BDSM, becoming and the flows of desire

Carlström, Charlotta

doi:10.1080/13691058.2018.1485969

Cited by 16 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…This type of sample is not representative of the population as it includes only persons attending special events, who often differ from other (more private) practitioners on several aspects (socio-economic level, urban vs. rural environment, extravert vs. introvert traits, etc.). Doctoral theses dealing with BDSM practitioners also began to be published (e.g., Baker, 2016;Busbee, 2008;Cutler, 2003;Damon, 2001;Levine-Ward, 2016;Matthews, 2005;Silva, 2015;Taylor, 1995;Van der Walt, 2014;Yost, 2006) as were ethnographic and/or participatory reports (Beckmann, 2001;Carlström, 2018aCarlström, , 2019Caruso, 2016;Fennell, 2018;Kamel, 1980;Newmahr, 2008Newmahr, , 2011Prior, 2013;Weinberg et al, 1984;Weiss, 2011;Zambelli, 2016). Again, most of these publications were non-empirical or based on relatively small or specific samples of participants (e.g., persons recruited in universities or select clubs).…”

Section: Historical Understanding Of M/smentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Intrinsic origins of m/s interestsalso called essentialist, dispositional, trait, and, sometimes, sexual orientation or identityare deeply rooted in the personal history of the individual (Damon, 2001;Jozifkova, 2013;Portillo, 1991;Scott, 1985). These origins are described with statements such as: "I have had these interests for the longest I can remember"; "I have always been that way"; "At threefour y.o., I already enjoyed tying-up my dolls"; "It's in me, it is me"; "The first time I tried I felt so relieved, something was missing in me for so long"; "The first time I tried I knew it was the true me" (see for instance, Carlström, 2019;Scott, 1985;Stiles & Clark, 2011;Yost & Hunter, 2012). However, many practitioners, like anyone else, have no precise idea about the origins of their sexual interests (Taylor & Ussher, 2001).…”

Section: Intrinsic Vs Extrinsic Originsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What Is So Appealing About Being Spanked, Flogged, Dominated, or Restrained? Answers from Practitioners of Sexual Masochism/Submission

Labrecque

Potz

Larouche

et al. 2020

The Journal of Sex Research

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A growing number of studies have demonstrated that BDSM (Bondage/Discipline-Domination /Submission-Sadism/Masochism) practices are not signs of mental illness. However, the reasons for engaging in such behaviors are not well understood, especially for sexual masochism or submission (m/s). A thorough review of the literature was conducted, as well as a search in Internet forums and an online survey to obtain testimonies that provide information on the origins of interest in m/s and the reasons for engaging in it. A qualitative content analysis was performed on narratives from 227 m/s practitioners. Sixteen themes emerged from this analysis, eight related to the origins of interest in m/s and eight to the reasons for engaging in m/s. The origins described were seen as either intrinsic or extrinsic. Reasons to engage in m/s were related to one of three main types of activities: use of interpersonal power; experiencing physical pain; and altering one's state of mind. These results concord with accounts found in non-academic books and small-scale studies suggesting that m/s interests are often present early in life and usually practiced to reach an altered state of mind associated with sexual arousal. Possible reasons for choosing m/s over more common means of mind alteration are discussed.

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Section: Historical Understanding Of M/smentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Intrinsic Vs Extrinsic Originsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Is So Appealing About Being Spanked, Flogged, Dominated, or Restrained? Answers from Practitioners of Sexual Masochism/Submission

Labrecque

Potz

Larouche

et al. 2020

The Journal of Sex Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This embedded bias requires a creative feminist approach, influenced in particular by the works of Luce Irigaray 1 and Julia Kristeva. 2 The Western cultural history of sado-masochism conflates representations of sexual desire and cultural desires involving identity, religious ecstasy power games and their implications, with acute pain (Weinberg and Falk 1980;Hopkins 1994;Braidotti 2013;Carlström 2019). Why is this, when images and discourses of chronic pain are largely hidden, ignored, responsible for illness and disability, misunderstood and often shameful?…”

Section: Contexts and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The traditional painkiller Atropa belladonna (deadly nightshade) was used cosmetically to enlarge the pupils of women's eyes, making them appear desirable (Harris et al 1985(Harris et al -2020. Medicinal pain-killing herbs are strong poisons with a culture embedded with gender stereotypes, myths and stories (Carter 1996). Hyoscyamus niger (henbane) is traditionally associated with witches, flying and sexualised out-of-body experiences.…”

