Accounts of experiences of play by individuals practising BDSM

Abstract

This research aimed to understand the experiences of play by practitioners of consensual bondage, discipline, dominance and submission and sadism and masochism (BDSM). Play is central during a BDSM scene, yet there is limited research taking into consideration the lived experiences of play of the practitioners. Drawing on a phenomenological framework, the lived experiences of BDSM practitioners were foregrounded in order to explore the experiential dimensions of play and what these meant for them. Data was collected via nine in-depth, semi-structured interviews with individuals who identified as BDSM practitioners. They were recruited through an online forum using a snowball sample and the data was analysed use interpretive phenomenological analysis. The experiences of play described in the research revealed clustered around power exchange in play, consent in BDSM play, transcendent states experienced during play, private versus public play. Another dimension that was revealed is how BDSM play empowered and healed many of the practitioners who participated in the research