Articles
Pain and Pleasure
03-02-08
An introduction to your emotions
The human brain is a complex instrument and something we still know far too little about to fully understand. Our personality - what we are - is a complex result of genetic encoding, upbringing, education, impressions and personal experiences. Since even the most advanced scientists only partially understand this complex mix and the importance of different elements, it is still impossible to say what exactly determines your sexuality, personality and orientation. In other words: there is no way to provide a solid answer to the question "Why do I have these emotions and what makes them so important".
If you have been or are a member of Internet discussion lists or if you read newsgroups you will have been confronted with endless discussions about questions such as "what makes me", "the true BDSM-emotions", "real submissives and dominants" and a lot more of what we can safely call a bunch of crap.
The bottom line is there are no answers - there are only windows to what happens in our brain and we will introduce you to some them in various courses. At this point it is simply a matter of accepting that you ARE - not WHAT MADE YOU.
The forest
One way to look at yourself is this way. Your personality is the result of many different facets, parts and particles. Try seeing yourself as a forest. Each forest has different characteristics, different trees, animals and plants. In your forest one of the trees is called "Erotic Power Exchange". And in your forest that tree may either be a very big one, very small or something in between. It may be that tree is the central, identifying oak in the middle or just a small tree in a corner section of the forest. It may be a pine tree or anything else. Trees are different. So are Erotic Power Exchange emotions. Just two things are certain - your personal forest is incomplete without that specific tree and your forest and the tree are unique. It is your forest and your tree. Other forests and other trees may be - and probably will be - different, yet are still - also - trees and forests.
At this point it may very well be totally unclear to you what this tree looks like, how big it is and where in the forest it is. Also, as time progresses the forest changes. Other trees grow as well, some may even die. In other words, your personality is something that changes constantly and as a result emotions and priorities (trees) may become more or less important, may even fade away completely or may change character.
This, to many, is confusing. Nothing is carved in stone and your personality is a floating, growing, evolving, changing "thing". As you grow older you gain more insights, better understanding and priorities change. As a result, your erotic power exchange emotions will change - from gaining more knowledge, for practical reasons (it is a bit hard to be tied to four stakes and have a huge "gang bang" when you're 67 years old) and just because they do.
Shifting self image
One thing is clear: your "erotic power exchange tree" deserves attention. It deserves a place in the forest, it requires water, nutrients, sufficient space, a place in the sun and attention. All that starts with attention and acceptance. Accepting the tree is there, that will not push all the other trees in the forest away. Attention in the sense that you will need to try and understand it, find out what this tree is all about and learn how to enjoy it.
Many people talk about "pushing limits". In fact what really happens is that - as you gain better understanding of what this is all about - you learn and your self image changes as a result of that. So your limits and priorities are not pushed, they simply change.
Scary
Especially if all this is new to you - but also whenever you experience a sudden, unexpected shift in your emotions - it may scare you. Nothing wrong with that. All it means is that you will have to take some time (sometimes that may be a long time) to sit back, digest and understand what is going on and accept it. One thing we do know: fighting it or pushing it away won't help.
What happens inside your body
It is becoming apparent that there are rather important micro-biological and bio-chemical aspects to domination and submission. Certainly, hormonal activity is not THE explanation for what happens - both as far as the emotions itself as their rush and attraction is concerned, but it certainly is part of an explanation. Understanding about hormonal activity will give you a better understanding of why you do the things you do and knowing about things like endorphins, adrenaline and serotonine will also help you understand why safety is so important.
The Number 1 Frequently Asked Question - most certainly by people outside the erotic power exchange world - is. "What is so nice about pain?" Well, there is nothing "nice" about just pain. A black eye or a punch in the nose is just as painful and "un-nice" to people with an erotic power exchange inclination as they are to others. But, when applied with care and knowledge, pain (and similar impulses, such as fear and humiliation) can do several different things to your body and mind. It can get you into a rush, it can be intensely erotic and it can change your mind completely.
