Divine kink: A consideration of the evidence for BDSM as spiritual ritual
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies September 1, 2019 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.24972/ijts.2019.38.1.220 via Semantic Scholar
Summary
BDSM may function as a spiritual ritual that produces altered states of consciousness, sharing elements of pain, ordeal, spiritual meaning, and transformative potential with extreme spiritual rituals. Interest in BDSM is growing in the West, partly because it fulfills spiritual and ritual roles for practitioners. The paper suggests that BDSM merits further study within transpersonal psychology.
Study at a glance
| Design | review |
|---|---|
| Key finding | BDSM shares key features with spiritual rituals, including pain, spiritual meaning, and transformative potential, and may facilitate altered states of consciousness. |
Abstract
This paper reviews the limited empirical research supporting BDSM as a spiritual ritual that enables distinct altered states of consciousness. It expands upon Sagarin, Lee, and Klement’s (2015) preliminary comparison of BDSM to extreme ritual by suggesting that BDSM bears in common with spiritual ritual elements of pain or ordeal, spiritual meaning, and transformative potential. An increasing interest in BDSM in the West is considered in light of the spiritual and ritual roles BDSM fulfills for many practitioners. The relevance of BDSM to transpersonal psychology is discussed and BDSM is considered as an area for further research in transpersonal psychology.