Kink Community Research Articles

Only as a last resort: perceptions of police among gender, sexual and relationally diverse (GSRD) BDSM/kink participants

ABSTRACT Those who engage in BDSM (bondage/discipline, domination/submission and sadism/masochism) activities may experience rare injury, physical/sexual assault, consent violation, etc. However, prior negative experiences with police coupled with the stigmatisation and in some country’s criminalisation of BDSM, may deter kink practitioners from seeking police assistance if needed. This may be increasingly true for Gender, Sexual and Relationship Diverse (GSRD) kink-involved individuals (e.g. LGBTQ+). Using mixed methods and an intersectionality and minority stress model framework, we surveyed 623 international self-identified BDSM participants, to explore their perceptions of police. Overall, GSRD participants (e.g. transgender) had greater negative perceptions of police inside and outside of BDSM-contexts compared to non-GSRD participants (e.g. cisgender, heterosexual). Within BDSM-contexts, participants felt that police were poorly educated about BDSM, viewed BDSM dynamics (e.g. dominant/submissive) negatively, did not take reports of consent violations seriously, and should play a minor role in kink communities. While some participants said they would contact police if there was evidence a severe crime was committed, they still expressed concerns and hesitancy. These included fears of judgement, discrimination, not being taken seriously and outing. Others explained a lack of trust in police and therefore would never seek police assistance, or only as a last resort. Nevertheless, participants recognised the existence of a poor relationship between police and kink communities, and a need to improve the relationship. Specific areas where BDSM/police relationships can be improved are discussed, including the use of collaborative officer education initiatives and on-going and future revisions to existing legal frameworks internationally.

Pups at Pride: A Reflection on Negotiating Consent, Power, and Agency with Subversive Subcultures

Gaining consent from individuals who give control over aspects of their agency, autonomy, and ability to consent to another person by subverting normative power dynamics - such as those who belonging to kink communities - has seen little ethical discussion. This reflection provides a critical commentary on a specific scenario that occurred while conducting an LGBT hate crime project at a local Pride event in the North-East of England. While conducting a survey on antiLGBT+ hate crime, a self-identified 'pup' approached the researcher to express interest in participation. The pup was unable to physically sign a consent form or fill out the survey themselves as their hands were covered and restricted by paw gloves. Further, they had indicated that they were under the control and supervision of their 'handler' who was observing the interaction from a distance. The pup was an unexpected respondent in the research as the survey was not kink-orientated. The ethical guidance underpinning the research was, therefore, not prepared for engaging with members of the kink community. Due to the subverted power dynamics over 'who' should give consent in this scenario, the author uses this as a case study to pose a series of questions on best ethical practice ‘in action’ when conducting research with individuals who challenge normative power relations.

The Kink Orientation Scale: Developing and Validating a Measure of Kink Desire, Practice, and Identity

ABSTRACT Kink, often referred to as BDSM, is an important aspect of a sizable minority’s sexual desires, practices, and personal relationships, yet there are few ways to assess kink engagement in a holistic manner. This study aimed to develop the Kink Orientation Scale (KOS), a novel short tool for measuring different aspects of kink sexuality. In phase one, 27 items were created and included in the initial scale based on a literature review and focus groups with kinky and non-kinky individuals. In phase two, the KOS was administered to 200 university students. Exploratory Factor Analyses (EFA) were used to determine the factor structure and dimensionality of the KOS, and we retained 18 items in the scale and identified five factors. In phase three, the 18 item KOS was administered to a kink sample of 1025 participants as a form of validation. Confirmatory Factor Analyses also identified five factors with a strong overlap to the EFA. The five factors were: kink identity; kink community; kink paraphernalia; kink practices; and sexual communication. The kink sample also provided higher scores on the KOS compared with the non-kink sample. This study shows the potential utility of the KOS in measuring kink engagement holistically.

