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…
Tag: headspace
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…
Ask a Neuroscientist: A Fresh Look at Marijuana in the BDSM Scene
by Hermes Solenzol The recreational use of cannabis is now legal in my home state of California and in eight other states and Washington DC. Medical cannabis is legal in 28 states. So now more than half the people of the United States has some form of legal access to marijuana. In fact, marijuana use…
Do Slaveboys Dream of Soft Pillows?
It’s only a week into my first full-time job and i have already been through a rollercoaster of ups and downs. Every morning i’m up at 5am, drive to work at 7:30am, finish around 8pm, and then get back home for dinner around 10pm. The routine is automated and self-repetitive. i’m feeding the big corporate…
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…
Observations on Fisting: A Personal Journey
by Andrew H. What connects fisting to BDSM? Very simply, it is a power exchange. What elevates it beyond other power exchanges is that a man physically places his life, his very being, in the hand of another man. And whether fisting is part of a larger BDSM scene, or an activity in and of…
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…
Being a Leatherboy is a Lifestyle and a State of Mind
by boydon freeman We all know about Masters and slaves, Tops and bottoms, Doms and subs, but what exactly is a leatherboy? All around the US, leatherboys are participating in clubs, competing in contests, and volunteering for fund-raisers. The boy presence is very much in evidence at leather events. Maybe it would be helpful to…
Can Role-Play Add to the Pleasure That Pain Brings?
What’s in your sadomasochist (S/m) repertoire? If you think of role-play as “I’m the stern headmaster and you’re the naughty student” then some people enjoy that kind of play and some people don’t find much in it. In this context we’re talking about role-play as making up fictional characters or putting ourselves as real characters…