by Hermes Solenzol Everything I described in Ask a Neuroscientist: The physiology of BDSM (Part 1) – How Pain Moves to the Brain forms the so-called ascending pain pathway, which goes from the skin to the cerebral cortex. There, in the cortex, is where the pain becomes conscious, it is felt with its particular emotional…
Category: subspace & sub Drop
Ask a Neuroscientist: The Physiology of BDSM (Part 1/2) – How Pain Moves to the Brain
by Hermes Solenzol We need to rescue the word “sadist”. In the vanilla world it is often taken as a synonym of “cruel”, but in the BDSM culture we know this is not true. We are not cruel, we don’t like to cause suffering, just as masochists do not like to suffer. It is only…
Illustrated Guide – Neurochemicals
One of the great joys of the kink community is that everyone comes at things from a different angle. At a munch you might talk to someone who sees things in terms of energy and spirit, or someone who finds their joy in the sensate. One discussion you’re likely to come across is “the science…
BDSM Traffic Light Safewords – How Do They Work (and Not Work)?
Most of us are aware of the traffic light safewords system as a safety measurement/communication during a scene. Basically, a Dominant checks in by asking “how do you feel?”, and the submissive uses “green”, “orange”, “red” to indicate the subjective intensity the submissive is experiencing. Generally, “green” means everything is good, and please proceed in…
Spiritual Experiences in Kink: Reconfiguring the Order of Everyday Life
This builds on our previous article “Spiritual Love(and Kink, and Other Mind Exploring Stuff”. What makes that moment spiritual? And, how do we explain such an experience? i think many of us have discovered some kind of unique moment of spirituality during BDSM activities. We’re probably all familiar with subspace and Domspace, but is there something…
ADHD, Medication and Top/sub-spaces
When ADHD combines with BDSM it can be intensely fulfilling or intensely damaging. Overwhelmingly hot and positive, or overwhelmingly bad and negative. WHAT EXACTLY IS ADHD? In Focus, Forgetfulness and the ADHD sub i shared my personal story of attention deficit while trying to avoid the label. ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It’s…
The Dungeon Doorway Effect
If you’ve ever walked into a room to get your keys and forgotten what you’re looking for, or found yourself staring into the fridge wondering what it was you came to the kitchen for, then you’ve experienced the Doorway Effect. It’s not just you, it happens to all of us, and there’s a straightforward enough…
Panic Attacks in BDSM Scenes
by Hermes Solenzol Among the many problems that can happen in a scene, panic attacks can be a serious one, especially if the Top doesn’t know how to handle them. They are more common than you may think. Last month, during a talk I gave at Threshold (the BDSM organization of Los Angeles), I asked…
Endorphins and Adrenaline – What Science Really Says
By Hermes Solenzol There is an article that has been doing the rounds of BDSM community websites since at least 2013 and has been posted and reposted on blogs, tumblrs and forum boards, with titles such as “How to Get Your Sub into Subspace, a Guide for Beginners”. Here’s a small snip of it: “The…
Ask a Neuroscientist: Altered States of Consciousness in BDSM
by Hermes Solenzol One of the most fascinating aspects of BDSM is its ability to induce altered states of consciousness. Unfortunately it has also generated a series of pseudoscience myths and dubious techniques to induce endorphin release and attain that coveted sub-space. In this article I want to use my experience as both a BDSM…