“Be Dog Have Fun”: Narratives of Discovery, Meaning, and Motivation among Members of the Pup Subculture

AbstractThe twenty-first century has seen the proliferation of new sexual identity subcultures rooted in creative role-play dynamics, expanding our cultural and scientific understanding of diversity in sexuality and intimacy. In an international sample of 568 people who identified with the kink subculture of pup play, we analyzed responses to open-ended questions about the discovery of pup play and communities, definitions of pup play, and motivations for engagement. Four themes were identified: (1) social technologies as central to discovery of the subculture; (2) constructionist accounts of pup identity development emerging from relationships and exposure to other kink communities; (3) individual psychological benefits of subculture participation, including stress relief, relaxation, and pleasure; and (4) social psychological benefits in identity and community building. We situate these findings in relation to the expansion of diversity in sexual identity and intimacy in the twenty-first century, facilitated by the heightened visibility and opportunities for social and intimate creativity which have accompanied the growth of social media and exposure to new sexual stories.

In-group Identification and In-person Activities as Mediators of the Association Between Social Motivation and Psychological Well-being in the Kink Community

The importance of social interaction on well-being has been investigated in a variety of social psychological domains (e.g., homelessness, addiction, and immigration); however, little research has been conducted on the associations between social motivation, community, and well-being within BDSM/kink practitioners. Previous literature has found that feelings of in-group inclusion and attending events predicted well-being in other sexual minority communities; therefore, the current study examines the association between social motivation, in-group inclusion, attending events, and well-being within the BDSM/kink community. A mediational model was tested, and it was found that social motivation significantly predicted well-being through both in-group inclusion and attending events. Additionally, beyond the serial mediation model, both identification with the kink community and attending events were significant mediators on their own. Participation in a BDSM community constitutes a large part of kink for many individuals, meaning that feelings of in-group inclusion and attending community events are likely vital for increasing and maintaining well-being. Marginalized communities often find solace, comfort, and acceptance through community, highlighting the importance of socialization for health and well-being. The study concludes with a discussion on implications, future directions, and the value of community in BDSM/kink communities.

DIY pornography and the deepfake coup

ABSTRACT This article investigates a transforming zeitgeist around DIY pornography, which is defined as diverse online pornographies and erotica that are made and distributed by amateurs or independent producers. DIY pornography embraces, according to Attwood, ‘an ethos that extends across new and alternative sexual cultures, subcultural sexualities, kink communities, and the amateur pornographies that are part of a broader contemporary and participatory culture’. Since there has been an upsurge of deepfake porn and other hate media on digital platforms, how can we understand these porn cultures and how are they appropriating the ethos of DIY porn?

“Digital kink obscurity: A sexual politics beyond visibility and comprehension”

Based on an interview-driven ethnographic study of the Swedish digital BDSM, fetish and kink platform Darkside, this article explores digital kink expressions at a moment when kink communities are both marginalized and seemingly mainstream, navigating a tricky balance between visibility and invisibility, intelligibility and unintelligibility. Across queer, postcolonial, and digital media theorizing, “opacity” provides a way of rethinking these tensions, challenging the idea of public visibility and identification as that which legitimizes sexual otherness. Building on this work, I suggest the term “kink obscurity” as a way of conceptualizing a set of tactics for sexually marginalized groups to exist, resist, and transgress without becoming fully visible or graspable. To these ends, I foreground a “closet positive” analysis of Darkside, not primarily of shame, secrecy, and isolation, but of shared spaces of vulnerability and intensity, a temporary safe house which partly protects against normative regulation. Although the platform activist ethos speaks to the value of openness and outness for the sake of sexual justice, the users are quite invested in anonymous and pseudonymous online presence and sexual expression. Opacity implies a lack of clarity; something opaque may be both difficult to see clearly as well as to understand. Drawing on Édouard Glissant’s idea of opacity as a form resistance to surveillance and imperial domination, a digital sexual politics of obscurity could help provide recognition without a demand to fully understand sexual otherness, opening up for new modes of obscure and pleasurable sexual expressions and transgressions.

