Bisexuality, pansexuality, queer identity, and kink identity

ABSTRACT

Sexual desires, behaviors and identities that focus on intense sensation, eroticized power exchange, or sensual experiences labeled fetishes, have important intersectionalities with bisexual or pansexual orientations, at least for some people. This raises some important considerations for therapy and counseling, and kink-aware therapists might bring a special set of skills and approaches to working with bisexual or pansexual clients. A qualitative analysis of 25 interviews with kink-identified, bisexual/pansexual/queer identified people highlighted the following patterns: the term queer, for some people, includes kink or BDSM sexualities; kink activities can be avenues for exploring gender identity and sexual orientation; and kink activities and community can be important elements in healing from shame, isolation, grief, and loss. Discussions of possible elements of competent care are reviewed in relation to kink sexuality and identity.

KEYWORDS:

• BDSM
• bisexuality
• identity development
• queer identity

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank Lyle Swallow, Calli Johnson, Ellora Vilkin, Dane Schnittman, Patricia Finnegan, Reika Faust, Deborah Wade, and Heidi Aronson for help with data collection and initial coding.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. BDSM is a compound acronym that stands for bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, sadism and masochism, and is often used by scholars and researchers who study alternative sexualities that involve fetish, power exchange, or intense sensation as erotic practices. Kink is a term created by members of alternative sexuality communities in the United States and has been in use by them continuously since the early twentieth century.

2. “cis” or “cisgender” is a term to denote a person who identifies with the gender category assigned to them at birth; it is used in contrast to transgender.

3. It must be noted that the early pansexual kink/BDSM organizations used the word “pansexual” to denote that the organization included both lesbian/gay and heterosexual kink-identified people, rather than denoting a pansexual sexual orientation or identity specifically.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Richard A. Sprott

Richard Sprott is adjunct faculty in the Department of Human Development and Women's Studies at CSU East Bay, and also executive director of CARAS – the Community-Academic Consortium for Research on Alternative Sexualities.

Bren Benoit Hadcock

Bren BenoitHadcock is a clinical counseling graduate student at the California School of Professional Psychology in San Francisco and a research assistant with the Community Academic Consortium for Research on Alternative Sexualities (CARAS).