Quote Originally Posted by dr_mabeuse
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Why is rage so close to passion? Why is anger and threat often so sexually exciting? I've got a lot of theories about BDSM. On the one hand there's the obvious one that says that BDSM is an exaggeration of the usual sexual stereotypes of the aggressive male and the passive female. It's almost as if people who are into D/s have a need to act out these roles in the extreme. The man wants to dominate and control, the woman wants to be taken and controlled.---dr.M.
At a science fiction convention recently I sat in on a light-hearted panel on the question "Who is the most erotic character in sf/fantasy?"

The interesting and unexpected conclusion was that all the characters people named and discussed had one common characteristic - or rather, one or other side of one characteristic. They were either totally innocent and vulnerable, or they were powerful and/or manipulative.

Everyone agreed that one's imagination could play it either way, fantasising being in control or being controled. But the panel and the audience (at least half of whom, by my guess, identified as vanilla) agreed that, judging by results, what they all found erotic is extreme power exchange relationships.

<wry smile> Who knew?