The Changing Mix of Gay Bar Subtypes after COVID-19 Restrictions in the United States, 2017 to 2023.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic marked a dramatic change in the gendered composition of gay bars and a slowing rate of overall decline. Trends are drawn from historic data from printed business guides supplemented with two national censuses of online business listings for LGBTQ+ bars. An online census shows a rebound from a nadir of 730 gay bars in spring 2021 to 803 in 2023. Bars serving mostly or only cisgender men plummeted in their share from 44.6 percent of all gay bars to only 24.2 percent. Bars serving men's kink communities also declined, from 8.5 percent to 6.6 percent of all gay bars. Bars serving men and women together increased from 44.2 percent to 65.6 percent of all gay bars. Lesbian bars nearly doubled from 15 to 29 establishments to 3.6 percent of the total. Bars serving people of color experienced a small decline in their share from 2019 to 2023.

TASHRA's Core Competencies: The Development and Introduction: of Clinical Competencies for the Treatment of Kink Populations

ABSTRACT Introduction Kink practitioners face mainstream stigma (Newmahr, 2010; Silva, 2015) and pathologizing (Moser, 2016, 2018; Weinberg, 2006) and stigma from health providers (Hoff & Sprott, 2009; Kolmes, Stock, & Moser, 2006; Kolmes & Witherspoon, 2012). These experiences of discrimination contribute to health disparities and poor clinical outcomes for kinksters (Sprott& Randall, 2017; Sprott et al., 2017; Waldura et al., 2016). Cultural competence guidelines help physical and mental health clinicians in preventing this stigma and discrimination (Beach et al., 2005; Butler et al., 2016). In 2021, The Alternative Sexualities Health Research Alliance (TASHRA) created cultural competence guidelines for clinicians serving kink populations. This presentation will briefly present these guidelines and the research and clinical foundations that they are built upon, including preliminary findings from the ongoing 2021 International Kink Health Survey (IKHS). To our knowledge, these are the first cultural competence guidelines developed specifically for working with kink and grounded in both extensive clinical experience and research. These guidelines are based on five primary data sets. First, the preliminary Kink Health Project was a qualitative study conducted in 2015 (n = 115) that identified injuries and health concerns of kink individuals (Waldura et al., 2016). Building on this, the 2016 Kink Health Survey studied kink-involved US adults (n = 1,118). Health disparities higher than national averages noted in this study included 4.1% reported being HIV positive (10x higher), 24% reported attempting suicide (5x higher), 17.98% reported a diagnosis of PTSD (2.6x higher), experiences of stigma hindered healthcare access (19%), and past negative experiences with providers increased the odds 4x of delaying or avoiding health interventions (Sprott & Randall, 2017; Sprott et al., 2021). Third, the 2019 Clinical Practice Guidelines (Moser et al., 2019) was developed after several rounds of feedback from the kink community and specialist providers. Utilizing this feedback, this team designed these guidelines to add to the literature on what constitutes best practices in working with kink populations. Fourth, the preliminary results from the ongoing 2021 IKHS continue to be utilized in refining these cultural competency standards. This study builds upon the prior literature and studies an international audience of 2,000+ participants. The survey is a mixed methods design that has been rigorously constructed by a team of volunteers to cover a wide array of topics in kink healthcare. Finally, these guidelines emerged from decades of clinical practice with the kink population by the diverse array of TASHRA volunteers. Objective Be familiar with the clinical need for cultural competency standards Understand the research base for TASHRA's recently developed kink core cultural competencies Be familiar with the TASHRA foundational, basic, and advanced core cultural competencies for working with kink populations Methods N/A Results N/A Conclusions N/A Disclosure No

Hybrid Masculinities and the Limits of Anti-Violence Efforts in BDSM Communities

This article interrogates the gendered consequences of men’s anti-violence work in pansexual BDSM communities. Based on interview data from BDSM practitioners, I demonstrate empirically that Bridges and Pascoe's heuristic split of hybrid masculine practices—strategic borrowing, discursive distancing, and boundary fortification—does not account for the necessary interrelationship of these practices. I argue that these practices are mutually constitutive, further obfuscating men’s dominance in the gender hierarchy. The hybrid masculine practices of men who engage in anti-violence work in pansexual BDSM communities are reliant upon narratives of women in need of saving, positioning women as victims and men as saviors who protect them. The women I interviewed were critical of the anti-violence work that men in their communities were doing to prevent or respond to violence; women’s general distrust of men doing this work signals a gendered disconnect between who is doing this work and the effects of it in kink communities more broadly. Although they intended to challenge and prevent sexual violence, men’s hybrid masculine practices in their anti-violence efforts in BDSM communities reproduce the gender inequality that maintains sexual violence both within and beyond these communities.

