BDSM (bondage and discipline, dominance/submission, sadism-masochism) seems to be a topic of immense fascination for laypeople and social scientists alike. In the past, the practice has been stigmatized as deviant, and a reflection of psychopathology, but there is now growing evidence that consensual BDSM practices may actually be a healthy way that many people express their inner sexual desires and fantasies. A recent study (Botta, Nimbi, Tripodi, Silvaggi, & Simonelli, 2019) examined sexual satisfaction and functioning among BDSM practitioners and found that not only do practitioners appear to be well-adjusted, some, particularly those who prefer the dominant role, appear to be more satisfied with their sexuality than non-practitioners. The reasons are not yet understood, but it may be because those in the dominant role have personality traits that are particularly conducive to good mental health.
A growing body of research has explored the psychological aspects of BDSM. I have reviewed a few of the relevant studies in previous posts here and here. BDSM encompasses a wide range of practices typically associated with control, humiliation, physical restriction, and role-playing (Botta et al., 2019). Typically, practitioners adopt particular roles during their activities, most commonly either as a “dominant” who exerts control over others, or a “submissive” who consents to be controlled. Some people have a fixed preference for either role, while some people are “switches” who prefer to alternate between these roles. The actual practices people may engage in are extraordinarily diverse, and while some practitioners may only engage in a few preferred activities, others may experiment flexibly with a wide array of scenarios. Although there seems to be a popular idea that BDSM is something only a few odd individuals engage in, surveys have shown that it is far more common: Between 10 and 50 percent of people surveyed have admitted to engaging in some form of it, and many more at least fantasize about it (Coppens, Brink, Huys, Fransen, & Morrens, 2019).
One study found that BDSM practitioners in some respects appeared to have better mental health than individuals in the general population, although when looked at in more detail, the findings showed that it was those who preferred the dominant role who enjoyed these particular benefits (Wismeijer & van Assen, 2013). For example, dominants had higher subjective well-being and lower rejection sensitivity than submissives or switches and a control group of people drawn from the general population. A more recent study (Botta et al., 2019) looked at sexual satisfaction and functioning, and the findings were comparable to those of previous studies, as it found that dominants seemed to be particularly well-off in terms of the study outcomes, although they found positive outcomes for switches as well, in contrast to previous findings https://tvbdsm.com/category/group/ .
