“BDSM styles and relationships” was the second survey I did (the first was on BDSM and Education) I am in the process of transferring the articles i wrote about the results of these from my blog on the UK BDSM website http://www.informedconsent.co.uk which is due to close at the end of February. That survey asked a question about the nature of people`s relationships (whether they were in one, whether they were monogamous and if they had multiple partners, how aware they were of each other, etc). I asked a similar question in the survey I did on BDSM symbols of ownership and the responses to that can be found in this article.
First, the question was answered by 429 people of whom 94 said they were sadists/masochists, 277 said they were dominants/submissives and 58 said they were masters/slaves. 31 people skipped the question.
The options asked about (and the answers, in percentages, given by each group) are below:
Total sample
- I am not in a relationship; 19%
- I only have one partner; 48%
- My partners all know about each other; 7%
- My partners and their partners all know about each other and me; 11%
- None of my partners know about each other; 5%
- My secondary partner(s) knows about my primary partner; 7%
- Some of my partners know about each other; 5%
Sadists/masochists
- I am not in a relationship; 27%
- I only have one partner; 37%
- My partners all know about each other; 10%
- My partners and their partners all know about each other and me; 9%
- None of my partners know about each other; 6%
- My secondary partner(s) knows about my primary partner; 4%
- Some of my partners know about each other; 7%
Dominant/submissives
- I am not in a relationship; 18%
- I only have one partner; 50%
- My partners all know about each other; 11%
- My partners and their partners all know about each other and me; 3%
- None of my partners know about each other; 8%
- My secondary partner(s) knows about my primary partner; 8%
- Some of my partners know about each other; 4%
Masters/slaves
- I am not in a relationship: 10%
- I only have one partner; 52%
- My partners all know about each other; 3%
- My partners and their partners all know about each other and me; 16%
- None of my partners know about each other; 10%
- My secondary partner(s) knows about my primary partner; 5%
- Some of my partners know about each other; 3%
Related articles
- Safeword Survey – who uses them with their principal partners (belasarius.com)
- BDSM People who like “pain” and safewords (belasarius.com)
- Differing dynamics: S/m, M/s and D/s (belasarius.com)
A dominant and submissive life 
Posted in fetbook. Reposted here for completeness. In the safeword survey I did 16% of female submissives said they were single, as did 18% of dommes and 21% of female switches.
16% of Doms said they were single. So did 40 of male submissives and 43% of male switches.
46% of Dommes said they were in multiple relationships. So did 26% of female submissives and 51% of female switches.
40% of Doms said they were in more than one relationship. 30% of male submissives said this – as did the same proportion of male switches.
“Relationship” meant any sort of connection other than just play.
http://www.fetbook.it/go/forums/topic/387/d-s-ratio-s