Last month the Science of BDSM Research Team attended the
Southwest Leather Conference in Phoenix to present, collect data, have fun with
friends and make some new ones. We had a
really great time- we always do!
At SWLC, we presented “The Science of BDSM: The Many Faces
of Masochism and Sadism.” In it, we discussed some work from other research
labs that links masochism to eating chili peppers, riding roller coasters, and climbing
mountains, and sadism to Internet trolling and delivering noise blasts in a
laboratory game. We also shared the results from research we conducted at the
2014 Dance of Souls and some pictures from our first study of hooked suspensions.
There was a lively discussion, and the audience provided some very thoughtful
feedback. The ideas that come out of these discussions help us to better understand
our research findings and to develop future research questions. So thank you to everyone who attended! Slides
from the presentation are available here.
We also began data collection on two online
surveys at SWLC. Both of these surveys are up on our website and are available here, if
you would like to participate.
The first survey is being led by Kathryn Klement. It
investigates attitudes towards sexual violence. All the scales in the survey
were developed by other researchers and have been well validated and used in a
number of previous studies. We are particularly interested in studying these
beliefs within the BDSM community given the community’s emphasis on explicit
consent.
With the second survey I am studying the expectations that people
have about BDSM practitioners. Participants are asked to describe the traits,
qualities, and characteristics of BDSM practitioners in both open-ended and
close-ended formats. The goal of this study to better understand assumptions
about BDSM practitioners, whether media presentations of BDSM practitioners
affect these assumptions, and whether these assumptions might lead to discrimination.
We are also recruiting members of the Master/slave community
for an interview study investigating dynamics of Master/slave relationships. Bert Cutler and I are working together to develop
the interview protocol, and we’re hoping to start interviewing people in the
next few months. If you and or your relationship partner are interested in
participating, please email me at EllenMorganLee@gmail.com .
Our work could not happen without the support of the BDSM
community and those who generously give us their time and effort. We are so
grateful to all those who get involved in our research, whether it be by taking
a survey, doing an interview, helping us network and set up studies, or just
having a discussion with us about research ideas.
Your encouragement means a lot to us, too—especially as we traverse
the sometimes bruising process of publishing our research in academic journals
(so it makes us smile when people walk past our research table at a conference
and shout, “Science, F*ck yeah!”). At SWLC last month, we were rendered speechless
when Elegant, slave tina, and judi presented us with our team’s patch on a
leather square that would become part of the Leather Quilt. Elegant made the
patch, and Elegant, slave tina, and judi donated the patch on behalf of the
research team. It is this kind of support
from the community that fills us with energy to keep working. We really care
about this research, and we’re glad you do too. Thank you!
