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Classifying sexual disorders: the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association.

The objectivity of the classification of sexual disorders in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-III) of the American Psychiatric Association is explored via a critical examination of the replacement of homosexuality per se by ego-dystonic homosexuality, DSM's working concept of a mental disorder, the notion of a paraphilia, components of sexual identity, and the literature on variant sexual behaviors. It is argued that the same criteria that led to the removal of homosexuality per se as a mental disorder require the removal of all the paraphilias per se, there is no empirical warrant to justify their continued inclusion, and while there is legitimacy for a generalized ego-dystonic category, such ego-dystonias are only incidentally sexual. It is suggested that the present classification of sexual disorders is merely the codification of social mores.

Cues↗

Comparisons among heterosexual, bisexual, and homosexual male sadomasochists.

Between 1982 and 1984 a questionnaire designed to elicit demographic and behavioral information concerning individuals who participate in sadomasochism (S&M) was distributed nationally. Data from 136 heterosexual, 45 bisexual, and 91 homosexual male sadomasochists (N = 272) were analyzed. Similarities and differences among these three groups in response to 15 of the 40 questions asked concerning age and manner of first S&M interest, openness with others concerning those interests, self image and adjustment, sexual behavior, and sex role orientation are reported and compared to findings previously reported by Spengler (1977), Lee (1979), Kamel (1980), Weinberg & Falk (1980) and Weinberg, Williams, & Moser (1984). Issues concerning the categorization of the respondents into appropriate S&M sex role types are also discussed.

Gender Identity↗

Gay SM in pornography and reality.

A picture of SM interactions as depicted by pornographical issues of SM between 1974 and 1983 is presented by means of a correlational study of pornography. Actual SM scenarios are then compared with the depiction in magazines. The changes that have occurred over more than a decade reflected changes in the nature of violence and sexuality.

Erotica↗

The magazine of a sadomasochism club: the tie that binds.

The monthly magazine of a sadomasochism club was investigated as a means of describing important issues for club members. The magazine was selected for this exploratory study because it is: (a) The club's only recorded history; (b) the only repository of club members' writings and photographs; and (c) the only link to the club for about 15% of the membership who do not attend meetings or other club activities because they reside some distance from the club's two West Coast chapters. A descriptive content analysis was performed on 47 issues of the club's magazine, published between October 1983 and January 1988, and the results were combined with the findings of a December 1987 magazine readership survey completed by 44% of the 812 dues-paying club members. The author's nonparticipant observations of club programs are also reported. The results indicate the magazine's space is filled by seven subject categories: S/M media reviews (2% of space), S/M poetry (5%), S/M issues (10%), S/M "how-to" (12%), S/M photography (14%), fantasy and real S/M stories (17%), and organizational reports (40%).

Erotica↗

Leather nights in the woods: homosexual encounters in a Dutch highway rest area.

This article describes a small-scale research on homosexual encounters in a Dutch highway rest area called "the Mollebos." Research was carried out on Monday evenings and nights, the so-called "leather nights," which attracted a specific group of patrons: men into leathersexuality and sadomasochism (S&M). Participant observation, informal conversations, and in-depth interviews made it possible to analyze spatial strategy as used by cruising men and the individual meanings patrons attach to outdoor leather cruising. It was found that in the Netherlands cruisers are no longer members of "a silent community." The leather nights in the woods proved to be an important supplement for the Dutch gay leather and S&M scene. For many visitors they served as an erotic space to realize sexual fantasies.

Adolescent↗

S/M (sadomasochistic) interactions in semi-public settings.

An organized semi-public event for the exhibition of S/M (sadomasochistic) behavior is known as a "party" by the participants. Using a retrospective analysis of the author's experiences over the last 25 years, a description of these parties is presented. The present paper explores the structure, function, and purpose of these parties. The S/M behavior, sexual interactions, rules of etiquette, and structure of the party are summarized. The lack of genitally focused orgasm-seeking behavior at the party is discussed at length.

Female↗

"Beautiful publicity": an introduction to queer Asian film.

