What makes people submissive and/or masochistic has been long debated. Is it genetics, environment or some combination of the two? Now some Czech scientists have a new theory – cats.
As this article describes, kitty poop can contain a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. If that makes it into the human body, its effect is to screw around with the fear and sex related circuits of the brain. That in turn can lead people to seek out more scary and sexually risky things. So one day you’re emptying the cat litter box, and the next you’re hanging upside down while a lady in a catsuit beats you with a rubber hose.
However, before you start blaming all the freaky stuff you’ve done in the last few years on Mr Snuggles, I should point out the original paper suggests that- “Toxoplasma probably only slightly increases the tendencies of infected subjects to be sexually aroused by BDSM stimuli”. So it’s only a very small part of a much bigger and more complex picture.
A post about cats seemed the perfect one to feature this lovely image. Scratching is such a sexy and intimate way to inflict pain. Kitten ears aren’t strictly needed, but a nice bonus.
I’m not sure where this image is from. There’s a watermark, but even magnified I can’t figure out what it says. As usual, please leave a comment if you can help me attribute it.
Never had a cat and neither did my sub. I’ll stick with the nature-and-nurture combo as my personal theory 🙂
I suspect you’re probably right. Reading the paper in depth it seems that their theory only really applied to the submissive side (seeking danger and risk) rather than the dominant side. Obviously the mainstream headline writers skip that bit. Toxoplasma is also surprisingly prevalent in the world (apparently 24% of the US has it), so if it had a very strong affect, we’d have seen it by now!
-paltego
Ahh…two of my favourite things, cats and kinkyness – this kind of solidifies my conviction to acquire cat-ears of some type soon.
On topic: Well, I am kinky and I did have a cat growing up – so much for anecdotal evidence, I guess?
It also seems to me that people that I know who are into kink of some type tend to be cat persons, rather than dog persons, so maybe that is something to look into as well 😉
On a more serious note, yes, it is probably a combination of nature and environment, like most things…
I also had a cat as a child (strictly speaking my parents did – but I’m sure I petted it the most!) but like you, I’m not going to attribute too much to that. As I mentioned in the comment to Diane, the parasite is surprisingly common in the general population (at least according to that source of all truth wikipedia), so if it had a significant affect, we’d probably have spotted it by now.
I have noticed that kinky people do tend to be animal people. Hadn’t personally noticed a cat versus dog slant, but a lot of dommes I know tend to be pro-pet and anti-children! Although that’s just my anecdotal data point 🙂
On the serious side, I tend to think it’s nature that gives the flexibility and elasticity in the brain, and environment that fills in the details. But a fascinating division to dig into and explore more of I think.
-paltego