[BennyGermany (OP)]

Hello,

I have two questions:

1) Are there any studies who compare how many % of BDSM-practioners were "sexually abused" in childhood and how many non-BDSM-practioners were "sexually abused" in childhood?

2) Patrick Holmberg wrote: "There is a long history of psychologists attempting to explain BDSM sexaual activity through the lens of mental illness including Sigmund Freud who argued that masochists were often people who were abused during childhood and were now attempting to gain mastery of this trauma by replicating it in a controlled environment (Connolly, 2006)."

is there any scientific literature about what is the truth in this issue/the speculation of Sigmund Freud?

Thank you very much in advance.

[BennyGermany (OP)]

In the meantime I found one important study:

Richters et al. (2008): Demographic and psychosocial features of participants in bondage and discipline, "sadomasochism" or dominance and submission (BDSM): data from a national survey. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 5 (7) 1660-1668.

"In Australia in 2001–2002, a representative sample of 19,307 respondents aged 16–59 years was interviewed by telephone."

"In total, 1.8% of sexually active people (2.2% of men, 1.3% of women) said they had been involved in BDSM in the previous year."

"Table 3 shows that for neither men nor women was engagement in BDSM significantly related to having been sexually coerced ever or before age 16 years."

Women who participated in BDSM Sex: 13,6 % coerced before age 16 years

Women who did not participated in BDSM Sex: 13,3 % coerced before age 16 years

Men who participated in BDSM Sex: 5,2 % coerced before age 16 years

Men who did not participated in BDSM Sex: 2,6 % coerced before age 16 years

So it seems "childhood sexual abuse" generally is not the reason to participate in BDSM.