PROVO, UTAH
The first systematic survey of the BDSM community has been completed by researchers at the University of Utah and it has some surprising findings. Nicknamed the “BDSM Census,” researchers surveyed over 2 million BDSM community members to try understand the demographics of this diverse and complex community.
Some of the most surprising findings were:
- Most who identify as TNG are, generally, under the age of 35
- No members of the community who have been active for 25 years or longer were under the age of 30
- All members of the community identified as either male, female or something different
- There were no duplicate definitions for the terms submissive, slave or property. Each term generated 2 million distinct definitions and 1.75 million arguments why everyone else’s definitions were wrong
- No one in the US actually does “shibari”
- Masochists report enjoying the sensation of “pain” while sadists enjoy inflicting “pain”
- Leather has a bizarre property of both having a clear, specific definition, but also “never meaning what you think it means.”
The full report which will be published in a special issue of the journal Nature represents the first time researchers have surveyed the BDSM community.
In spite of its importance as a landmark study, some community members remain unimpressed. Daryl, a poly hetero male switch, simply shrugged and said “You should have just asked me, I could have told you all that stuff.”
photo credit: Mark Nockleby cc
