Due in no small part to the wild popularity of the (fairly vanilla) erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey, BDSM and assorted other forms of kink are carving their way into the mainstream of late.
And one new study from the Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice suggests the altered state of consciousness that attends dominating and/or being dominated by a sexual partner can lead to a state of “flow” that in turn enhances awareness and creativity.
The study recruited 14 active BDSM participants, ages 23 to 64, that identified as “switches” — aka people who flip between dominant and submissive roles in bed. They then cast the participants in various sexual situations, from light touching to striking to bondage.
After testing saliva samples taken from before and after the trials as well as surveying the patients, the researchers found a consistent correlation between participation in acts of kink and an altered state of consciousness. More specifically, bottoms achieved greater transient hypofrontality (the feeling that time has slowed down), while tops showed a greater sense of “flow,” or a sense of control and loss of self-consciousness that leads to heightened creativity.
Another such study from 2013 in the Journal of Sexual Medicine found that people who engage in BDSM are more well-adjusted than persons who resist or repress the desire for fringe sexual acts. The study has played in important role in shifting the perception of these acts from perverse to palliative.
via Quartz
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