BDSM has been a topic I wanted to explore for a while after reading and viewing the film “Fifty Shades of Grey.” After watching the movie back in 2015, I noticed all over social media that there was graphics displaying acts of BDSM. Since the movie has aired, many people I communicate with have said they want to experiment with the sex that was displayed in “Fifty Shades of Grey.” My current research focus is on what BDSM is and how novels and films have allowed the BDSM community to expand.
“Bind my ankles with your white cotton rope so I cannot walk. Bind
my wrists so I cannot push you away. Place me on the bed and wrap your
rope tighter around my skin so it grips my flesh. Now I know that
struggle is useless, that I must lie here and submit to your mouth and
tongue and teeth, your hands and words and whims. I exist only as your
object. Exposed.”(Apostolides, 1999)
BDSM stands for Bondage and discipline (BD) and sadism and masochism as sadomasochism (S&M). The assumption of BDSM is that it is abusive and abnormal, but in reality it is more about partners having full trust in one another. When trust overpowers harm the result is intimacy and erotic. (Castleman, 2012) “Sadomasochism is defined as the knowing use of psychologically dominance and submission, and/or pain physical bondage, and/or pain, and/or other practices in a safe, legal, consensual manner in order for participants to experience erotic arousal and/or personal growth.” (Friedman, Pollitt, and Castaldo, 2015) BDSM, sadism, masochism and fetishism is also known as kink or kinky sex, Ortmann and Sprott, claimed that the term BDSM arose from the medical and psychiatric community. ( Friedman, Pollitt, and Casaldo, 2015) The terms sadist, masochist, switch, scene, safe word, dungeon or playhouse, vanilla sex, and top and/or bottom are commonly used in the BDSM community. Sadist is defined as a person who gets sexual pleasure from inflicting pain on the other. Masochist is defined as a person who gets sexual pleasure from receiving pain. Switch is a person who like to be both top and bottom depending on the scenes. Top is the dominant person in that scene also know as dominant, dom, or master/mistress. Bottom is the submissive in the scene, also known as the sub or slave. The scene is defined as the episode of the activity. Safe words are pre-arrange words used to end a scene. Dungeon or playhouse is defined as the designated place for the scene to take place.
According to Michael Castleman in his article, “A loving introduction to BDSM”, BDSM has been practiced since the time of the Ancient Greeks. Castleman goes on to say BDSM became popular in the 18th century, when European brothels began specializing in restraint, flagellation and other “punishments” that “dominant” women meted out to willingly “submissive” men.(Castleman, 2012). In 1791 the first SM novel was published by Marquis de Sade and is titled, “Justine”, the term “sadist” derived from the author’s last name. (Castleman, 2012). Following the publication of the novel, another novel was published in 1870, “Venus in Furs” written by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, which began the term, masochism (Castleman, 2012). Sigmund Freud, coined the term “sadomasochism” stating that the enjoyment is neurotic and psychological. The DSM which stands for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders classified sexual sadism as a deviation, DSM-II did the same for machochism (Castleman, 2012). When the DSM-IV came out, it listed SM as a psychiatric disorder (Castleman, 2012).
In a study conducted by Amy Bonomi, Emily Nichols, Christin Carotta, Yuya Kiuchi, and Samantha Perry they examined women's perceptions on the “Fifty Shades of Grey” film to see what they thought was appealing and not appealing, and what the women would welcome into a relationship(Bonomi, Nichols, Carotta, Kiuchi, and Perry). There was a total of 35 young women that participated in the study, age range from 19 to 24 years old with the average age of 21 years old. The sample of the study, was more ethnicity diverse, 32.2% of the participants identified as racial/ethnic minority and all had at least one year of college education, 42% of the sample had interacted with the novel “Fifty Shades of Grey”(Bonomi, Nichols, Carotta, Kiuchi, and Perry). Two focus sessions were conducted, and the focus groups answered seven semi structured questions focusing on the relationships between the couples in the movie. To collect the data researchers used two approaches, one was a notetaker and the other approach was audio taping the focus groups, there was a total of four staff members in attendance during the focus sessions(Bonomi, Nichols, Carotta, Kiuchi, and Perry). From the evidence that was collected regarding BDSM, the participants all felt they would do some experimenting with it, and deemed it appealing during the movie. On contrary they were adamant on what they would not tolerate in a relationship, one being a partner who showed anger in sexual interactions. (Bonomi, Nichols, Carotta, Kiuchi, and Perry). A small amount of participants felt that the women should have drew the line when she felt uncomfortable participating in the sexual activities(BDSM)(Bonomi, Nichols, Carotta, Kiuchi, and Perry). In response to the questions participants mentioned the idea of maintaining a sense of self, and self determination throughout relationships (Bonomi, Nichols, Carotta, Kiuchi, and Perry). At the end of the study, researchers acknowledge the limitations to their study by stating it's limited to college women who participated in the study at Midwestern University. Also the focus on college women was intended to represent the perspectives on emerging adult women on love, sexuality, and sexual expression (Bonomi, Nichols, Carotta, Kiuchi, and Perry).
