DSM-5 and BDSM Today

How BDSM and slave train­ing can be affected by the new ver­sion of the DSM-5.  What this can mean and what it does not change.    The Amer­i­can Psy­chi­atric Asso­ci­a­tion (APA)  pub­lished a new ver­sion of it’s Diag­nos­tic and Sta­tis­ti­cal Man­ual of Men­tal Dis­or­ders.  The new ver­sion is referred to as the DSM-5.   Our inter­est in the DSM-5 is now it rede­fines BDSM and to a lesser extent slave training.

The DSM-5  mades changes that, over time, will have a pos­i­tive affect on the way the world views B.D.S.M. and slave train­ing.   In fact kinky sex in gen­eral will greatly ben­e­fit from the changes in word­ing.  To all those in the lifestyle that have taken an active role in help­ing change the APA’s view from the DSM-I  to the DSM-5,  THANK YOU!!!

Be Happy with your kink

Prior to the DSM-5 the APA defined  sex­ual behav­ior acts not solely focused on the gen­i­tals or breasts as para­phil­ias.  The word Para­phillas first appeared in the DSM-III and basi­cally is defined as unusual sex acts.

It is about time we leave 1900’s cen­tury views of Richard Von Krafft-Ebing and Sig­mund Freud behind. Their views of Sadism and Masochism still influ­ence many med­ical and legal views of kink.  Their writ­ings on the sub­ject were greatly guided by their own per­sonal bias and mis­un­der­stand­ings.  These two men are at the foun­da­tion of the mis­un­der­stand­ing of bdsm.  Freud expanded the work of Krafft-Ebing.   I have read that Freud didn’t think it was pos­si­ble for a male to be sub­mis­sive since it was against nature.   The crim­i­nal Jus­tice sys­tem had long gives weight to the views of these two.     This should start to change  even more with the DSM-5.

A friend of mine had her child removed from her care for six months because she was clas­si­fied as a sub­mis­sive engag­ing in BDSM.   The social worker tes­ti­fied in court (with­out inter­view­ing my friend)  that because she was engaged in BDSM she would beat her child.   What crap, but this poor woman suf­fered need­lessly for six months.   I hope the DSM-5 can be thrown in the face of these kinds of “expert” wit­nesses often used by the Pros­e­cu­tion.   In the end she got her child back but this is need­less trauma to both mother and child.  Yes, she fought tooth and nail to get her young baby back.

BUT before you get too happy about the DSM-5 changes:  MOST over­look this point.  There is no basic change in the diag­nos­tic struc­ture since the DSM-III for para­phil­ias. The kinky acts will still be called Para­phil­ias acts.  But now for it to be a dis­or­der two cri­te­ria must be met.   The 1) Para­phil­ias diag­no­sis  and  a 2) neg­a­tive con­se­quences cri­te­ria must both exist to be diag­nosed with a men­tal dis­or­der. Oth­er­wise they have a para­philia (and no diag­no­sis of a dis­or­der).  If the neg­a­tive con­se­quence does not exist then it’s a para­philia with­out harm and not a men­tal dis­or­der.  Remem­ber if they still see a neg­a­tive affect it is still a men­tal disorder.    

There is a small word­ing change made that might be over­looked at first but have a major impact in the long run.   The DSM-5 does not call “sadism” and “masochism”  in and of itself a dis­or­der.  It’s now called a “sadism dis­or­der.” or “Masochism dis­or­der”.     Yeah I know  (what the hell am I dri­ving at?)”  The APA is now leav­ing the door open for there being “Sadism” or “Masochism” behav­ior with­out it being a dis­or­der.  EXAMPLE:  An eat­ing dis­or­der is dif­fer­ent from the act of eat­ing.  You can eat with­out it being a dis­or­der.  This was done inten­tional by the APA.  So is short the words “Sadism” and “masochism”  along no longer describe a dis­or­der but a sex­ual practice.

A Derek Bow­den Image

KINK and harm

THE GOOD NEWS:  The DSM-5 finally makes a dis­tinc­tion between kink for enjoy­ment and kink that causes harm or dis­tress (con­se­quences).   So if you are a happy and healthy  kinkster you are not con­sid­ered as hav­ing a men­tal dis­or­der now.   Who knew??  LOL

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I want to thank Derek Bow­den  for allow­ing B.E.S.T. slave train­ing Guide the use some of his images.  It’s clear that he knows his art and has the skills to present it well.  It’s Derek’s way of shar­ing with us and help­ing the web­site grow.  His images help greatly in accen­tu­at­ing BDSM and slave train­ing.  Thanks Derek.

Image by Derek Bowden

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Con­sen­sual slav­ery in the bdsm lifestyle is not about forced slav­ery that is sup­ported by any Gov­ern­ment or local code. The slave girl con­sents and will­ingly gives her prop­erty to her mas­ter.  No gov­ern­ment on earth openly sup­ports slav­ery nor should they. We in the con­sen­sual lifestyle don’t need Gov­ern­ment laws legal­iz­ing slav­ery nor do we want them.  No human should be bound by force or law or have assets seized because they are a slave. To my knowl­edge no gov­ern­ment now offi­cially sup­ports slav­ery.  Read the rest of this entry →