Kink Isn't a Mental Disease

according to my research (Dr. John Warren talks in depth about it in The Loving Dominant- great book, by the by), the DSM III had down all kinky behavior as pathological, but with the release of the DSM IV (in mid 90s), your BDSM habits have to make you unhappy and interfere with your ability to interact with society to be deemed unhealthy- but consensual whipping now have a thumbs up from. the DSM IV has significantly eased up on us Dom/mes and subs, so that's good

we talked this over in a human sexuality course where we were able to look through and read the DSM IV. finally found the quote- hope this puts you at ease:

"The DSM-IV asserts that "The fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors" must "cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning" in order for sexual sadism or masochism to be considered a disorder. The manuals' latest edition (DSM-IV-TR) requires that the activity must be the sole means of sexual gratification for a period of six (6) months, and either cause "clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning" or involve a violation of "Consent" to be diagnosed as a paraphilia." "

and true sadomasochism *should* be a solid presence in the DSM as true sadism has nothing to do with consent.

I'm with Saurou. I'm training in Psychology and a BDSM practioner, and the DSM IV only really goes on to say that it's only a problem in extreme cases or when it interferes with daily life. So when you can't function without whippings a couple times a day, it's a problem. And that's not biased against kink - it's honest. Anything that does impede our normal functioning isn't normal.

They do mention fetishism as a disorder as well, but you don't appear to be picking on that. It's really because they use the same language for it as well - if it's your sole focus and you can't be distracted from it, then it's a problem.

If anything, work on how school textbooks focus on the issue. It's biasing and misinforming people who don't know better. The DSM IV is just trying to help.

I do see your point though and know that the petition is very prevalent in BDSM communities. But it's mostly by people who've never read the DSM.

So basically if it becomes an OCD thing, that is when it is deemed a disorder. Wouldn't it just fall under a compulsion of some sort?