At Boing Boing, Xeni Jardin discusses a recent Dutch paper comparing people who indulge in BDSM with boring old “vanilla” types:
A provocative article from the Netherlands published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine says people who like to participate in bondage-discipline, dominance-submission, and sado-masochism erotic play are “characterized by a set of balanced, autonomous, and beneficial personality characteristics.”
Practitioners of BDSM report “a higher level of subjective well-being” when compared to people who tend to have more boring forms of sex.
These sexual practices have long been “associated with psychopathology,” the paper says. “However, several more recent studies suggest a relative good psychological health of BDSM practitioners.”
The article is safe for work, but you’ll quickly get into NSFW territory by doing Google searches for most of the terms used…
