Affirmation, compartmentalization, and isolation: narratives of identity sentiment among kinky people

With heightened cultural visibility and greater opportunities for connection, individuals with kinky sexual desires (e.g. BDSM, sexual fetishism, sexual role-playing) are increasingly constructing sexual identities that foreground their kink-oriented desires. However, we know little about how kinky individuals negotiate stigma as they construct sexual identities and engage in intimate practices which provide meaning and coherence to their sense of self. This study examined identity sentiment among an international sample of 265 kink-identified individuals. Participants were asked whether they feel negative, positive, or mixed about their kink identities. An exploratory latent class analysis of narrative data revealed four distinct types of stories: unelaborated affirmation, elaborated affirmation, compartmentalization, and isolation. Stories revealed that stigma, concealment, isolation, and self-pathologization represented sources of stress and negative self-evaluation. Involvement in a kink community and viewing one's kink identity as a journey of growth and exploration were described as helping participants develop resiliency against societal stigma and mental health challenges. Implications of these findings for social psychological theories related to stigma, narrative, and minority stress are discussed.