Does it ever get better?

It is with a big sigh that I read the news, again being connected to BDSM and it still baffles me…

This article describes the fact that the Formula One president has been caught on tape having a Nazi-influenced S&M scene. The article is quite neutral at most points, trying to explain that Nazi costumes can be quite arousing and that BDSM is not that uncommon. Even tho it describes what went down as somewhat distasteful.

What really worries me is the last part in the article that says the following:

Sadomasochists who aren’t happy with their preferences and seek treatment have a few options. Traditional approaches include psychoanalysis and 12-step sexual addiction/compulsion recovery programs. More recently, drugs that reduce testosterone levels and thus lower the sex drive have been used in conjunction with behavioral therapy.

That is fucking unbelivable, there are people out there that STILL try to explain BDSM with biologistic argumentation. And if you are not happy with your sexuality then you can always go through a 12-step programme. BDSM is not a disease, just as vanilla sex is not a disease. I can understand that some S&Mers might not be happy with their preferences, but is that due to the social stigma connected to the fact that you are into BDSM?

The article points at some research that has been done in order to find the “cause” to BDSM. 

Please give me a break, does there even have to be a deeper or valid cause? Can’t people be into BDSM just because they enjoy it, could it be as simple as that? But of course, that would be going against the whole norm that relationships are built upon “you don’t hurt the ones that you love”. So you would be damaged goods if you spank the person you love, because you would be hurting them. The element of pain and hurt in BDSM is chosen in consent betweeen adults, and usually between people that care for each other. So the hurt is not the same as hurt in other contexts.

The article goes on to draw a conclusion that the Formula One president has some demons to work with as his father was a Nazi sympathizer. Does that even relate to him doing a BDSM scene with a prositute in a Nazi costume?

Let him do his scene, let him have his sexuality to himself – That has nothing to do with him being the F1 president. The only thing he did “wrong” was that he did a scene, in consent, that wasn’t socially and morally acceptable according to “the norm”.

The only thing that is distasteful in this equation is the lack of privacy, that his kinks is something that should be hung out to dry in media. And that it is being discussed like it was some kind of disease.