These are short briefs on kink and polyamory research. Each one names a Sex and Psychology article, then says what the finding changes at a public play space, a class, or a hotel weekend.
The numbers stay on the original article. We do not reprint those posts. If a brief and a study disagree, believe the study.
How to use this desk
- Read the brief.
- Open the source when you want the sample and the method.
- Use the dungeon and event links when you are ready to go in person.
Safety
- What a dungeon monitor does at a public play space
- Sexual choking on social media, and dungeon rules
- Sexual choking among young adults, in plain language
- Body-fluid fetishes and why house rules mention them
Consent
- How BDSM partners negotiate by text and apps
- Sleep-play fantasies and why consent cannot be asleep
- Forced-sex fantasies are not consent
- When consent does not protect BDSM: the British ruling
- Cuckolding as a negotiated kink, not a surprise
- What kink spaces can teach about consent
- Consent practices the BDSM community already uses
- How consent works at an orgy or play party
- CNC fantasies after #MeToo: fantasy, then a real yes
- Feeder fetishes, weight gain, and consent
- Why rape fantasies are not a request to be harmed
Education
- Is kink an orientation? How to read the quiz
- Seven research-backed things about kink and BDSM
- Five things research has taught us about BDSM
- How common pregnancy fetishes are, and what that means
- Is BDSM always about sex?
- Cuckolding fantasies, and the difference from a plan
- Fantasies about being eaten, and the line at a real event
- Sadomasochistic fantasies and what the research is actually about
- Why people practice sexual sadism and masochism
- What draws people to kink, according to the research
- Kink vs fetish, in words you can use at an event
- How many people have tried BDSM?
- Is kink a sexual orientation?
- BDSM and relationship satisfaction
- Cuckolding: what the research covers
- Fetish myths the research does not support
- Where fetishes come from, and why the origin can wait
- How many Americans have tried BDSM?
- Erotic lactation and breast-milk fetishes
- What sex researchers say about BDSM
- Financial domination and money masochism
- Five research facts about BDSM
- Who practices BDSM, according to the research
- Do cuckold fantasies mean low self-esteem?
- Why Fifty Shades is not a BDSM how-to
- Cuckold fantasies and sexual function
- How common are BDSM fantasies?
- Are some people born with fetishes?
- What sadists and masochists actually do
- How common are sexual sadism and masochism?
- Why a cuckold fantasy is not a typical threesome
- Foot fetishes, beyond the joke
- Unusual fetishes, and how public spaces handle them
- Are people who practice BDSM psychologically disturbed?
- Is Fifty Shades an accurate picture of BDSM?
- Why some people have fetishes
Community
- Halloween kink, roleplay, and public events
- Neurodivergent people at kink events
- Threesomes, sex parties, and kink events after 2020
- Pet play, human cows, and public kink spaces
- Threesome research, and how group play is actually hosted
- Group-sex fantasies vs showing up at a play party
- What single people say about threesomes, and public events
- BDSM and group sex with friends with benefits
- Cuckolding vs swinging
- What people mean by an ideal threesome
- The ABDL fetish community, without the joke
- Fetish parties in fantasy surveys vs a real guest list
- Men's fantasy lists, threesomes, and real events
Polyamory
- How polyamorous people manage jealousy
- Are people wired for monogamy or non-monogamy?
- How many people want to try polyamory?
- Polyamory, open relationships, and the pandemic
- What people get wrong about polyamory
- Who is into polyamory?
- Sexual satisfaction among swingers and polyamorists
- Monogamy compared with consensual non-monogamy
- Who is most likely to be consensually non-monogamous?
- Four research findings on polyamorous relationships
- Benefits researchers associate with consensual non-monogamy
- Seven things to know about consensual non-monogamy
- Interest in consensual non-monogamy is up
- How many people have had a consensually non-monogamous relationship?
- How common is consensual non-monogamy?
- What readers said they feel about non-monogamy
- Stereotypes about polyamory, checked against research
- Finding someone who also wants non-monogamy
- Monogamous, monogamish, or polyamorous