Dragaera

Whip me, Daddy (was Re: Conditioning)

Wed Feb 16 11:54:29 PST 2005

On Wed, 16 Feb 2005, Paul Echeverri wrote:

@> >You know, I think most of the BDSM enthusiasts I know would disagree with
@> >you. Although, honestly, it's difficult or perhaps even impossible to
@> >disentagle genetic predisposition from behavioral conditioning anyway.
@> >
@> With respect, most BDSM enthusiasts are not credible sources of
@> information about the psychology of their enthusiasms.

Fair enough. Our two 'mosts' may not overlap there, though.

@> There is a significant membership overlap between Usenet sexual abuse
@> recovery newsgroups and BDSM newsgroups. This overlap is either never
@> discussed or its interest hotly denied, sometimes to the point of
@> absurdity -- I recall at least one claim that the poster's abuse had
@> *nothing to do* with their BDSM interests, while discussing a 'scene'
@> that closely replicated the circumstances of the abuse as described in
@> the recovery newsgroup.

On the other hand, I have personal knowledge of several members of this
community who have not been abused, or even severely traumatized, at any
point in their lives. That's not to say that childhood abuse can't be a
source of sadistic or masochistic behavior (it would be foolish to deny
that), simply that I'm not willing to say "all BDSM behavior is based on
childhood trauma", since counterexamples exist. "All BDSM behavior is
psychological" is even more difficult. If I like a certain flavor of
potato chips, is that because my parents got them one time for that really
great birthday party when I was seven, or because my taste buds happen to
react well to their components? Or is it even a clear-cut case of
either/or?