Kinky Sex Gone Wrong: Legal Prosecutions Concerning Consent, Age Play, and Death via BDSM

The Kink Orientation Scale: Developing and Validating a Measure of Kink Desire, Practice, and Identity

Kink, often referred to as BDSM, is an important aspect of a sizable minority's sexual desires, practices, and personal relationships, yet there are few ways to assess kink engagement in a holistic manner. This study aimed to develop the Kink Orientation Scale (KOS), a novel short tool for measuring different aspects of kink sexuality. In phase one, 27 items were created and included in the initial scale based on a literature review and focus groups with kinky and non-kinky individuals. In phase two, the KOS was administered to 200 university students. Exploratory Factor Analyses (EFA) were used to determine the factor structure and dimensionality of the KOS, and we retained 18 items in the scale and identified five factors. In phase three, the 18 item KOS was administered to a kink sample of 1025 participants as a form of validation. Confirmatory Factor Analyses also identified five factors with a strong overlap to the EFA. The five factors were: kink identity; kink community; kink paraphernalia; kink practices; and sexual communication. The kink sample also provided higher scores on the KOS compared with the non-kink sample. This study shows the potential utility of the KOS in measuring kink engagement holistically.

BDSM Safety in Pornography: Its Perceived Accuracy and Impact on Practitioners' Safe Word Practices

As some BDSM activities can carry risk of temporary or permanent marks/injury, and even death, safety is a foundational principle to BDSM participation. Given the connection between BDSM and sex for some practitioners, pornography is a likely domain for learning about BDSM safety, given its easy accessibility online. However, it is unclear whether practitioners view BDSM safety depicted in pornography as accurate and whether it influences their own practices. Therefore, the current study surveyed self-identified BDSM practitioners' perceptions of pornography's accurate representation of communication, consent, safe words, negotiation, general safety, and how these perceptions relate to their use of safe words and safety training in their own activities. Results showed that (1) demographics nor BDSM-related attributes predicted perceived accuracy of BDSM safety depictions in pornography; (2) perceived accuracy of pornography's depiction of BDSM general safety and safe words did not predict practitioners' negotiation or use of safe words; however, years of BDSM experience did predict safe word usage; (3) submissive-related BDSM roles were more likely to use safe words than dominant-related BDSM roles; (4) those who participated in BDSM only in private were less likely to have CPR and/or first-aid training and more likely to have no other safety training; (5) those who believed pornography depicted BDSM safety mostly/very accurately were more likely to have no safety training; and (6) years of BDSM experience did not predict safety training. The impact of these findings on how we understand the influence of pornography on real-world BDSM practices are discussed.

The Marginalization of Kink: Kinkphobia, Vanilla-Normativity and Kink-Normativity

A recent wave of academic research has highlighted the wide-ranging and negative impacts that stigma against kink has on kinksters. As scholarship continues to explore prejudice and discrimination around kink, this article argues that fresh insight can be found by drawing on adjacent work around other stigmatized sexualities. Over the previous decades, scholars in sexuality studies and queer studies have developed a powerful conceptual framework of "phobias" and "normativities" for thinking about the marginalization of sexual differences. This framework has its origins in the concepts of homophobia, heteronormativity and homonormativity, but its naming conventions and analytical insights have since been extended to address reproduction, romantic love, monogamy, gender identity, etc. This article argues that this conceptual framework should be expanded once again, this time to encompass kink. Building on the nascent use of this conceptual framework within kink scholarship, this article defines and expands on the concepts of kinkphobia and vanilla-normativity, and introduces the new concept of kink-normativity. This article demonstrates how these concepts can help us better talk about and think through the marginalization of kink.

Frequency, Method, Intensity, and Health Sequelae of Sexual Choking Among U.S. Undergraduate and Graduate Students

Although sexual choking is now prevalent, little is known about how people engage in choking in terms of frequency, intensity, method, or potential health sequelae. In a campus-representative survey of undergraduate and graduate students, we aimed to: (1) describe the prevalence of ever having choked/been choked as part of sex; (2) examine the characteristics of choking one's sexual partners (e.g., age at first experience, number of partners, frequency, intensity, method); (3) examine the characteristics of having been choked during sex; and (4) assess immediate responses of having been choked including the extent to which frequency and method (e.g., hand, ligature, limb) of having been choked predicts the range of responses endorsed by participants. A total of 4254 randomly sampled students (2668 undergraduate, 1576 graduate) completed a confidential online survey during Spring 2021. The mean age of first choking/being choked was about 19, with more undergraduates than graduate students reporting first choking/being choked in adolescence. Women and transgender/gender non-binary participants were significantly more likely to have been choked than men. Participants more often reported the use of hands compared to limbs or ligature. Common responses to being choked were pleasurable sensations/euphoria (81.7%), a head rush (43.8%), feeling like they could not breathe (43.0%), difficulty swallowing (38.9%), unable to speak (37.6%), and watery eyes (37.2%). About 15% had noticed neck bruising and 3% had lost consciousness from being choked. Greater frequency and intensity of being choked was associated with reports of more physical responses as was use of limb (arm, leg) or ligature.

"If Their Face Starts Turning Purple, You Are Probably Doing Something Wrong": Young Men's Experiences with Choking During Sex

Choking/strangulation during sex has become prevalent in the United States. Yet, no qualitative research has addressed men's choking experiences. Through interviews with 21 young adult men, we examined the language men use to refer to choking, how they first learned about it, their experiences with choking, and consent and safety practices. Men learned about choking during adolescence from pornography, partners, friends, and mainstream media. They engaged in choking to be kinky, adventurous, and to please partners. While many enjoyed or felt neutral about choking, others were reluctant to choke or be choked. Safety and verbal/non-verbal consent practices varied widely.