexuality is created in part through a distinction participants create between ‘sex’ and ‘sexual.’ Three main types of BDSM bisexuality are identified: gender-based switching, gender-based styles, and rejection of gender. The author argues that the complex ways participants support and resist gender normativity in these three types of BDSM bisexuality can advance our understanding of the processes involved in doing and undoing gender.
In this essay I explore the personal-political pleasures and limits of transgressing and transforming cultural/social/political categories of hierarchy through embodied, sexualized practices. To do so I analyze how dyke/trans BDSM practitioners privilege the practice of transgressing and transforming gender boundaries by neglecting or marginalizing the conscious engagement with racial transgressions and transformations.1 In the essay I draw on my empirical study on dyke/trans-inclusive and queer BDSM communities.
The frame for playfully engaging with and transgressing social hierarchies and norms, cultural taboos, and personal boundaries within BDSM is the construction of a social space (Schütz and Luckmann 1979, 48 f.) that is experienced as a safe space (Matt, Scout, Terry, United States, Tony, Germany), “playground” (Connie, Germany) or “field for experimentation” (Jonas, Europe).2 What qualifies the space as safe for playing and experimenting is in part general BDSM standards and characteristics, such as negotiating and establishing consensuality; communicating, respecting, and pushing boundaries; dramatizing and thus making visible and debatable power relations and stereotypes; emphasizing emotional and physical intensity in sexuality; and translating sexual fantasies into reality, most notably through role play.
Yet the pushing of individual and sociocultural boundaries and the quest for intense bodily and psychological experiences also situates BDSM practices in a complex and sometimes paradoxical matrix of danger and safety: the risky nature of some BDSM practices necessitated the implementation of safety measures and ethics in the community in the first place.3 A frame of safety and consensuality ensured by certain commonly accepted standards of behavior simultaneously is exactly what enables some individuals to explore BDSM practices, while for others it takes off the edge or thrill by making things too safe and sterile when it is exactly the inherent risks or dangers that make this path worthwhile or sexy. The white bisexual femme Anya (Europe) considers BDSM an emotionally dangerous path in that one can never foresee what feelings certain acts might trigger, but like many other BDSM practitioners, she values transgression of one’s own limits as a chance to grow. Indeed, for some of my interview partners the main incentive to practice BDSM is to explore and get to know one’s own boundaries or push/transgress them, or both, within a framework of negotiated consent.
Another great motivation for queers and trans people to engage in BDSM is that in contrast to everyday life, in BDSM spaces one can consciously choose and negotiate roles and identities for play. Therefore, the participants may agree upon the gender, race, age, class, or status one chooses for a scene in a consensual manner, and in this sense BDSM has the potential to become the playground Connie refers to.
Additionally, the dyke+ community excludes cis men, straight BDSM practitioners and vanilla people who might have prejudices against grown-ups who love to play in this way or might not be able to cope with queer sexualities.4 As the white pansexual genderqueer femme Neila (Germany) points out, it creates a space that is perceived as devoid of predefined power relations in regard to gender and sexuality, if not in regard to other social power structures such as race or class. Therefore, most people who move in (and sometimes out) of the dyke+ BDSM communities share the view that “SM provides a safe space for people to fuck with their gender and also for their gender identity to be respected” and that gender is “not at all based on biology, because there are lots of people who don’t identify as boys in their everyday life, but within SM context they’ll be boys” (Matt), which sets this community apart from the gay male and straight BDSM communities as well as the vanilla dyke/lesbian communities (Hale 2003).5 Gender-based play often incorporates sexual preference and age as well, as is evident through the popularity of “fag play” and “Daddy/boy.”
A lot of role plays explicitly or implicitly make references to class and some to race, most notably “Master/slave.” Yet as white queer transgendered stone butch Terry (United States) puts it,
I am less comfortable engaging with race and...
Based on extensive ethnographic research in a public SM (sadomasochism) community, this paper frames SM as recreation. Drawing
on Robert Stebbins’ work on “serious leisure” (1982), I posit that in order to more adequately understand SM as it occurs
in this community, we need to shift from mainstream assumptions of SM as (simply) “kinky sex” to a more nuanced perspective.
I explore the unique skills required in order to engage in SM, as well as the benefits and rewards that participants derive
from it, in order to illustrate that SM can be more usefully understood as serious leisure.
KeywordsBDSM-Sadomasochism-Leisure-Serious leisure-Edgework-Sexuality
Youth with same-sex desire undergo a process of narrative engagement as they construct configurations of identity that provide meaning and coherence with available sexual taxonomies. This article presents a theoretical analysis and four case studies centering on the relationship among context, desire, and identity for youth with same-sex desire. Through an interpretive, holistic analysis of the personal narratives of youth, we examine the integration of same-sex desire, behavior, and identity in the general life story and the selective appropriation of elements of "master narratives" of sexual identity development. Narratives were characterized by challenges to integrate desire, behavior, and identity into a configuration that conformed to the received sexual taxonomy. Implications for theory and further research on sexual identity development are discussed.
Playgrounds and new territories --the potential of BDSM practices to queer genders
- R Bauer
Bauer, R. (2007). Playgrounds and new territories --the
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Palgrave MacMillan.
Queer intimacies: A new paradigm for the study of relationship diversity
- P L Hammock
- D M Frost
- S D Hughes
Hammock, P.L., Frost, D.M., & Hughes, S.D. (2019).
Queer intimacies: A new paradigm for the study of
relationship diversity. The Journal of Sex
Research, 56(4-5), 556-592. doi:
10.1080/00224499.2018.1531281.