"Pain" has different forms and shapes and in fact is a blanket term for or all sorts of signals to and from our brain. The main message "pain" sends to the brain is: "Here is a newsflash. Stop press, hold other things, this message has priority." Latest research by psychologists and neurologists shows that "pain" is not just a physical reaction but can be a psychological one as well. And physical "pain" impulses can be and are influenced by psychological factors. Stress for example can block the perception of pain, whereas fear or anxiety can increase this perception. Yes, we are talking perception here, because "pain" is not an automated - and hence always identical - signal. It is a signal that is interpreted by the brain before it is put through. The area in the brain known as the thalamus is where the pain-signal enters the brain: the "pain gate" and this gate interprets. In fact, by giving micro-electronic impulses to this "pain gate" directly, doctors can stop patients feel pain. Oversimplified: if you pull out the plug, you will not feel pain.
Rush The Rush
Let us first explain what pain does to your body. A pain impulse will set off your adrenaline production. Adrenaline is a "home made" (inside your body) drug that will make you more aware of things. Adrenaline is produced whenever your body or mind feels stress, pain, danger or uncertainty. Managers and athletes are usually real adrenaline junks and so are many of the people who are into erotic power exchange. Prolonged exposure to pain will set of the production of endorphins. These are various natural opiates, also produced by your own body and - among many other things - used as a natural pain killer. This will get you into the "rush" and will send your mind off on a trip.
There is a lot to say about adrenaline. Without making things too complicated: what is generally described as "adrenaline" in fact are two hormones - adrenaline (a.k.a. epinephrine) and noradrenaline (a.k.a. norepinephrine). Both are produced in the lower section of the human brain, a section called the medulla or adrenal gland. Both are also secreted by nerve ends and operate as a neurotransmitter (to facilitate quicker transmission of signals from and to the brain). They are complementary, although adrenaline seems to concentrate predominantly on brain and heart activity and speeding up the metabolism, whereas noradrenaline predominantly concentrates on vasoconstrictor action (pumping activity in and by the blood veins) and as such rises the blood pressure.
The "adrenaline twins" are your bodies' immediate response kit. Even before the brain has analyzed signals that indicate a "difference" in what was normal physical activity until that point, adrenaline will be released. The signals might later be analyzed as either danger, stress, pain or another alarm signal and even before the brain has done its split second analyses adrenaline will start to prepare the body for physical response. The release will bring your sensory systems (eyes, ears, nerve ends and such) to a higher state of awareness, will start to speed up your metabolism with the purpose to quickly filter out sugars that will serve as immediate energy for the muscles, will increase the heart rhythm and vascular activity (in order to allow for faster transportation of the energy to the muscles) and finally will give impulses to the thalamus (the pain gate) in the brain and as such operates as a pain killer. If the signals are analyzed by the brain as false alarm, the production of adrenaline will stop and the body will return to its normal functions.
There is another important thing adrenaline does to men only: preparing them to reproduce! This is the plain and simple rudimentary genetically encoded evolutionary response to danger: whatever happens next, make sure there is at least a remote change the genes are passed on the next generation. You may not like it, but that is evolution's way to protect the species. And as such adrenaline helps to create an immediate sexual response to any adrenaline-creating situation.
Both adrenaline and endorphins (amino acids) are addictive, although not to the extent that it becomes dangerous. It is well known that top sports people, high profile managers, stock traders, fighter pilots and people who are into kicks develop a slight adrenaline and/or endorphins addiction. This too happens to erotic power exchange people. Although this is by no means a (let alone the) explanation of why people are attracted to erotic power exchange, it is a factor that should be kept in mind as "playing a role in the entire process".
Pain and other things set of your own internal chemical factory. This is one of the main reasons why there is a constant warning not to combine erotic power exchange with the use of other stimuli, drugs and alcohol. This is simply because it all comes on top of one another, usually having a counter-productive effect, making you less receptive to both sexual and other - important - signals. This not only goes for the sub, the dom will also experience huge shots of adrenaline as well, in this case mostly the result of the stress and the risk taking.