Mapping Sex Therapy Across the United States: An Exploratory Study

The primary purpose of this study was to determine what someone who was interested in obtaining a provider for sex therapy would find if they simply searched for sex therapy using the Google search engine. The goal was to ascertain how someone might access providers in each state, what types of information someone seeking treatment for sexuality issues might find on provider websites, who is providing the services, what types of services are being provided, and whose services might appeal to given the content of the website. Once all of the data was compiled, the resulting data would include a listing of sex therapist providers in all 50 states. The researchers engaged in an online search for all 50 states and a target of a maximum of 10 providers were compiled from each state, however 28 states did not have the minimum of 10 providers. There were 1,007 clinicians identified in total. Of the identified clinicians, there were an almost equal number of social workers, marriage and family therapists, and licensed counselors. Of the sites identified, there were 264 private practices, 100 group practices, 6 clinics, 1 entirely telehealth practice, 2 training institutes, and 1 other. Only providers who had websites were included in the study. The study has implications for both educators and providers on several levels, including access to sex therapy, professional competence and expertise in sexually related issues, questions related to sexual addiction, utilization of websites and technology, expansion of sex therapy to be more inclusive of sexual minorities and kink communities.

Gender, sexual orientation, and mental health in the kink community: an application of coping self-efficacy theory

A growing literature on kink practitioners reveals a complex picture of elevated risk of suicidal behaviors co-occurring with reduced reports of negative mental health outcomes. A key to understanding this conflicting pattern may be through identifying specific risk and protective mechanisms among distinct subgroups of kink practitioners. Comparisons in the health of kink practitioners based on gender and sexual orientation are currently lacking in literature. Objective This paper advances understanding of the kink community by examining mental health and coping-self efficacy (CSE) variation by gender and sexual orientation. Design Adult members of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (N = 332) completed an online cross-sectional health assessment. Main outcome measures The assessment included the Coping Self-Efficacy (CSE) Scale; Depression and Anxiety Stress Scale-21; and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Results Transgender and non-binary persons reported consistently low coping beliefs and poor mental health. Queer sexual minority persons reported low CSE thought stopping and high anxiety. Several CSE thought stopping moderation effects on mental health were observed. Conclusions Findings may inform clinical implications, as bolstering coping-related beliefs and skills via cognitive-behavioral therapy may offer mental health benefit to kink practitioners.

In their own words: getting it right for kink clients

Individuals in the kink community often report difficulty with finding affirming mental health care. Similarly, providers often report having limited knowledge of how best to support sexual diversity. This study highlights difficulties faced by kink individuals seeking clinical care and how providers can be more affirming. The current study utilized Delphi methodology to elucidate what clients with kink identities need from clinicians and the therapeutic environment. The study consisted of perspectives from 12 leaders in the kink community from across the United States. The culmination of their input is outlined and organized into five themes: Client Needs, Awareness and Understanding, Kink Client’s Perceptions of Therapists, Therapist Education & Training, and Client’s Perceptions of Therapy. These themes guide recommendations for practice that may be utilized in clinical training and guide clinical self-reflection.

Beyond Safe, Sane, and Consensual: Navigating Risk and Consent Online for Kinky Gay and Bisexual Men

Kink practitioners have adopted phrases, like “safe, sane and consensual” (SSC), to describe a non-pathological approach in considering risk and harm in kink practices. However, little is known about how risk and consent are negotiated online, particularly when the kink activities occur in private rather than the public or semi-public spaces of kink community venues or events. Drawing on 30 in-depth interviews with self-identified kinky gay and bisexual men, this article examines how risk and consent are discussed when organizing kink sessions through online platforms. Most participants were unaware of SSC or alternatives. Instead, participants employed diverse methods of negotiating consent and risk which predominantly involved indepth communication online. Interestingly, participants were more concerned with the risks associated with meeting others online, such as catfishing, than the risks involved with kink. Finally, some participants described a laissez-faire approach to their kink sessions through not planning or discussing risk and consent beforehand.

