Janus/A View on SadoMasochism. By Don Miesen This essay is copyrighted by Don Miesen and is reproduced here with permission by the Society of Janus. It is divided into several sections, which can be read sequentially: Forward This essay attempts an introduction to SM, or Sadomasochism. It is based on my own 16 years in SM, with about 200 personal encounters; on the stories of some close personal SM friends; and on the accounts of perhaps 400 people met through The Society of Janus (an SM education and support group). I have tried especially to answer the questions usually asked by newcomers to SM, as well as to offer my own ideas about what SM is, and its place in the order of human affairs.
Aspects and Examples SM is the neighborhood kids playing cops and robbers, and the contented excitement of the victim--all tied up and the center of attention. SM is the woman doctor from out of state, whom you keep chained up all weekend, and your friends come to help you abuse her in every possible way. © Copyright Don Miesen, 1981. Ranai | Kink resources in many languages and kinky fiction. BDSM, Dominants, Switches, and Submissives all explained by Domina. Switch. So much of the BDSM world is defined by and individual’s label — Dominant, Submissive, Fetishist, Slave, Bottom or Top. These tags, titles, or definitions help members of the BDSM community to relate appropriately to their counterparts.
Although some individuals present as either naturally dominant or naturally submissive, others lean more towards both or neither, switching roles according to whim. To give an idea of the comparative popularity of switching, FetLife.com boasts a switches’ group of more than 6,000 members worldwide, compared with more than 13,000 in the biggest dominant group and more than 8,000 in the biggest submissive group. For this article’s purposes, a “switch” will refer to someone who participates in BDSM activities sometimes as a top and other times as a bottom or in the case of dominance and submission sometimes as a dominant and other times as a submissive. Still, that basic definition takes in a variety of situations. Sound hot to you? BDSM: What's with switching, anyway?
BDSM Psychobiology.