How different are BDSM practitioners compared to those with no interest in it? A study conducted in Finland indicates that individuals engaging in BDSM, comprising sexually submissive and dominant practices, often experience slightly higher sexual distress. Additionally, they tend to report marginally improved sexual functioning on average, in comparison to those who do not engage in these activities.
However, the majority of these reported correlations are weak, with many being practically negligible. These observations are primarily attributable to the exceptionally large sample size of the study’s participants. The study was published IJIR: Your Sexual Medicine Journal.
BDSM stands for Bondage, Discipline/Dominance, Submission/Sadism, and Masochism, and it refers to a diverse range of sexual role-playing practices involving consensual exchange of power dynamics. BDSM participants engage in activities such as bondage, spanking, role-playing, and other forms of consensual pain or sensation play. These sexual practices emphasize communication, trust, and mutual consent. A key element of ethical BDSM is that all activities are safe, sane, and consensual.
BDSM is a subtype of paraphilic behaviors. Paraphilia is defined as “an intense and persistent sexual interest other than an interest in genital stimulation or preparatory fondling with phenotypically normal physically mature, consenting human partners.” Studies indicate that between 2% and 10% of individuals engage in BDSM, but that up to 60% have BDSM-related fantasies. Generally, those who practice BDSM are inclined either towards assuming control over others or relinquishing their power, thus embodying roles of sexual dominance and submission.
Despite the significant proportion of individuals engaging in BDSM practices, the potential connections between sexual functioning and BDSM behaviors, such as sexual submission and dominance, remain largely unexplored. This gap in knowledge is what prompted Sijia Huang and her colleagues to conduct their study.
Participants for the study came from three sources. The initial data, collected in 2006, was part of the Genetics of Sex and Aggression project in Finland and included monozygotic and dizygotic twins, along with their siblings. A subsequent data collection occurred in 2019. The final group of participants was derived from a population-based sample of twins, courtesy of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency of Finland, a government body responsible for maintaining the country’s population registry. This data was collected between 2021 and 2022.
In total, data of 24,821 individuals were analyzed. The average age of participants was 34-35 years. Approximately two-thirds of the participants were women, with 88% of the men and 79% of the women identifying as heterosexual.
Participants completed assessments of sexually submissive and sexually dominant behaviors (“Have you ever been humiliated in a way that made you sexually aroused?”, “Has somebody ever caused you physical pain so that you became sexually aroused by it?”, “Have you been dominated, humiliated, controlled (e.g., bondage), or has your partner caused you pain, with mutual consent to achieve sexual pleasure?”, “Have you ever caused another person physical pain and become sexually aroused by it?” and “Have you ever humiliated somebody and become sexually aroused by it?”, “Have you dominated, humiliated, controlled (e.g., bondage), or caused pain to a partner, with mutual consent to achieve sexual pleasure?”).
They also completed an assessment of sexual distress (the Sexual Distress Scale). Additionally, men completed assessments of erectile function (the International Index of Erectile Function Questionnaire-5 for men) and early ejaculation (the Checklist for Early Ejaculation Symptoms), while women completed an assessment of sexual function (the Female Sexual Function Index, containing subscales of Desire, Arousal, Lubrication, Orgasm, Satisfaction, and Pain).
Results indicated that sexually submissive and sexually dismissive behaviors were strongly associated. Individuals reporting more sexually submissive behaviors also tended to report more sexually dominant behaviors. Both among men and women, individuals reporting engaging in sexually submissive and dominant behaviors tended to report somewhat higher levels of sexual distress on average compared to individuals who did not report engaging in these behaviors.
Men engaging in sexually dominant/submissive behaviors reported a bit fewer symptom of early ejaculation and a tiny bit better (on average) erectile function. Women engaging in these behaviors tended to report a bit better overall sexual function.
Men engaging in sexually dominant behaviors on average reported a bit better orgasmic function, intercourse satisfaction, and overall satisfaction. However, these last three associations were of negligible strength and only detectable because the study included a very large number of participants. Heterosexual and older individuals were a tiny bit less likely to have been engaging in sexually submissive and dominant behaviors.
“Our study suggests that engaging in BDSM behaviors is associated with increased sexual distress. BDSM behaviors were also correlated with sexual function for both sexes, better ejaculation function for men and better overall sexual function for women,” study authors concluded.
The study sheds light on the links between BDSM practices and sexual functioning. However, it should be noted that the design of the study does not allow any cause-and-effect conclusions to be drawn from the data. It is possible that BDSM practices improve sexual functioning and increase distress, but it is also possible that better sexual functioning or higher distress make people attracted to BDSM. These are not the only possibilities. Additionally, all the obtained associations are weak and many of them are practically negligible in magnitude, suggesting that there is not much of a difference between BDSM practitioners and non-practitioners.
The paper, “Associations between sexually submissive and dominant behaviors and sexual function in men and women”, was authored by Sijia Huang, Patrick Jern, Caoyuan Niu, and Pekka Santtila.