I really enjoyed this article. It was straight forward and practical.

I grew up in a religious household that essentially taught me to fear sex in general and especially anything beyond the purpose of reproduction. BDSM was WAY beyond that.

As an adult this left me extremely stunted both mentally and emotionally as I started to have sex for the first time.

I started feeling interested in exploring my own personal sexuality (which I had never done) as well as sexuality with my partner.

That eventually led to encountering BDSM, however my interest in it immediately invoke feelings of guilt and shame because of how I had been raised to view sex. The reaction that was invoked was visceral which was exactly how I had been taught to react yet even then it seemed enticing.

This left me feeling confused and on top of that I was plagued by fear. Fear of what it might mean about me that I was interested in exploring further. Was there something wrong with me mentally? Did I need help from a psychotherapist? I felt fear about where it might lead if I decided to explore further.

It took a long time to learn to let go of all those thoughts and feelings that were so strongly ingrained in me and that were holding me back and start exploring. Yet even then I held back and practiced restraint, though my curiosity was peaked.

Thanks for this article. I would like to explore BDSM further and I’ve found this article a nice encouragement to do that.