Techniques
Short, unexpected pain impulses will set off adrenaline production. For example: when you use a nipple clamp this will produce the sensation of pain when the clamp is placed on the nipple. This sensation will die down relatively soon and will come back, as the clamp is pulled off, slightly twisted or removed. That is exactly the effect you want to accomplish. Put them on, leave them untouched for a while and then touch them or remove them. By hanging small weights from them, the sub will feel this sensation every time she moves her body and the worst thing a dom can do is to put them on, take them off again, wait a while and replace them.
The use of candle wax will have the same basic effect. When you are planning to use candles: buy cheap, white, stearine candles. They have a low melting point and are safe to use. Stay away from wax-candles and colored ones. The further away you hold your candle, i.e. the longer the little drop of wax has to travel, the "cooler" the wax will be. A combination of candle wax and ice cubes is perfect and will dazzle the mind of your sub completely, especially when the sub is blindfolded.
Other small short pain-impulses can be achieved by the use of a sharp pencil (be careful not to puncture the skin and cause blood poisoning) or a sharpened piece of wood. Tooth picks or a neuro-wheel will also do a great job in this area.
The use of pain impulses almost always also brings about a slight feeling of humiliation. Having to have this done to you without being able to do something about it, is what triggers this feeling, together with the responses to the impulses. The combination of these short impulses, the fear, the humiliation and the teasing can be highly stimulating to both partners. Having it done to you is just as exciting as doing it and getting the response from it.
To trigger the production of endorphins you need an entirely different technique. It takes a while - usually between fifteen and thirty minutes - for the body to start to produce endorphins. Using "adrenaline techniques" first will help you here and the other thing is what is commonly known as the warm up phase. If you want to create a real rush, whipping or flogging is a trick that will do it, but you will have to built it up carefully. Starting with a soft, tender whip and working your way up using different whips to get to the point where you want to be.
Bondage - in an uncomfortable of painful position - is another great way to set of a rush. Japanese bondage techniques especially are perfect for this type of bondage.
Obvious traps
There are subs who are into heavy pain kicks. A few words of warning are applicable here. This may indicate subconscious or hidden things such as low self esteem or a hidden trauma. It does not have to be like that and people can just like it, but it is always wise to be cautious when you are confronted with this because unexpected things may come out. It is a good idea to talk about this first and to try and find out the motivation behind it.
Another obvious trap - especially for novice subs - is the desire to prove things. You do not have to prove how much you can take. If you do not like or want it, say so. There is nothing wrong with saying no, and there is a risk that you will overdo things in the beginning and thus will never learn to really like it.
Pain threshold
A subject very frequently discussed is the pain threshold of a submissive. Especially novices will have ideas about training this threshold. Experienced doms will usually downgrade rather than upgrade the intensity of pain and will play with the psychological impact. Increasing the threshold in fact holds certain dangers. The most obvious one is that, through training, the only effect you will produce is that you will eventually have to introduce more and more to get the required effects. If pain is your kick, that is not a problem (although it can dramatically increase the amount of "work" to be done by the dom), but if you are into the psychological or erotic effects of erotic power exchange training the pain threshold is usually not a very good idea. Some of it will happen almost automatically. The sub will get used to pain impulses and especially nipples have a habit of getting used to pain impulses quite rapidly.
More on endorphins
Endorphins may be - at least to a certain extent - one of the things erotic power exchange revolves around. Although it is way too early for any scientific conclusions yet, it is obvious they play an important role in erotic power exchange scenes. Although endorphins are relatively "new" to the medical world - and even more so to psychologists and psychiatrists - it is quite generally acknowledged they play an important part in both our physical and psychological reactions.
