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The 2009 KU Study
🕑 Added 2022-08-28 17:55:26 +0000 UTCHello darlings! I hope you're having a good weekend and enjoying what's left of the summer as the season winds down.
If you've been reading my Mistress Speaks missives for a while, you've probably heard me mention an interest in kink psychology. I've also brought up how (sadly) little research is done in this field. You've probably also seen me post this image, either here or on Twitter...
This one glowing star in an otherwise dark sky will be our topic for today. What this infographic describes is definitely true, but it's not the full story. The findings of the study are much more complicated.
The study is titled "Social Dominance and Forceful Submission Fantasies: Feminine Pathology or Power?" It's freely available to read online, if you wish, but I won't bother linking it. If you've ever looked at an academic paper, you know they're overly wordy, full of obscure jargon and hopelessly redundant. It's not what anyone would call fun or light reading. In my work, I have to deal with this kind of verbose nonsense all the time, so I'm happy to translate it into something more digestible.
This was one of the first big pieces of research that studied sexual submission fantasies not just in women, but in men. Its findings surprised a lot of people, but not many Dommes or submissive guys, needless to say.
Interestingly, they chose to craft the study through the lens of social/work status, income/wealth, general assertiveness and neuroticism. This limits the study in some ways, but also provides a unique and important perspective.
Basically, the paper has three main takeaways:
1) Men preferred Femdom fanstasy significantly more than women did.
No big surprise here. I think it's fairly common knowledge that there are more sub guys than Domme women.
2) Women preferred Maledom fantasy significantly more than men did.
Aha! Now we're getting somewhere. You see, it's not just Femdom that has an imbalance. It's also Maledom. There aren't enough men out there who want to dominate to satisfy all the women who want to submit. So the "subs forever looking for their dom" problem applies to women as well. This goes contrary to conventional wisdom that most guys want to dominate / be in control sexually. This is completely false. The study demonstrates that's not what most men want.
3) Men's preference for submission fantasies was GREATER than women's preference for submission fantasies.
*mushroom cloud*
There's the big one. The one that takes the popular narrative, rips it up and throws it in the dumpster. More men want to submit than women do.
So how does this relate to one's personality and place in the world? That's where the questions about job / status / mental state come in. This provides a few insightful secondary findings:
1) Women with high resource control (high income , high rank, stressful job, etc.) had the highest preference for Maledom fantasies and the lowest preference for Femdom. Women with moderate or low resource control showed much lower preference for Maledom scenarios and more interest in Femdom ones.
So, you would think, by flipping the genders, this dynamic would also apply to men, right? Not quite.
2) Men showed NO DIFFERENCE in preference in relation to their resource control. Whether they were high resource or not, a majority of men showed interest in Femdom fanstasies. The only interesting deviation was that high resource men ALSO showed an interest in Maledom fantasies.
So... high resource men are more likely to be switches? Or just more enamored with BDSM / kink in general? This needs more study.
3) High neuroticism (worry / anxiety / tendency towards negative feelings) was NOT correlated with preference to submit in women but WAS correlated with preference to submit in men.
This doesn't surprise me. It's likely due to men having to worry about rejection more than women, on average. In a Femdom scenario, there's no need to worry about rejection because it's the man who's being coveted / pursued / acted upon. This is half the appeal.
So, what can we take away from all of this? I think it shows there's definitely some truth to the old trope that people who work in high pressure, high responsibility, stressful jobs often use kink (and submission in particular) as a pressure release valve.
You've probably seen the trope play out in all kinds of movies, commercials, etc. The stereotypical CEO who hires a Dominatrix to whip him silly and beat his balls during his down time. Well guess what? That's also true for many "high power" women. They also like to exit the driver's seat and let someone else take the reigns in the bedroom.
I don't think that's too surprising. Nor should it be shocking that because men have traditionally worked more of those high pressure jobs, they're even more interested in submitting than women are.
It should be noted this study does NOT suggest that only highly neurotic men or CEOs and upper management people are into being dominated, just that there's a correlation. In fact, it proves that a broader range of men enjoy submission fantasies than do women. The study does an excellent job of putting some important realities into focus. What it doesn't do is delve into the different KINDS of submission fantasies and the reasons people prefer them.
Presumably there's a big difference between someone who wants loving Femdom with a caring, intimate partner, someone who just wants to get overpowered and dicked down by a hot trans woman / futanari, and someone who wants a woman to absolutely destroy his body with her whip, crop and boots.
There aren't just material factors to consider. There are also important PSYCHOLOGICAL factors. Do you think maybe that asshole CEO might want to hire a pain Domme, might feel like he deserves suffering and torture, because he's internalized a mountain of guilt? That he's done things in the pursuit of his career he knows, deep down, are morally and ethically wrong, even if they were legal? That he's being compelled by inner turmoil he can't fully understand or properly process? Of course he is.
This is a topic James and I have discussed at length. You'll see it arise in his stories and occasionally my posts, because it interests both of us greatly. I'd love to speak more on this topic, but I think I've said enough for one day. Perhaps we'll explore the psychology of submission more another time.
Preference poll below! I know this data will be skewed by the selection bias in our Femdom focused audience, but I'd like to see where our readers stand. Select all that you feel apply to you.
James is grinding away on the next chapter of Transcendent. Be on the lookout for that soon!
I'll see you next time you slutty subs and tantalizing tops! Stay naughty.
Yours Truly,
Mistress Cereza
Comments
James Bondage
Mistress Cereza: Thank you! The sample size was listed as 900 men and women.
Lollipopmelons
That was a fascinating read, though now i'm curious as to the sample size of the study