From Secrecy to Pride


 
 
 In this article, I discuss how the kink identity is constructed in a society where kink is defined as non-normative and stigmatised. I do this through an af- fective reading of my research material: autobiographical writings by kinky identified individuals. By looking at the affects, I have been able to recognize those elements that are integral to the kink experience. Affective states, such as fear of being found out, frustration, loneliness, hope, and excitement were expressed in the writings. Kink is negotiated with regard to normativity and stigma through mechanisms which may produce behaviour such as staying in the closet and secrecy about the individual’s kinky desires. Due to the stigma, people may even denounce their own preferences as wrong and unacceptable, and accepting one’s kinkiness may be described as a journey requiring cour- age. Kink communities function as safer spaces for the kinky, where the neg- ative experiences and affects may even turn into kinky pride. Furthermore, the secrecy and the fear of being found out may also function as the very fas- cinations of kink. To further highlight the affective states regarding kink, I employ a method of ethnographic fiction that is based on my own embodied and affective knowledge of kink.
 
 

Counselling and the kink community: a thematic analysis

ABSTRACT Limited research indicates that people from the kink community may not find talking therapies accessible. Findings are presented from a thematic analysis of five semi-structured interviews with adults who self-identify as kinky. Participants reported self-censorship as a risk-management strategy to avoid encountering (i) social stigma, (ii) medicalisation and (iii) conflation of true BDSM with abuse or self-harm. Interviewees required counsellors to be better informed, and for services to be more inclusive and proactive. They regarded the kink community as therapeutically minded, harbouring a population motivated and appropriately skilled to engage with counselling and psychotherapy. Findings recommend potential changes to counsellor training and service provision aiming to enable practitioners to work more effectively and ethically with sexually diverse clients.

Kink community education: Experiential learning and communities of practice

How do people learn about kink? What are the motivations to acquire knowledge and skills for doing BDSM scenes? What are the preferred ways adults want to learn? This article argues that two concepts from adult education, experiential learning and community of practice, are important frameworks for understanding how people learn about kink. As an example to illustrate these points, some findings from an educational needs assessment are presented. The results indicate gender-related differences in motivation to learn about kink and different preferences in formats for learning. Results are discussed in terms of experiential learning and community of practice.

A kinky doctrine of sin

ABSTRACTReligious and secular groups alike have long marginalized those who practice “kinky sex.” These discourses of bodily control have been deconstructed and proven faulty. However, this proposal goes further than mere deconstruction and exposes the gaping hole under this new deconstruction: what does a doctrine of sin look like for kink practitioners? This gaping hole is lubed and ready to be filled. According to a kinky doctrine, sin is violating consent and obstructing escape, the failure to accept limits, and the external essentialism of identity. This kinky theology of sin will not only be useful for members of the kink community but also for individuals from a wide range of identities and practices.

Counseling the Kink Community: What Clinicians Need to Know

Counseling the Kink Community: What Clinicians Need to Know

Affirmation, compartmentalization, and isolation: narratives of identity sentiment among kinky people

ABSTRACTWith heightened cultural visibility and greater opportunities for connection, individuals with kinky sexual desires (e.g. BDSM, sexual fetishism, sexual role-playing) are increasingly constructing sexual identities that foreground their kink-oriented desires. However, we know little about how kinky individuals negotiate stigma as they construct sexual identities and engage in intimate practices which provide meaning and coherence to their sense of self. This study examined identity sentiment among an international sample of 265 kink-identified individuals. Participants were asked whether they feel negative, positive, or mixed about their kink identities. An exploratory latent class analysis of narrative data revealed four distinct types of stories: unelaborated affirmation, elaborated affirmation, compartmentalization, and isolation. Stories revealed that stigma, concealment, isolation, and self-pathologization represented sources of stress and negative self-evaluation. Involvement in a kink community and viewing one’s kink identity as a journey of growth and exploration were described as helping participants develop resiliency against societal stigma and mental health challenges. Implications of these findings for social psychological theories related to stigma, narrative, and minority stress are discussed.