Endorphins have always existed in the human body. They are not just one chemical substance, but a group of substances that have the same or interconnecting properties. They were first identified in the mid-1970's. This group of peptides which are composed of amino acids have offered some explanation of how systems are coordinated in the human body. But their greatest significance, until today, may prove to be the linking of the immune and endocrine systems with the mind into one psycho-immuno-endocrine system. Endorphins are a complex set of hormones, released primarily by the pituitary gland (located at the base of the brain).
In 1973, John Hughes tried to identify a "Substance X" at Marishal College in Aberdeen, Scotland which could satisfy the requirements for the body's own morphine-like substance. His mentor in Aberdeen was Hans Kosterlitz. They made progress and called their Substance X encephalon. But there were other researchers. They all were mainly trying to identify an opiate receptor in the human body; effectively a lock into which morphine could fit and activate responses.
It soon became clear that there was a group of chemicals in the brain and body which had properties similar to morphine. At a 1975 meeting in Airlie House In Virginia (U.S.) a New York receptor researcher coined the name endorphins (the morphine within) for all the brain produced substances with opiate properties. The 'e' was dropped later and ENDORPHINS were popularized by the world's media.
Acupuncture
Initially, the endorphins were - and still very much are - looked at and researched from the pain control angle and some papers identified that acupuncture stimulated the production of endorphins. This what gave acupuncture its first scientific respectability, however only in the area of pain control.
Slowly it became clear that there were profound and diverse roles for the endorphins. The runner's high was attributed to endorphins and as more and more functions were identified, Candace Pert an endorphin researcher stated: "Endorphins are mood chemicals playing an important role in human healing processes."
Impulses
Endorphins do seem to explain a lot of things, including the phenomena of patients and sports people being able to exclude pain sensation by mental power only. It has since become clear that the brain produces different ("cocktails" of) endorphins based on different impulses. These impulses can be external (such as a pain impulse) as well as created by the brain itself. In an erotic power exchange situation it is very likely - although this has yet to be researched properly - that both physical and mental impulses play a role in the production and release of endorphins by the brain.
This theory would at least provide one scientific explanation for the importance of fantasies in erotic power exchange play as well as for the obvious interaction between fantasies and the real live action. Another effect that is yet to be researched is the influence of the adrenaline hormones on the production of endorphins. The current theory is that where adrenaline amongst other effects causes a higher state of awareness, it is quite likely that this higher state of awareness causes an increased production of certain (groups of) endorphins. Thinking along the lines of this theory, that might also explain why orgasms during or as a result of an erotic power exchange scene are at least "different" (usually either more intense or violent or both) from other orgasms, since the orgasm itself is one of the "events triggering adrenaline production".
Next, since endorphins at least seem to be "mood chemicals" other extra impulses, such as fantasy, symbolism, smell (like the smell of leather which is very significant to many erotic power exchange people), fetishes and direct physical and mental impulses such as pain, humiliation, discomfort, helplessness and others may very well be intertwined with or connected to the effects of the endorphins themselves.
Endorphins have scientifically proven to have effects on all sorts of physical and mental processes. To name just a few of these (with any possible connection or relation to erotic power exchange): effects on the central nervous system and peripheral analgesia and pain modulation, effects on the nero-endocrine control of reproduction, stress, spontaneous behavior and motivation.
The very latest development in the endorphins researches seems to point to two different methods for endorphins release. Next to the method, described here, where the endorphins seem to have a predominantly nero-transmitter function triggering moods and emotions, there also seems to be a second method, where endorphins are released in more or less random "fountains", seemingly allowing the brain to just register and enjoy external impulses, without interpreting and analyzing them. That would predominantly happen in young children and could explain the fact that young children do not immediately respond to impulses, other than just enjoying them. This theory would also explain the pure "enjoying without interpreting" stage adults can experience during extreme kicks, such as riding a roller coaster, skydiving and of course erotic power exchange. It is, however, to early to draw any firm conclusions in this area.
Genetic influences and other hormones
It is slowly becoming apparent that at least part of our sexual preferences are genetically encoded. Proof for this is found in the fact that certain genetic information is encoded in the DNA of homosexual men and is unavailable in heterosexual men. There is some very early research available on this subject, although a lot still has be researched further before any real answers will emerge.
