UllrsIshtar
Posts: 3693
Joined: 7/28/2012 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: ResidentSadist Some people have a cathartic experience with BDSM. But BDSM isn't about psychotherapy. The roots, origins and intent of the BDSM arts was all about sex. So although there are many exceptions, I feel it is a gross misunderstanding to say BDSM isn't about sex. BDSM is about sex and exploring limits. BDSM is about sex and catharsis. BDSM is about sex and etc. See, I get where your coming from, and I agree, most BDSM play is sexual, or at least sexy, and intended to be such. That doesn't change the fact that for me it's not about sex though. My BDSM exploration predates my sexual maturity. Hell, it predates me knowing what sex even was. I've been exploring concepts of D/s in fantasy for as long as I can remember, and I've engaged in self-bondage at night in bed since I was 5 or 6 years old (based on my mother walking in once to find me tied to my bed in the morning before I fell asleep before I remembered to untie myself). My power-play, kidnapping, being trained, etc fantasies, my interests in restraints, rope, etc, my explorations puppy/pony/kitten play all predate puberty, sexual interest, or interest in the other gender by over a decade. It wasn't sexual, to the point that usually in said fantasies, I was some sort of exotic animal, being captured and trained, with the gender of the trainer being so irrelevant that it wasn't even specified. I spent years of not sleeping a single night without some sort of restraint on be, before I even hit puberty (my mom, by the time I was 9, learned not to come into my room if she didn't want to have uncomfortable discussions about rope and chains). I wasn't sexually abused, or suffered any sort of childhood trauma or anything like that either. I have no explanation for it other than "I was born this way" and "It fundamentally predates, and stands aside from sexual interests". In fact, when I DID become sexually active, it took me a number of years to first attempt to masturbate while engaging in BDSM activities (prior it being two separate acts, I'd first masturbate and then tie myself up to sleep). And a while after that before the notion hit me "You know, if I told him it'd be okay to fuck me after he tied me up, I bet I could get a BOY to tie me up!", finally alleviating my frustration with inescapable bonds being impossible in self-bondage, although I still found it incredibly annoying that the boys whom I first played with wanted not to just fuck me once tied up, but play with me the entire time, when what I wanted was for them to tie me up and the leave me alone like that for several hours, preferable by leaving the room entirely. You can say that means I've got a mental disorder, because that's what the DSM claims and perhaps you're right, but the fact remains that BDSM isn't about sex, sexuality or even eroticism for me. Though I highly doubt it, considering that I'm a normal functioning adult with no significant problems adapting or living a fruitful, fulfilling, socially acceptable life. Based on that, I also doubt a clinician would consider my non-sexual BDSM interest and practices sign of a mental disorder, because they way those are diagnosed is by either determining that the subject's behavior is systematically harmful to themselves, or that they engage in compulsive (non-chosen) behavior that's harmful to others, neither one of which apply to me. Through my practicing of completely non-sexual BDSM, I've never harmed anybody else (though I have consensually hurt them) and I've never harmed myself (including no issues with work, social life, family life, self-esteem, body issues, etc). Sex and eroticism is something that I can add to my BDSM, to enhance it, and to make it a more enjoyable multi-person (vs solo) experience, but it's not a requirement for me, and sexuality certainly isn't the root cause of my interest in BDSM. Gender, sexual interest in the other person, or such things are only necessary when I'm actually looking to add sex to my kink. In the cases where sex and eroticism is unwanted (as in some of the scenes I enjoy) sexual attraction (especially from the Top towards me) is actually annoying, and a distraction. BDSM isn't about sex and ... for me. BDSM is about BDSM for me, and sex can be an optional component of that.
< Message edited by UllrsIshtar -- 5/29/2016 1:01:51 AM >
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I can be your whore I am the dirt you created I am your sinner And your whore But let me tell you something baby You love me for everything you hate me for
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