“Bondage and discipline may actually make men happier, according to the first national survey of Australian fetish habits. The new sex study has revealed that two per cent of Australian men and 1.4 per cent of women admit to enjoying dominance, submission and sadomasochism-type sex in the past year… In fact, says Dr Richters, men into BDSM scored significantly better on a scale of psychological wellbeing than other men. ‘This seems to imply that these men are actually happier as a result of their behaviour, though we’re not sure why,’ she said. ‘It might just be that they’re more in harmony with themselves because they’re into something unusual and are comfortable with that. There’s a lot to be said for accepting who you are.’ Researchers said the study helps break down the reigning stereotype that people into bondage and discipline were damaged as children and were therefore ‘dysfunctional’. ‘We really found that BDSM is simply a sexual interest or subculture attractive to a minority, not a pathological symptom of past abuse or difficulty with ‘normal’ sex,’ Dr Richters said. ‘They’ve just got a broader and more unusual sexual repertoire than most.’” — Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)

Unfortunately, much of the news here on PervScan is of the depressing sort. Story after story features people hurting and being hurt. There are disturbing cultural trends, outrageous acts performed in bestial ignorance, violence, punition, arrests. It’s a consequence of the fact that the site gleans most of its stories from the media, where news is bad news or it’s not news at all. Surely there are people living out their kinks in relatively ethical bliss — but because these people keep pretty much to themselves and don’t end up in jail, they rarely end up on the site.

As a result of this dreary panoply, it comes as a relief to read that fetishists satisfying their spanking fetishes can actually be happier and more fulfilled than “normal” people. Imagine that — happiness! In the discussion of perversions, there is much made of pleasure and little of happiness. It makes you wonder about the relationship between the two. You could define pleasure as a bodily state and happiness as an existential one. But after that the relationship gets complicated: pleasure doesn’t necessarily make a person happy, and happiness doesn’t necessarily make a person capable of pleasure. But lack of pleasure can make a person miserable, and lack of happiness can make pleasure seem meaningless or futile. And so on.

If you ever bother to read a biography of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the man whose name became masochism, you might find it puzzling to see that only the severest whippings — sometimes with nail-studded whips — could induce a feeling of serenity in the man. There are a number of possible biological mechanisms at work, and it’s quite possible the feeling of pain-induced euphoria is little different than the runner’s high experienced by marathoners. But in a more general sense, perhaps this Australian study hits the nail on the head. People are simply happier when they accept themselves, however kinky they may be.

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