Science of SM

1. Science of SM James Ambler Ellen Lee Northern Illinois University

2. Goals and Overview • The research process • Dance of Souls Study • APEX Switch Study • LLW Hook-Pull • Future directions • Why? • Three theories • Measurement

3. Why Practice SM? Benefits (not comprehensive)… • Community • Serious leisure and development of skills • Intimate relationships • Subjectively enjoyable • Altered States • Subspace • Domspace

4. Subspace “With my girl, she was punishing me, and I felt a deep sense of pain and pleasure, sort of a one with nature and my environment, it was incredible.” “It’s very dreamlike. I knew that I felt good, and I was aware of my partner, but I was not paying attention to anything else.” “I felt intense pleasure and pain, I almost felt like I was flying and for a moment I thought I would pass out. I felt like I was separating from my own body.” “An almost trance like state. Pain didn’t exist in any form.” “While bottoming with my partner, I was able to let go to the point of losing touch with reality while my partner spanked me.” “While being dominated I stepped back inside myself. After getting the rush from playing I lost track of what was going on, nothing seemed to affect me while I was down inside myself.”

6. Transient Hypofrontality Hypothesis • Subjective experience • time distortions • changes in focused attention • reduction of pain • feelings of floating • feelings of peacefulness • little consistent logic • difficulty with memory • feeling of living in the here and now • little active decision making Transient Hypofrontality States -Runner’s High  -Meditation  -Dreaming  -Day dreaming  -Hypnosis  -Various Drug Highs Dietrich (2003)

7. Limited Resources • “The human brain has limited resources” • Specific structures receive more blood flow as other structures receive less blood flow • “A minimum level of intensity is required to force the redistribution of resources in the brain.” Dietrich (2003)

8. Consciousness as a Process

9. Transient Hypofrontality Hypothesis Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DL): • Important for directed attention, temporal integration, and working memory Working memory deficits cause: • Less abstract thinking • Less access to memory • Less self-reflective consciousness • Less cognitive flexibility • These lead to subjective changes in consciousness Dietrich (2003)

10. What about tops?

11. Flow

12. Conditions Under Which Flow Happens • Engagement in activity chosen for its own sake (not necessary but a facilitative condition) • Perceived challenges are high while skill level is also high • Clear goals that are regarded important • Immediate feedback indicating success at task • Highly focused attention

13. Characteristics of Flow State • Intense concentration on task • Deep sense of involvement and merging of action and awareness • Sense of control over one’s actions • Enjoyment in activity • Distorted sense of time

14. Escape from the Self • Motivational; the self is sometimes burdensome • BDSM play • Pain • Bondage • Humiliation • Sex as a reinforcer • “Pain gradually obliterates psychological content, eventually leaving only the awareness of pain. One’s knowledge of the world is temporarily forgotten, and attention is narrowed to the immediate present, both spatially and temporally.” (Scarry, 1985) • Pain, interrupted action and failure feedback focus people’s attention Baumeister(1988) Vallacher & Wegner (1987, 1989)

15. Measurement • State is characterized by its temporary nature • Minimum invasiveness • Limitations of “direct” brain measurements • fMRI

16. The Stroop Test

17. Previous Findings • Thunder in the Mountains • SWLC Dance of Souls • APEX Switch Study

18. Testosterone Sagarin et al. (2009)

19. Cortisol Sagarin et al. (2009)

20. Relationship closeness Sagarin et al. (2009)

21. Southwest Leather Conference

22. Cortisol p = .064

23. Stressed Extremely p = .14 Not at all

24. Materials • Surveys (before, during, after) • Self/Other Overlap • We Relationship • PANAS • Open-ended questions • Why participate • Expectations of Dance

25. Self/Other Overlap, Relationship with Others p = .85 p = .005

26. Sexual vs. SM Extremely p =.09 Not at all

27. Sexual vs. SM vs. Spiritual Extremely p =.01 Not at all

28. Correlations – Sexual, SM, Spiritual • Spiritual • And pre self/other overlap = .527 (p = .01) • And during self/other overlap = .423 ( p = .007) • Sexual • And pre sexual arousal = .487 (p = .016) • And during sexual arousal = .758 (p = .001) • SM • And pre sexual arousal = .647 (p = .001) • And during sexual arousal = .342 (p = .031)

29. Sexual Arousal Extremely p <.001 Not at all

30. PANAS Extremely p = .175 p = .014 Not at all

31. SM Role x Sexual p = .036 p = .046

32. SM Role x Spiritual p = .057 p = .031

33. Pre-Dance Qualitative Data • Why are you participating in the Dance of Souls? What do you hope to get from the experience? • “It is a wonderful way to exchange energy not just with my owner but with my tribe. It is transcendental & amazing. It is also a great way to release the negative.” • “I find peace, power, and well-being at these events.” • “To participate in high energetic levels and feel the transformation that can occur in myself and others.” • “I have had visions and deep spiritual experiences. Or not. But it's fun anyway.”

34. During-Dance Qualitative Data • Any current thoughts or feelings during the Dance • “I am in an amazing happy place. Serene yet joyous.” • “Connection through the drums and the tribe and the shared energy that overrides any pain and opens my heart and mind to a focus beyond the physical.” • “Just very high!!!” • “Pleasantly exhausted” • “I'm very happy and aroused. I feel strong and beautiful.”

35. Post-Dance Qualitative Data • Please write down any thoughts or feelings: • “All throughout the dance, I felt very present and connected with everyone else there, but also recognized the work I was doing was my own work and needed my attention. I also felt closer to the spirits of those who have walked this earth before us and the Universe's energy abuzz inside me. It was beautiful and powerful.” • “Observed energetic releases of others, saw emotions stir in many; tears, anger, screaming, laughter, pure joy. Many had variety of different experiences. I got to share in all of them, and feel their release.”

37. Correlation does not imply causation!

38. Next Steps • Problems? • These studies were not direct tests of these theories • We can only interpret results cautiously • N size • The context and framing elements of the conference may influence the way participants perceived the Dance

39. APEX Switch Study • An experiment to test the causal effects of topping and bottoming • Recruited switches were randomly assigned to the top or bottom role • With generous support from:

40. Procedure • Informed consent • Baseline measures • Role assignment • Pre-scene measures • Scene • Post-scene measures

41. Testosterone by role

42. Cortisol by role

43. Psychological Stress

44. Self-other overlap

45. How intense was tonight’s scene?

46. What activities were most intense? • “the connection between us.” • “heavy flogging at end.” • “Being bitten on the tender sides of my stomach and ribs.” • “Biting the spot where her heart chakra is.” • “no one thing. It all added up to a very intense/gratifying scene.”

47. Sexual, Spiritual, SM

48. Sexual arousal

49. Positive affect(excited, determined, attentive, …)

50. Negative affect(distressed, irritable, nervous, …)