Source: VRT.be (in Dutch)
FLANDERS – ANTWERP – The hormonal response experienced by runners after physical exertion is barely different from that of BDSM practitioners. The difference: a stigma attaches to the latter category. This is unjustified and not without consequences, according to research by the University of Antwerp. “In current psychiatry textbooks, BDSM is still listed as a disorder,” says doctoral researcher Elise Wuyts.
The acronym BDSM encompasses a range of concepts, such as bondage and discipline (BD), dominance and submission (DS), and sadism and masochism (SM). A 2017 study by UAntwerp involving over 1,000 Flemish people showed that nearly half of the respondents had engaged in a BDSM activity at least once.
“BDSM is often linked to sex, although that is not always the case. Despite the strong link with pain, BDSM practitioners experience the activity as pleasurable or arousing,” it is stated. Wuyts studied two test groups: submissive BDSM practitioners and dominant BDSM practitioners.
And we follow you back.
BDSM is often linked to sex, although that is not always the case. Elise Wuyts, PhD researcher, UAntwerp
What stood out? Among submissive practitioners, both stress and pleasure hormones rose in the blood. “In fact, the pleasure response appeared to be clearly linked to the stress response,” it is stated. Additionally, pain thresholds were higher in this group than in dominant practitioners. Hormones play a role in this, but so does the context. “We know that BDSM practitioners approach pain differently during role-playing. They put the sensation of pain into perspective.”
Yet, deviant behavior, such as BDSM, is still relegated to the realm of taboo. “Within a psychiatric context, we know that patients who engage in BDSM are sometimes reluctant to talk about it. They fear being labeled as ‘sick’,” says the researcher.
“In the most current version of the DSM-5 – the handbook for psychiatric disorders – you will find BDSM on the list of disorders,” it continues. “If we want to break the taboo surrounding BDSM, not only society but also the medical world must adjust its perspective.”
