From de Sade to the Dark Triad: SM in Shades of Gray

When people think about sadomasochism, what comes to mind? Rihanna? Or Law and Order: SVU? This workshop explores what lies in between. On one side are theories that view sadism as at best a pathology, at worst a crime. On the other side are perspectives that view sadism and masochism as healthy, if somewhat uncommon, expressions of human sexuality. Social scientists have just begun to investigate whether the sadism of the criminal who kidnaps and abuses a victim is the same as the sadism of the SM practitioner who ties up and whips a consenting partner. Brad and Evelyn will discuss the scientific evidence that these are completely separate phenomena that, unfortunately, share a name as well as scientific evidence that places these along a continuum, separated by emotions such as empathy that prevent most sadists from acting on their desires non-consensually. They look forward to an open discussion of what we know from a research point of view, what we have experienced as players, and what we speculate on a challenging topic that lies at the heart of what we do and why we do it. Other guest presenters for this workshop include James Ambler, Kathryn Klement, Sarah Hanson, David Wietting and Ellen Lee.