You could compare it, on one level, to watching horror films. Why do people want to scare themselves when they could be watching romantic comedies instead and feeling safe and warm, rather than terrified?
I think a lot of people, or perhaps everyone, have a very deep-seated attraction to fear and pain, and even death. BDSM for me is partly a way of exploring those feelings, and it's a fairly controlled way of doing so. And it's actually made me less of a physical coward, because I know I can take pain and deal with it.
And to make a slightly different point, the knowledge that someone who loves you can cause you pain and enjoy it, and make you enjoy it, is a mindfuck on so many levels, and mindfucks can be nice...
(Of course, someone who doesn't love you can also achieve those things, and that's possibly even more of a mindfuck.)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2001-06-13 04:12 am (UTC)I think a lot of people, or perhaps everyone, have a very deep-seated attraction to fear and pain, and even death. BDSM for me is partly a way of exploring those feelings, and it's a fairly controlled way of doing so. And it's actually made me less of a physical coward, because I know I can take pain and deal with it.
And to make a slightly different point, the knowledge that someone who loves you can cause you pain and enjoy it, and make you enjoy it, is a mindfuck on so many levels, and mindfucks can be nice...
(Of course, someone who doesn't love you can also achieve those things, and that's possibly even more of a mindfuck.)