The BDSM and money survey – first results

This is the first article detailing results from my BDSM and money survey. I collected responses between December 2013 and March 2015. 476 people took part, mainly recruited through BDSM websites, including fetlife, strangely normal and fetbook.

This article sets the scene: In the coming weeks I’ll write more detailed articles about the things people said concerning their BDSM spending. Other articles on the survey are linked at the bottom of this page.

Who took part?

Of the 476 people who took part:

• 67% came from the UK, 27% from the USA and 6% from elsewhere
• 53% were female, 43% male and 5% expressed another preference
• 64% said they were heterosexual, 6% said they were homosexual and 31% said they were bisexual.

What kind of BDSMer?

When it came to BDSM, participants said they were:

• 33% Tops/dominants, 46% bottoms/submissives and 21% switches
• 21% Sadists/masochists, 63% Dominants/submissives and 16% Masters/slaves

Money and spending priorities

I asked people to say which UK or US income quintile they fell into. The least populous response contained 18% of the sample and the most populous 22% – so the response broadly reflects the population as a whole.

Looking at areas of BDSM spending, the most popular three clothing categories were:

• Other – 70%
• Shoes and boots – 67%
• symbols of ownership – 58%

When it came to toys the top three are:

• Bondage items (84%)
• Impact play items (82%)
• Other (64%)

The percentages above relate to those who said they’d spent any money on any of these categories at any time.

When it comes to body modification, 35% had spent money on tattoos and 30% on body piercing.

BDSM as an Income

We asked whether respondents made any money from BDSM products or services. 17% said they had.

Of those, roughly a fifth said BDSM was their main source of income and a similar number said it was an important secondary source.

The top three paid activities were pro-domme (38%) and other sex worker, and making BDSM toys (both 21%).

How important is BDSM spending?

Only 13% of respondents said BDSM was their first spending priority (out of nine, excluding essential household expenditure like housing costs, food and energy). 15% rated it second and 13% third.

Across the sample as a whole family events took top priority, followed by holidays and eating out. BDSM was the fourth most important item out of nine. So, the people who took part take their BDSM pretty seriously.

The surveys

Please note that these surveys don’t have properly constructed samples – they are drawn entirely from people who see my posts on BDSM websites and choose to take part – all one can say is that they represent the views of the respondents themselves and not the BDSM community as a whole.

BDSM and Money – more articles

• I’d rather have a pizza with my kids in Ibiza – priorities for spending
• BDSM as a spending priority – Female Tops or Dominants rate it as more important
• Tattoos and piercings – who has spent money on them
• What people said their income was
• What we spend on what we wear – US vs UK
• What we spend on what we wear – Dominants, Submissives and switches
• What Pro-Dom/mes said about their spending