Section: Physiologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Encountering Pain: Hearing, seeing, speaking

Padfield¹,

Zakrzewska²

2021

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Encountering Pain...is influenced by memories and it might be possible to look back in one's memory to find a point where pain was less critical or possibly did not even exist. There may be other circumstances where pain arises because a new experience awakens the memory of past trauma. The area of memory is critical to the artist who is nervously attempting to keep traces of her body while at the same time considering the perception of collective memory. The body experiences a crisis as it is intimidated by the possibility of forgetting. Memory has an important part to play as an essential perception of one's wellbeing, something that has often been lost when pain is experienced. Pain is closely associated with uncertainty and this is difficult to consider. The positive thing is that on stage there is no place for that uncertainty. It is possible that art will enable us to convey that feeling again, operating through personification as a means of awakening memory. Pain can often result in bodily fragmentation so that a person in pain has a body that is essentially fragmented. Yet choosing to present and show this inner fragmentation mostly motivates and then empowers me as an artist....by voicing it (as medical interpreter) is a strange experience.A foreign pain goes through your body, softens and darkens your voice and leaves behind its bitter taste.Encountering Pain... ...is an individual experience, it can be all consuming and yet invisible, and when you are in pain you are the only one that can really communicate that pain. So encountering pain makes you vulnerable to miscommunication, because you need to communicate something that could be quite complex, when your ability to articulate your need for relief is compromised by the nature of your pain....in any form can feel like being compressed in a shrinking iron box in which one is entirely alone. Serious pain dominates every conscious moment, and into dreams as well.Pain comes in many forms, sudden, like painshock, or slow and intensifying, with many distinctions in between. Graphic images and photographs are the most descriptive ways of illustrating different kinds of pain to anyone with imagination, and so much more helpful than asking a person to pick a number from 1 to 10. All schools should have these paincards. They transcend language and culture differences, and behavioural differences of all kinds.Living with pain, stepping on from encountering pain, is unique to each individual. If people can understand what causes it in its different forms, it should be possible to endure and overcome much of itjust as one tries to explain it to children as they grow to learn about pain. The importance of pain conferences/seminars/workshops is the sharing of experiences. This can diminish the awful sense of isolation brought on by pain. Encouraging feelings of identity with others, and then the ability and courage to discuss and explore ways of reducing pain in so many forms.Encountering pain? The thought alone? I don't know. ContEnts ix Contents List of figures ...

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“…In order to learn to frame their activities as "BDSM" (and particularly to defend what they do as "consensual" and "not abuse" to others), practitioners usually must undergo some kind of socialization, whether through books, the internet, pornography, partners, friends, and/or the BDSM community (Carlstrom, 2019). Practitioners in the public BDSM scene presumably constitute a fairly small percentage of people who engage in BDSM (Simula, 2019b), and the formal and informal socialization processes of the scene are relatively rigorous (Haviv, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

It’s complicated: Sex and the BDSM subculture

Fennell

2020

Sexualities

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Drawing from extensive insider ethnographic work and an internet survey with a convenience sample of 1642 BDSM practitioners, I show that the social context of the BDSM subculture has a profound impact on pansexual BDSM practitioners’ interpretation of the relationship between BDSM and sex. Greater involvement in the public BDSM subculture and participation in feminine Dominance/masculine submission are both strongly associated with less preference for and experience of sexual BDSM. Greater involvement in the BDSM subculture increases participants’ likelihood of viewing their sexuality in terms of BDSM but decreases their likelihood of viewing BDSM in sexual terms. BDSM practitioners who meet new BDSM partners in BDSM subcultural contexts, even ones where sex is allowed, are much less likely to have sex with their partners than practitioners who met anywhere else. I argue that research should focus more on the social factors that influence participants’ experience and interpretation of BDSM, particularly on the influence of the BDSM subculture, and that theorists should think more broadly about the social determinants of “sex” and “sexual experience.”

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BDSM, becoming and the flows of desire

Cited by 16 publications

References 20 publications

What Is So Appealing About Being Spanked, Flogged, Dominated, or Restrained? Answers from Practitioners of Sexual Masochism/Submission

What Is So Appealing About Being Spanked, Flogged, Dominated, or Restrained? Answers from Practitioners of Sexual Masochism/Submission

Encountering Pain: Hearing, seeing, speaking

It’s complicated: Sex and the BDSM subculture

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