It is obvious however that at least some it can be found in genes known as "BRCA1" and "BRCA2". Both these DNA strings however unfortunately are currently best known for the fact that they seem to have an influence on breast cancer. Hence the entire research in this field is focused on this aspect. "BRCA1" is the string that is found in homosexual men but not in heterosexual men, which would suggest at least part of the sexually related preferential information is in there. Several other bits and pieces of genetic information, including the development of certain power related elements, can be found in other DNA strings. How all this ties in together however is yet unclear.
GnRH hormone
Very new information however is the following: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), having a highly conserved structure across mammalian species, plays a pivotal role in the control of the neuroendocrine events and the inherent sexual behaviors essential for reproductive function. Recent advances in molecular genetic technology have contributed greatly to the investigation of several aspects of GnRH physiology, particularly steroid hormone and neurotransmitter regulation of GnRH gene expression. Behavioral studies have focused on the actions of GnRH in steroid-sensitive brain regions to understand better its role in the facilitation of mating behavior.
Here it becomes interesting for several reasons. To say it in simple terms, next to adrenaline and endorphins, there is a third group of hormones that not only has a direct influence on our behavior, but these also seem to "read" and "interpret" genetically encoded sexual information.
Just like endorphins GnRH are produced in the center of the human brain. To be exact in the hypothalamus. The next-door neighbor of this part of the brain is the thalamus (the "pain gate") which is controlled by the release of endorphins. Since there seems to be an interaction between these two neighboring parts of the brain, it seems there is a connection here. Thalamus and hypothalamus together form the part of the brain called diencephalons - in simple terms the "switchboard" between the brain and the nervous system. The nervous system is constantly transmitting millions of signals to the brain. The vast majority of these are normal and do not need the attention of the consciousness. The diencephalons (in computer terms call that a co-processor or background processor since it improves the efficiency of the brain/mainframe) makes these decisions and - as you can see - operates much along the lines of "management by exception". In other words the brain is not pro-active but re-active in this area and will wait for an acute signal (of danger, pain, stress, humiliation, discomfort, cold, anything) to start operating and responding. Whenever such a situation occurs, the pituitary gland, in response to the stimulus secretes a hormone called adrenocortocotropin (ACTH). This in turn stimulates the adrenal medulla gland to secrete norepinephrine (a.k.a. noradrenaline) and epinephrine (a.k.a. adrenaline). That will stimulate the production of endorphins. Endorphins in their turn are both produced by and control the function of the diencephalons, in other words both hypothalamus and thalamus. So since the hypothalamus produces GnRH, here is where the connection is.
Gonadotropin by itself is also a hormone, that is responsible for all sorts of secondary sex characteristics, including the swelling of the penis, hardening of the nipples, but also the difference in pitch between the male and female voice. This hormone also controls the female cycle and two other emotions that tie in directly with EPE-behavior: protectiveness towards the partner and territorial defense.
Last but certainly not least the release of gonadotropin triggers the production of steroid hormones (amongst others the male sex hormone testosterone and the female counterpart of estrogen). To keep it plain and simple and very unscientific - there appears to be a direct links between endorphins (a.k.a. "emotion amino acids") and the production of steroid hormones. Since we know some of the endorphins trigger direct EPE related emotions such as responses to pain, humiliation, uncertainty, love and affection, here seems to be a direct hormonal link between these emotions and sexual arousal. Why this happens with some people and not with others is probably the question that will eventually be found somewhere in the DNA-encoding.
Final bit of information - steroid hormones again trigger the production of another group of hormones: pheromones. These are released in the form of a gas and you can (and do) smell them. These are well known for the part they play in sexual arousal. Pheromones are predominantly produced by the human male. The human female - as a result of evolution - has largely lost the ability to produce pheromones. Their function is replaced by .... perfume.
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