Brad J. Sagarin, Sarah A. Hanson, James K. Ambler, Tracy Tittelbach,
Michael Wagner, Ellen M. Lee, Kathryn R. Klement, & Evelyn M. Comber
Northern Illinois University
 Pilot
 Virtuoso pianist
 Fluent in French
 Self-made billionaire
 “Beyond handsome”
 Prehensile penis
3
2
Women
Men
1
0
SM fantasies
SM behaviors
MEN
WOMEN
R2 = 0.185
R2 = 0.115
MEN
WOMEN
R2 = 0.185
R2 = 0.115
MEN
WOMEN
R2 = 0.185
R2 = 0.115
MEN
WOMEN
R2 = 0.185
R2 = 0.115
•Methodology
•Edgework and Gender
•Intimacy
•Methodology
•Authenticity and Fantasy
•“Hoochie Dommes” vs. Indies
vs. Lifestylers
•BDSM as Therapy
•Gender on the Dungeon Floor
•Parallelism between switches and
bisexuals:
Breaking Binary Boundaries
There are three kinds of lies:
lies, damned lies, and
statistics.

“Among male college students, 51% indicated
that they would rape a woman if they
thought they could get away with it”

Men read a rape scenario and then indicated
whether they were likely to behave as the
rapist did if assured that they would not be
punished.

Scale: 1 (0%) to 5 (100%)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 (0%)
2
3, 4, 5 (100%)

“Among male college students, 51% indicated
that they would rape a woman if they
thought they could get away with it”

“Among male college students, 51% indicated
that they would rape a woman if they
thought they could get away with it”
60
40
20
0
1 (0%)
2
3, 4, 5
(100%)

146 respondents

53% female, 47% male

Ages 18-72

Slavery relationship 3 weeks to 22 years
“Mundane behaviors
such as being able to
go out alone, when and
what to eat, where to
sit, and what to wear …
become tinged with
SM undertones by
virtue of the continuing
dynamic among
participants.”
"Out of role"
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
when sick when with when at
family
work

74% “had engaged in behavior that had
seemed inconceivable at the start of the
relationship”
Mutual End of prior M/s
or
relationships
unrepor
ted
7%
Access to bank account in
their names
No
2%
Ended
by
owner
24%
Ended
by slave
69%
Yes
98%

88% satisfied or completely satisfied with the
relationship
“There is no reason to believe that these ‘slaves’
need saving or freeing. There is no indication that
they are more likely to be abused than in other
relationships. It would appear that some of the
shock from disclosing participation in this type of
relationship relates to the terms used to describe
the relationship, rather than the actual behavior
within the relationship.”

132 respondents

56 women, 73 men, 3 transgendered
individuals

Ages 25-74

Recruited in Southern California via e-mail
through BDSM clubs and organizations







Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2
(MMPI-2, 567 items)
Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III, 175
items)
Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI, 100 items)
Postraumatic Stress Disorder Scale (PDS, 49 items)
Multiscale Dissociation Inventory (MDI, 30 items)
Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II, 21 items)
Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI, 21 items)
Depression
Anxiety
Obsessive-compulsion
PTSD
Dissociation
Psychological sadism
Psychological masochism
Narcissism
Borderline pathology
Paranoia
BDSM practitioners lower
than normative samples
BDSM practitioners not
statistically different
BDSM practitioners higher
than normative samples
Depression
Obsessive-compulsion
Dissociation
Anxiety
Narcissism
PTSD
Psychological sadism
Out of body
experiences
Psychological masochism
Borderline pathology
Paranoia
Missing one’s
freeway exit
because one’s
mind is elsewhere
Ego selfinvolvement
Physiological short term changes in the brain
caused by SM related activities
• Transient Hypofrontality
•Subspace
•Domspace/topspace
•
Technique
• fMRI
• Cognitive tests
•
Ethics
• Participants
• IRB
• WCST
•
Timing & Intensity
• Runner’s high
• Distance in time
• Next Iteration
Read the
word
Green
Red
Blue
Yellow
Name the
color
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
Read the
word
Yellow
Green
Blue
Red
Name the
color
Green
Red
Yellow
Blue
▪Benefits
•No practice effects
•More accessible
•Take home
•Smartphone apps
Testosterone (pg/ml)
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Tops
Bottoms
Baseline
10 min before scene
0.35
Cortisol (ug/dl)
0.3
0.25
0.2
Tops
Bottoms
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
Baseline
20 min after
scene
40 min after
scene
Correlation does not imply
causation!


Seeking switches willing to be randomly
assigned to the top or bottom role
Friday, March 29th, 2013 at the Arizona Power
Exchange (APEX)



Seeking switches willing to be randomly
assigned to the top or bottom role
Friday, March 29th, 2013 at the Arizona Power
Exchange (APEX)
With generous support from:
http://www.niu.edu/user/tj0bjs1/bdsm.html
Brad Sagarin <bsagarin@niu.edu>