Graydancer
BDSM Leads to Happier Men
Written by Gray Dancer on June 4th, 2007…and women, but according to this study:
“… men into BDSM scored significantly better on a scale of psychological wellbeing than other men.?This seems to imply that these men are actually happier as a result of their behaviour, though we’re not sure why,? she said.
?It might just be that they’re more in harmony with themselves because they’re into something unusual and are comfortable with that.
?There’s a lot to be said for accepting who you are.?”
File this under “Duh!” with a cross reference to “Thank god, they’re finally getting it!”
Seriously, if this article and study gets wide play in the rest of the U.S., it could do wonders for us all. I’m betting Bacchus picks it up soon, if he hasn’t already, and Violet and Susie won’t be far behind.
It’s a new angle to put on my bondage workshops: “Having a hard time managing your man (wink)? Send him to Graydancer’s Bondage Workshop, and he’ll come back well-adjusted and happy!”
(snort) Yeah, because I’m known for being so well-adjusted and happy…
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Not to rain on any parades, but I’d want to read through the study in a bit more depth before I jump on the bandwagon.
As a person who loves kink, I still have to admit that there has been a disproportionate overlap being people I’ve known who had serious psychological issues and were kinky. Still, this is a biased personal sample and I will refrain from generalizing from it.
There was once, and perhaps there remains, a popular myth about the sexual submissiveness of the rich and powerful men of the world. Everyone’s heard this story, about the rich, powerful guy who secretly loves to get beaten by women. Neal Stephenson has a textbook case of this little stereotype in Cryptonomicon. (As a side note, however much I may like that author, his handling of sex is deeply troubling.)
Basically, this stereotype happened as a result of amateur psychology and the prominence of pro dominatrices as the “public face” of BDSM. And of course their clients showed a disproportionate representation of high-income people. Domination ain’t cheap.
Long story short, sampling methods matter and I’m not quite ready to toot my horn about this study. Also, there’s some real correlation = causation going on in that argument. That’s actually my central difficulty. With the field of variables open as wide as it is, any number of other corrolary characteristics could be the determining bits of psychological well-being.
In my own biased one-man self-sample, though, the conclusions are certainly correct.
Side Note: Why doesn’t it mention the women? Are they happier? Is anyone else surprised that Fox is reporting on this, even if quotes about not understanding why kinksters are happy seem a little spinny?
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*between people I’ve known who’ve
Proofread, dammit.
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Thanks for sharing the report … if you don’t mind, I’m commenting on in at my blog as well…
Hugs
Roxy Harte