The academic world has gradually taken an interest in researching world of BDSM and there are a few good studies out there. But BDSM is still a sort of uncharted territory in terms of collected academic knowledge.
There might be a lot of reason for this: Maybe we don’t want to be researched as we just want to continue to do “our thing” that is perfectly normal to us? Another reason might be that the academic world is not always ready to deal with what some ignorant people would label as “morally controversial research areas”. I believe that research is good, ignorance is usually based on lack of knowledge and with more research comes more knowledge. Good and honest research will hopefully lead to a better understanding and acceptance.
There is still a great deal of stigma connected to revealing to people that you are into BDSM as we don’t know what will happen when we do this.
One academic study is trying to take a look into how people are handled by their therapists when they reveal that they are into BDSM. The name of the study is “Therapy Experiences of Clients with BDSM Sexualities: Listening to a Stigmatized Sexuality” written by Gabriele Hoff and Richard A. Sprott, Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality, Volume 12, Sept. 30, 2009
The study was carried out within different BDSM communities and included heterosexual couples who indicated a strong preference for BDSM sexuality in their relationships; committed couples who had been together for at least one year. The participants were recruited within four BDSM social community organizations: Society of Janus in San Francisco, California USA; Bundesvereinigung Sadomasochismus e.V.(BVSM), SMart Rhein-Ruhr e.V., and SM-Hamburg in Germany.
The Society of Janus is an educational and social organization with approximately 500 members, and has been in existence for over 30 years. BVSM is a German national organization (no specific location) that promotes workshops and congresses for education about BDSM. BVSM is well-organized, featuring an elaborate website that provides viewers with news relevant to politics including BDSM issues (recent and archival). SMart Rhein-Ruhr e.V. is another political German BDSM umbrella organization located in the central western region of Germany (“Ruhrgebiet,” near Bonn and Essen). They call themselves a “communication platform.” SM-Hamburg is a smaller organization which functions as a social and educational organization along the same lines as the Society of Janus.
The newsletters and websites of these organisations were used to send out a request for participants. Data collection occurred in two phases. The first phase was in 2002, the second phase in 2005-2006. Four USA couples participated in the first phase that involved an in-depth recorded face-to-face interview with the couples. Twenty-eight couples volunteered to participate in 2005 and 2006, which involved an Internet survey procedure. Surveys in the USA and in Germany contained open-ended questions that focused upon the length and nature of relationship commitment, involvement in BDSM outside of and within the relationship, personal meanings attributed to BDSM practices within the relationship, socialization experiences with friends and family, and psychotherapy experiences.
The participants’ ages ranged from 22 to 60 years old; they were of different ethnic backgrounds: Caucasian, African, Latino and Asian. They had been in committed heterosexual relationships from between one to eighteen years; about half of the couples were married. Of the sixty-four individuals in the sample, only four individuals (all men) had no experience with therapy.
The result of the study lead to the definition of five different categories:
- “Termination” – these involved reports of actions taken by therapists or clients, upon disclosure of the BDSM sexuality, which terminated the therapy relationship. The second category was labeled
- “Prejudice” – these involved reports about therapists’ expressing negative comments upon disclosure and during subsequent therapy visits and the perception of the study participants as having experienced prejudice. Termination of therapy did not occur in this category.
- “Neutral” – these involved responses by therapists upon disclosure which were not explicitly negative in valence but either sought more information or treated the disclosure in the same way as other disclosures while therapy continued.
- “Knowledgeable/Supportive” – these reports involved accepting and informed responses on the part of therapists which supported the ongoing therapy relationship from the point of view of the study participants. Judgments of negative and positive interaction are not the authors’ judgments, but the judgments of the participants of the study embedded in their retelling of their therapy experiences.
- “Non-Disclosure” and the participants discussed the impact of not disclosing to the therapist about their BDSM sexuality on their therapy experience.
The participants also had some advice to therapists in regards to dealing with people within BDSM; A good therapist should be knowledgeable and understanding towards the kink and realise that it is one factor among others and should be treated with equally concern as the other factors.
The conclusion of the study is that the stigma of BDSM sexuality may interfere with access to mental health services, in the form of either prejudice on the part of the therapist or nondisclosure and self-censuring on the part of the client.
The stigma of BDSM sexuality may also create dysfunction in a client-therapist relationship when the therapist assumes that the sexual activity is, by itself, an indicator of mental illness without understanding how the client experiences their BDSM sexuality, and communicates this prejudicial attitude to the client without demonstrating openness to other possibilities. Positive interactions between clients and therapists around BDSM sexuality disclosure are also experienced by clients and therapists.
This study is interesting as it shows that the mindset of the therapist can actually be the critical success factor when it comes to the treatment itself. It might be more important than we think to find a kink aware therapist in order to get the most out of the therapy.
Read the whole study over here at Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality, Volume 12, Sept. 30, 2009