Curative kink: survivors of early abuse transform trauma through BDSM

Figures & data

Table 1. Participant characteristics.

Participant	Age	Gender	Sexual orientation	Race/Ethnicity	Relationship status	Kink role	Abuse perpetrator(s)
Samantha	32	Cis woman	Bisexual	White	Poly	Little	Mother, acquaintance, ex-boyfriend
Natalie	23	Cis woman	Lesbian	White	Single	Sub, switch	Acquaintances
Faith	23	Non-binary	Bisexual	White	Engaged	Dom	Parents, friend, acquaintance
Ruby	23	Cis woman	Bisexual/pansexual	White	Single/poly	Switch	Coworkers, acquaintances
Maria	23	Cis woman	Bisexual	White	Married	Submissive, brat	Friend, partner
Odessa	39	Cis woman	Pansexual	White	Single	Brat, little	Family friend
Anna	31	Cis woman	Bi-curious	South Asian	Divorced	Submissive	Father, brother, uncles, cousins, neighbor, acquaintances, friends
Luna	22	Cis woman	Bisexual	White	Monogamous	Sub, switch	Parents, ex-boyfriend
JB	31	Cis woman	Heteroflexible	White	Single	Dominant	Family friend, acquaintances, friend, father
Jen	19	Trans woman	Pansexual	White	Poly	Alpha baby	Friend, partner
Lo	20	Cis woman	Pansexual	Brazilian	Monogamous	Slave	Mother’s boyfriends, stranger
Lil	27	Cis woman	Pansexual	Brazilian	Single	Bottom, hedonist	Friends, uncle
Ashley	28	Non-binary	Gay	White	Poly	Submissive	Parents
Tiffany	38	Cis woman	Pansexual/demisexual	White	Poly	Submissive	Friend’s brother, acquaintances, stranger
Micala	21	Cis woman	Bisexual	White	Married	Little, bottom	Stepfather, family friends
Kuri	22	Cis man	No label	White	Single	Switch	Stepfather, father, stranger
Erik	48	Trans man	Gay	Mixed Ethnicity	Married, poly	Boy	Mother, babysitters, acquaintances
David	23	Cis man	Gay	Black	Open relationship	Pig, submissive	Father
Khalil	20	Cis man	Heterosexual	White	Single	Dom, switch	Stepmother
Reddaza	30	Cis man	Heterosexual	White	Single	Master, dom	Father

Note. Abbreviated forms of cisgender (“cis”) and transgender (“trans”) are used. A little is the submissive partner in a Caregiver/Little (CGL) relational dynamic. A brat is a submissive partner whose intentional mischievous misbehavior evokes discipline in a dominant partner. According to Jen, an “alpha baby” is a switch-like role in CGL because Jen dominates “a lot of subs” and submits to “a lot of doms.” A pig, according to David, is a kink role in which “raunchy […] nasty or sleazy” sexual activities are focal (e.g. coprophagia). Tiffany also defined herself as a “partial switch […] middle […] kitten, puppy, dragon, fox [… and] smartass masochist.”

Figure 1. Thematic map of curative kink among survivors of early abuse. Five of the themes occurred in the cultural context of healing, which is represented by overlapping circles. These five themes occurred at the center of the three-way overlap. Thus, in the diagram, the themes are positioned for readability.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on the Open Science Framework, located at: MASKED FOR REVIEW.