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What is it Like to Be a BDSM Player? The Role of Sexuality and Erotization of Power in the BDSM Experience

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Abstract

Research with individuals who practice consensual Bondage, Discipline, Domination, Submission, Sadism, and Masochism (BDSM) has shed light on a complex and multi-faceted phenomenon. How much this experience relates to sexuality and sexual pleasure is a controversial topic in the literature. This review offers a critical re-conceptualization of the sexual component, comparing BDSM and non-BDSM sexual experiences, and highlighting the importance of the erotic construction of power as a source of pleasure. It also discusses whether the erotic power exchange experience (EPE) reveals a sexual or an erotic orientation. The variety of terms and acronyms used to designate the experience of eroticization of power (BDSM, EPE, S&M sadism and masochism, D/S or sadomasochism, Fetish, kink and kinky sex) reflects the many perspectives that have been taken in observing the phenomenon. Generalizing BDSM as an eminently sexual experience has obscured a more nuanced understanding of the specific meanings relating to the activities promoted by the communities and simplified a variegated geography of experiences. These experiences are difficult to summarize in terms of typifications and can be better described as “finite provinces of meanings”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy

    Elena Faccio, Davide Sarigu & Antonio Iudici

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  1. Elena Faccio
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  2. Davide Sarigu
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  3. Antonio Iudici
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Correspondence to Elena Faccio.

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Faccio, E., Sarigu, D. & Iudici, A. What is it Like to Be a BDSM Player? The Role of Sexuality and Erotization of Power in the BDSM Experience. Sexuality & Culture 24, 1641–1652 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-020-09703-x

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