Contrary to popular opinion, people with an interest in BDSM tend to be more well-adjusted than those more inclined to mainstream sexual behaviour—which means that the riding-crop-and-chain crowd might be more normal than the socks-on-lights-off group.
Researchers from the Netherlands, writing in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, surveyed 1,300 people about sexual practices and psychological wellbeing. The control group was about seventy per cent female, but the BDSM group was split evenly between the sexes. According to the researchers, people in the BDSM group are less neurotic, more extroverted, more open to new experiences, had greater psychological strength, more autonomy, and more conscientiousness. Moreover, the females in the BDSM group are more confident in their relationships, and require less need for approval than the mainstream sample.
Researchers suggest that three factors, consent, awareness, and communication, explain the results. BDSM practitioners generally need detailed communication between partners, explicit consent for each act and limit, and carful observation of their own needs.
Of course, someone only interested in mainstream sex could do all these things; it’s just that, statistically, BDSM aficionados are more likely to.