In another case study conducted by N. Kenneth Sandnabba, Pekka Santtila, and Niklas Nording they examined the sexual adaptations and behaviors of male sadomasochists. There was a total of one hundred and sixty four men who were apart of two sadomasochistically clubs (Sandnabba, Santtila, and Nording, 1999) Seventy nine were recruited from Kinky Club which consisted of hetetsexual members , and eighty five were from MSC-FInland Association with mainly homosexual members(Sandnabba, Santtila, and Nording, 1999). They compared their sample with the Finnish study, which ten percent of their participants had a university or college degree. The current study showed that, their participants had an higher education level, x2(4,n=185)=590.69,p<.001 and a higher income level, x22(4,n=162)=99.68 than Finnish overall sample population(Sandnabba, Santtila, and Nording, 1999). To conducted the study the researchers used questionnaires that was specifically created for their study. It was a total of two hundred and thirty seven questions petermaning demographics, sexual behaviors, subcultural integration, attitudes toward sadomasochism, sexual abuse, and mental health. To test their sexual satisfaction they used Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory(DSFI) and the Satisfaction subsection of the Eysenck Inventory of Attitudes to sex to validate the findings(Sandnabba, Santtila, and Nording, 1999). To identify their sadomasochistic behavior they asked questions pertaining to the sexual practices, and when they started practicing sadomasochism. They found the median age for first awareness of BDSM was between the ages eighteen and twenty and the average age BDSM being practice was between the ages twenty one through twenty five(Sandnabba, Santtila, and Nording, 1999). A higher perctange of hetersexual males identifed as machosist and a higher proportion of hetesexual males identifed as sadists, there was not a correlation between education and either being a sadist or masochist. It was found that forty five percent of the sample were not in a relationship, while the rest were either divorced, widowed, or engaged(Sandnabba, Santtila, and Nording, 1999). They discovered that participants engaged in lighter sessions than what they would like, and all participants engaged in ordinary sex as well(Sandnabba, Santtila, and Nording, 1999).
In Rachel Deahl article, “The fifty shades tail: How long, and far will it stretch” she talks about how novels are promising more erotic storylines. According to Deahl publishers are hoping books with bdsm hooks and a relationship that mimics the master/slave one will now have a new audience (Deahl, 2012). She goes on to say bdsm storylines has not been taken over by romance novels yet, but later adds the top four books listed on bookscan was the E.L James trilogy Fifty Shades books and Bared to you which is another book capitalizing on BDSM (Deahl, 2012). BDSM is now being viewed as romance, and promoted as so. Throughout the article Deahl reference other novels that includes BDSM in it, but instead of the term BDSM it's now referenced as erotic sex. In the article she quoted Harlequin’s Mira imprint, v-p of single title editorial Margaret Marbury who said, “Fifty shades has caused a boom for the romance category, …Fifty Shades has certainly given a lift to our erotic backlist. It has raised all boats, in that sense.”(Deahl, 2012).
In an article written titled, Different (Painful!) Strokes for Different Folks: a general overview of Sexual Sadomasochism (SM) and its Diversity the author provides an overview of BDSM for clinicians. The purpose of this article was to inform others of BDSM and define it. SM is the the term used in professional literature, with acronym BDSM more commonly used among participants, BDSM illustrates the diverse components of the experience (Williams, 2006) According to the author, DJ Williams SM represents a wide range of behaviors, and can be experienced and have different meanings among individuals (Williams, 2006). BDSM is a variety of behaviors related to power exchange and the application of pain in a context. It was noted that people may partake in the experience “for a natural high that only pain can provide”, or a way of creatively expressing themselves, or because of the closeness they feel with their partner. Behaviors often associated with BDSM are the following; Bondage/Restraints, Fisting, Role Play spanking, hot wax, hoods, cuttings, knife play, clothes pin and clamps, Flogging/whipping, humiliation etc., that's just some the list goes on. The internet and technology has contributed to new variations of BDSM. there have been books written introducing BDSM, such as Screw the Roses, Send me Thorns, and Consensual Sadomasochism, that a few there are others (Williams, 2006). In the article, it does not say if the books allowed for the BDSM community to expand or not.
My paper is an literature review, and all the information that was provided was gathered from scholarly articles and sources. Unfortunately there were not many findings, on if novels and films are allowing the BDSM community to expand. Lots of empirical research, has not been done yet. BDSM is becoming normalized, due to there is plenty of sources that provides in depth research on BDSM awareness and how to