With a few seemingly apolitical exceptions, openly queer cinemas have generally charted two opposing courses-a propagandistic search for bourgeois acceptance or a radical challenge to sexual hegemony. Yet even the most politically challenging of queer films, for example those of Pasolini, are nevertheless distributed and disseminated through the heteronormative and hegemonically capitalist means they philosophically oppose. This essay thus takes as its texts two low-budget gay male Japanese films of the 1980s, which have been made available on international home video, as opposing examples of politicoeconomic allegories enacted within the self-reflexive contexts of queer cinema and gay male political history. Taken together, the two films present an interlocking example of how Asian queer films both engage and refute "Eastern" and "Western" conceptions of homosexuality and sexual politics in general.

Art↗

Sadomasochism and the social sciences: a review of the sociological and social psychological literature.

Recent literature about sadomasochism in Sociology and Social Psychology is reviewed. Studies include survey research and questionnaire studies, content analyses, ethnographic research, and critical essays. The current state of our knowledge of sadomasochism, including its defining characteristics, sadomasochistic identities, and sadomasochistic subcultures is briefly summarized.

Humans↗

Differences and similarities between gay and straight individuals involved in the sadomasochistic subculture.

Results from some new analyses as well as a selective review of the results of six empirical studies on a self-identified sample of sadomasochistically-oriented individuals (22 women and 162 men) with an emphasis on differences between gay and straight participants are presented. The gay male respondents seemed to be better educated, to hold white-collar occupations and to be more sadistically oriented. The gay male respondents became aware of their sadomasochistic preferences and had their first experiences at an older age. They showed a preference for leather outfits, anal intercourse, rimming, dildos, wrestling, special equipment and uniform scenes, and the straight male respondents for verbal humiliation, mask and blindfold, gags, rubber outfits, cane whipping, vaginal intercourse, cross dressing, and straitjackets, and different role plays except for uniform scenes. Four separate sexual themes were identified: hypermasculinity; administration and receiving of pain; physical restriction and psychological humiliation. Gay male participants showed a preference for hypermasculinity and straight men respondents for humiliation. The number of lesbian respondents was too low to draw any definite conclusions. Differences between gay and straight male sadomasochists in the present sample were found. Clearly, sadomasochism cannot be thought of as a unitary phenomenon: People who identify themselves as sadomasochists mean different things by these identifications.

Adult↗

24/7 SM slavery.

This study describes the nature of 24/7 SM slavery as practiced within the SM (sadomasochistic) community. These SM participants, who attempt to live full-time in owner-slave roles, represent a small proportion of those with SM interests. SM slaves have not been studied systematically to determine if and how they differ from other SM practitioners. An online questionnaire was used to obtain responses from individuals who self-identified as slaves. A total of 146 respondents participated, 53% female and 47% male, ranging in age from 18 to 72. We explored the depth of their relationships, how well they approximated "slavery," and how their relationships were structured to maintain distinct roles. Data showed that in long-term SM slave relationships, a power differential exists which extends beyond time-limited SM or sexual interactions. Owners and slaves often use common, daily life experiences or situations, such as the completion of household chores, money management, and morning or evening routines, to distinguish and maintain their respective roles. In addition, contrary to the perception of total submission, results revealed that slaves exercise free will when it is in their best interests to do so. These relationships were long-lasting and satisfying to the respondents.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Mainstreaming kink: the politics of BDSM representation in U.S. popular media.

This article explores nonpractitioners' understandings of and responses to the increasingly mainstream representation of BDSM in U.S. media, focusing on the film Secretary (Shainberg, 2002). Survey, focus group, and interview data indicate that popular images of SM promote the acceptance and understanding of sexual minorities through two mechanisms: acceptance via normalization, and understanding via pathologizing. Rather than challenging the privileged status of normative sexuality, these mechanisms reinforce boundaries between protected/privileged and policed/pathological sexualities. Instead of celebrating increased representation, this article argues that political energy might be directed toward the desire that the popularity of BDSM representations signifies: the desire to encounter authentic, undisciplined, and noncommodified representations that would transgress the sexual norms of American postmodern consumer culture.

Adult↗

Understanding sadomasochism: an empirical examination of four perspectives.

