![]() Welcome to The Science of BDSM, the web site for the Science of BDSM Research Team.
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The Science of BDSM Research Team is led by professor of social psychology, Dr. Brad Sagarin, and composed of academics and community members. Members of the team include graduate and undergraduate students in a variety of fields, professors of psychology, clinical psychologists, and kinky people who are interested in supporting research. The team aspires to produce and disseminate quality research on BDSM (bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, sadism/masochism), and kink related topics.
The team seeks to understand the nature, dynamics, motivations, and effects of BDSM activities and relationships. To do so, it is committed to designing and conducting ethical studies, thoughtfully analyzing and interpreting data, and disseminating the results in as objective a manner as possible. The team assumes that many people do BDSM for psychologically healthy reasons, and believes that de-pathologizing BDSM will help the scientific community and the BDSM community. The team anticipates that its research will yield a mix of findings, some congenial to a view of BDSM as healthy and some not, and it is dedicated to being open and transparent about all of its findings. |
Bert, who previously collaborated on BDSM research with Brad, encouraged the team to move beyond discussion to presenting at BDSM/Leather conferences and conducting research. With Bert’s encouragement, the team did just that. Bert arranged the team’s first presentation at the 2011 Southwest Leather Conference (SWLC) where they presented, “The Science of SM.” The team has since presented at other BDSM/Leather organizations and conferences including: Galleria Domain 2 in Chicago, Cleveland Leather Alliance Weekend (CLAW), the Society of Janus, the Leather Levi Weekend (LLW), Frolicon, the Master/slave Conference, Power Exchange Summit, Great Lakes Leather Alliance, and Winter Wickedness. They have also collected data for studies hosted by the Arizona Power Exchange, Edgewalkers, SWLC, LLW, Thunder in the Mountains, and Eldritch Brothers Tattoo & Piercing. | FEBRUARY 27 - FEBRUARY 29 Jen will present her work on sadism at the 2020 Society for Personality and Social Psychology Convention in New Orleans, LA. APRIL 3 - APRIL 5 The BDSM Research Team will be attending Kinky Kollege Spring Break. Details coming. NEED TO SEND IN A PAPER SURVEY? MAIL TO: Brad Sagarin Department of Psychology Northern Illinois University DeKalb, IL 60115 OR EMAIL TO: bsagarin@niu.edu |