Not only do I love opportunities to share the things I learn with you, but I am also delighted to see that interdisciplinary studies of sex are finally scientifically probing into the natural diversity of human desires. If you’ve followed my work, particularly the Truth About Sex books, you know that “Diversity is the true norm.”
The study of sex is no longer the single domain of psychiatrists, as it was in the 19th century. They have been outpaced by biologists, neurologists, urologists, gynecologists, and, of course, sexologists. Their work has yielded fresh, even revolutionary, insights into how our bodies and reproductive organs actually work. It also revealed that intimacy and sexual health issues are sometimes more about the mind than the body.
Kink Gets the Science It Always Deserved
From the late 19th century to the early 21st, the so-called science of sex was trash. Science itself was newborn, and sex was viewed strictly through a narrow lens, deemed only permissible for reproductive purposes. Everything else was labeled abnormal, a sign of a weak or perverse mind. Psychiatrists offered mortifying cures for deviations like masturbation and drug treatments for wives who didn’t enjoy sex with their husbands.
We have come a long way, but nowhere NEAR far enough! Still, I’ve been happy to witness amazing progress in the study of BDSM, Kink, Fetish, and Leather.
For decades, kinky bodies were either invisible to medicine or treated as defective and forced into quack cures, from aversion therapy to forced drugs. Everything failed because their treatments had no scientific basis in the first place.
Today, researchers are measuring what actually happens in the bodies of consenting adults who practice BDSM. The findings are reshaping what science knows about pain, pleasure, sexual function, and even chronic illness.
I’ve prepped an interesting triad for you. I found three peer-reviewed studies that put kinky biology under the microscope. Each of these explores unique aspects of BDSM and sexuality.
1. Kinky Bodies in a Binary Sex Study
Cesur, E., & Sancak, B. (2024). Evaluation of Sexual Behavior and Sexual Functions of BDSM Practitioners: A Controlled Study. Noro Psikiyatr Ars, 61(2), 148–153. Open access: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11165605/
It was cool to find this study from Turkey. It compared 141 BDSM practitioners with 167 non-practicing controls using the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale, a validated clinical measure of sexual dysfunction. The findings split sharply by binary male/female gender, and the women’s results are remarkable.
Remarkable — but perhaps not surprising. Female kinksters did significantly better than non-kinky women on sex drive, arousal, lubrication, and satisfaction with orgasm. In plain English, we’re hornier and more responsive, and have massive orgasms. Uh, or so a friend told me. 😉
The effect on kinky women’s sex drive was meaningful. The researchers attributed this to lower body anxiety, lower sexual performance anxiety, and easier self-expression during BDSM scenes. The same dynamics that BDSM critics frame as degrading or oppressive (submission, surrender, being controlled) are correlated with measurably better sexual functioning in women who practice consensual kink.
The men’s results tell a different story. BDSM men scored worse on orgasm-related items, but the authors themselves explain that this is likely an artifact of measuring kink with only vanilla tools. Having an orgasm usually ends the scene for a man (or woman, depending on her body). BDSM scenes routinely feature controlled rituals (teasing and tying, for example) to delay orgasm, a form of edging to the point of exquisite agony. The researchers explicitly raised the possibility that intentional scene management explains the difference, rather than dysfunction.
2. BDSM Benefits Adults With Chronic Pain
Forer, R., & Westlake, B. (2025). Pain for pain: The benefits and challenges of BDSM participation for people with chronic pain – An exploratory study. Psychology & Sexuality. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19419899.2025.2507699
This international survey reached 525 BDSM practitioners across multiple countries. Of those, 38.3 percent reported living with chronic pain. The researchers compared this group with 305 practitioners without chronic pain, examining motivations, benefits, and challenges. The findings are clinically important.
Practitioners with chronic pain were not drawn to BDSM as a pain-management strategy. They came for the same reasons as everyone else. Once involved, however, they were 168 percent more likely than non-pain practitioners to cite mental health benefits as a reason to keep participating. Physical benefits also showed up, including pain offset relief during and after scenes.
The biological mechanism the authors propose involves the same neurochemical system that makes BDSM pleasurable for people like us. It’s about shifting levels of dopamine, cortisol, endogenous opioids, and endocannabinoids. For people whose pain systems are chronically dysregulated, the temporary recalibration during a BDSM scene appears to offer relief that conventional pain management often does not. The researchers are appropriately cautious on this point. It’s a clinical question that pain medicine has yet to address.
3. Kinky Brains Process Pain Differently
Kamping, S., Andoh, J., Bomba, I. C., Diers, M., Diesch, E., & Flor, H. (2016). Contextual modulation of pain in masochists: involvement of the parietal operculum and insula. Pain, 157(2), 445-455. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4795098/pdf/jop-157-445.pdf
This German study from Heidelberg University compared the brains of 16 masochists with 16 non-masochist controls. Researchers used a laser pinprick to deliver pain while showing each participant a series of images, including masochistic ones. The brain scans captured the neurological events.
The first major finding crushed a long-standing myth. Without masochistic-themed erotica, masochists rated pain the same as their controls. Their brains lit up identically to the control group, showing that they don’t like random pain any more than anyone else. But when their preferred erotic context was involved, their brains showed an unexpected response.
When viewing masochistic images during the same painful stimulus, masochists rated the pain as significantly less intense and less unpleasant than the controls. The reduction in pain carried the power of a dose of morphine! The brain scans showed altered activity in regions tied to self-awareness and emotional integration. The pain signals are processed differently.
For a great analysis of this important study, check out neuroscientist Hermes Solenzol’s accessible explanation for readers who want to dig deeper into brain anatomy.
What This Brain Study Tells Us
First, the brain’s reward and addiction pathway (the area that drugs like cocaine and opioids hijack) was NOT activated. This is neurological evidence that BDSM is not addictive the way substances are.
Second, the activated regions are tied to empathy, emotional awareness, and self-reflection, suggesting that masochism is a complex cognitive and emotional experience rather than a retrograde pain-pleasure reflex.
The State of Kink Research is Body-Positive
I’m over the moon about all the fascinating studies that are popping up. I hope they do not slow down or stop because of funding issues. I still have faith in the sex ed community: allies, friends, and groups I support have all been working extra hard to keep sex dialogues, advice, help and education alive.
The three studies above also give me hope that more medical researchers may start to look more closely at our brains, bodies, and genetics to unlock hundreds, if not thousands, of still-mysterious aspects of sex.
Got Feels? Share!
After reading about these studies, did you feel any resonance with them or their subjects?
Did you know there is a big BDSM community in Turkey? We are literally everywhere!
Have you noticed the differences between “good pain” and “bad pain”? Did any aspects of this research resonate with you ? Are there other questions you wish scientists would study?
The comments box is open, or you can drop me a line about this blog at gloria@gloriabrame.com. If I get enough feedback, I’ll publish it. Your anonymity is guaranteed.
For more research-driven sex ed, plus free guides on menopause and intimacy, get Dr. Brame’s free sexual health guides, designed strictly for pleasure-loving adults.