Three studies assessed current understandings of sadomasochism (SM). In Study 1 questionnaires testing four academic views of SM were administered to individuals who self-defined as involved in SM. The psychoanalytic, psychopathology/medical model, radical feminist and escape-from-self perspectives were not supported. Study 2 examined "virtual" sadomasochism as a source of information about sadomasochists in the real life world. Cluster analyses indicated that real-life and virtual sadomasochists share unique sexual proclivities. Study 3 examined an alternative view that identifies power as the commodity of importance in SM play. Content analysis of online SM encounters indicated that both "top" and "bottom" role-players used several specific techniques to create a power differential. These studies suggest that, contrary to many academic theories, power, and not the giving and receiving of pain, is at the core of SM.

Adult↗

The spanner trials and the changing law on sadomasochism in the UK.

In the United Kingdom in 1989 a group of gay men who had been engaging in consensual SM activities were put on trial and found guilty of assault. The dominants/tops were charged with assault, and the men who participated in the activities as "bottoms" or submissives were convicted of aiding and abetting assaults upon themselves. This article discusses these Spanner trials--as they came to be called--and the issues of consent and privacy on which they were argued. UK and potentially European law are being subjected to pressure for redefinition as a result of the Spanner case, as SM practitioners are beginning to experience the implications and fallout from the prosecutions. While there have been proposals to reform the laws about what has been deemed self-destructive and socially dangerous behavior, little has changed to date. The story of the prosecutions and appeals, and the pressures for a new legislative approach to decriminalize consensual SM, will be situated in the context of public interest claims to control the private actions of individuals in the interest of public health. Differences in interpretation that occur when gay men are involved as compared to heterosexual couples will also be discussed.

History, 20th Century↗

Negotiating limits: the legal status of S/M in the United States.

This paper reviews the origin of the concept of sadomasochism and its treatment by the American legal system. Relevant court cases and corollary issues such as the rights to privacy and sexual freedom, child custody, domestic violence, and employment discrimination are profiled. Organizations created by the gay, lesbian and heterosexual leather communities to create accurate public awareness of the SM subculture, and their programs of education and activism, are discussed and prospects for effective legislative change evaluated.

Child↗

Discrimination of SM-identified individuals.

The belief that sadomasochism (SM) is violence or abusive behavior has resulted in harassment, physical attacks, and discrimination against SM-identified individuals. Historically, they were often opposed by self-identified feminists. One reason the women who practiced SM were targeted was the official opposition to sadomasochistic practices promulgated by the National Organization for Women (NOW). Current statistics of incidents of discrimination, harassment and physical attacks against SM-identified individuals and SM groups are compiled by the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF).

Adult↗

S/M (sadomasochistic) interests as an issue in a child custody proceeding.

This article describes a child custody case centered on the fitness of the mother, who was involved in an SM relationship with her live-in boyfriend. Although the investigation confirmed that no child abuse had occurred, that the child was unaware of the mother's sexual interests, that there were no incidents of inappropriate sexual activities in front of the minor, and that the child was doing well, the court severely limited the mother's visitation and custody arrangements and ended her alimony. Practitioners of alternative sexual lifestyles have not fared well in child custody hearings, and this case is no exception. The present case indicates how the family court system can be biased against sexual minorities in general and SM practitioners in particular. In addition, the present case demonstrates how the DSM diagnostic criteria can be misused in dealing with alternative lifestyle practitioners. Recommendations for further education of the court and for future research are made.

Child↗

The ICD diagnoses of fetishism and sadomasochism.

In this article we discuss psychiatric diagnoses of sexual deviation as they appear in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), the internationally accepted classification and diagnostic system of the World Health Organization (WHO). Namely, we discuss the background of three diagnostic categories: Fetishism (F65.0), Fetishistic Transvestism (F65.1), and Sadomasochism (F65.5). Pertinent background issues regarding the above categories are followed by a critique of the usefulness of diagnosing these phenomena today. Specifically, we argue that Fetishism, Fetishistic Transvestism, and Sadomasochism, also labeled Paraphilia or perversion, should not be considered illnesses. Finally, we present the efforts of an initiative known as ReviseF65, which was established in 1997, to abolish these diagnoses.

Denmark↗