EL ESTATUTO DE AUTONOMÍA PARA ANDALUCÍA Antecedentes

Studies 3 and 4 explored the theorised relationships between psychopathic traits, disgust sensitivity and atypical sexual fantasy and practice in the form of BDSM. It has been suggested that individuals who demonstrate a preponderance of psychopathic traits are more inclined towards sadism due to their lack of empathy, cold-heartedness and callous nature. Features they are said to share with sadists. At present the continuum of behaviours that may comprise Sadism from consensual through to criminal remains poorly understood.

Page | 8-197 The results of Study 3 did not support the theory that psychopathic traits and BDSM activities are positively correlated. BDSM practitioners PPI-R scores were quite varied however. Their BDSM activities fairly consistent across the group. The lack of statistically significant correlation suggests that these constructs do not have a positive relationship. Similarly disgust sensitivity did not share a negative relationship with PPI-R scores. Surprisingly, disgust sensitivity was unrelated to BDSM practice. This is surprising because the domains of disgust sensitivity are, in some ways related to BDSM practice, including the incorporation of bodily fluids into various sexual activities. As such one would have expected an attenuated response to disgust, but that was not to be found. Again, individual differences in experience of disgust and BDSM practice are likely responsible for this. What was particularly interesting about this study is that disgust did not seem to have any bearing on behaviour which is not consistent with theory that suggests that disgust moderates sexual behaviour. What seems to be necessary is a more thorough examination of all the domains of disgust not just that may be relevant to a particular sub set of sexual practices. What would be particularly useful would be to explore the domains of disgust related to specific aspects of morality to see if there is a correlation between these constructs, as well as devising a measure of disgust directly related to sexuality to determine what dimensions of disgust are more appropriate to associate with moral and sexual transgressions or behaviours.

The findings for Study 4 were slightly different in that there was a positively correlation between BDSM fantasy and PPI-R scores with those scoring higher reporting more BDSM fantasies. Curiously when this relationship was explored further something unusual for psychopathic trait based research was found inconsistent with a substantial portion of the literature. Usually, the PPI-R 1 and PPI-R 2 are differentially associated with external correlates, however, in this case both seemed to be equally related, though not statistically significant on their own, to explain the positive

Page | 8-198 correlation between BDSM fantasy and PPI-R scores. Disgust sensitivity was not related to PPI-R scoring or BDSM fantasy however. What was particularly interesting, is that while disgust did not correlate with BDSM fantasy or practice, self-report measures of disgust demonstrated that there is a substantial difference in disgust sensitivity between those who engage in BDSM practices and those that merely fantasise about it. What this suggests is that disgust sensitivity may play a role in moderating sexual behaviours, but not appetites. Individuals may find something suitable for a fantasy but not put it into practice. This has potential implications offending sexual behaviours and recidivism. For example, exploring disgust sensitivity of rapists or paedophiles compared with those who report fantasies of rape or paedophilia but do not actually engage in such may provide some answers as to why some individuals go on to offend and others do not. Disgust sensitivity may be a contributing factor onto offending pathways that requires additional investigation. The positive correlation between BDSM fantasy and PPI-R scores is consistent with previous research that suggests that there is a relationship between psychopathic traits and atypical sexuality. What is unclear is why this does not carry over to BDSM practitioners. For this reason, comparisons were drawn between the BDSM fantasy and activity groups. PPI-R scores between the groups were not statistically significant; however, the BDSM fantasy groups mean score was slightly higher than the BDSM Activity’s score. What was of particular interest was that there was a statistically significant difference in the experience of disgust sensitivity across the two groups with BDSM fantasy group scoring much higher than BDSM practice group. This is consistent with research that suggests that those who engage in atypical sexual practices are likely to have an attenuated experience of disgust. This difference may suggest the reason for one group practicing and the other not doing so is that factors that underscore disgust, including sexual conservatism may influence whether or not individuals may act on fantasies they engage in. While someone may experience sexual

Page | 8-199 arousal or desire at the thought of certain sexual activities, putting them into practice may prove repugnant at some level which may help to explain why individuals who do not offend, but engage in atypical, even deviant sexual fantasy do not act upon them.

Exploration of the two factor structure of psychopathy and its relationship with disgust sensitivity may provide more understanding into the differences in those who engage in atypical sexual practices and those who merely fantasise about certain activities. Research that examines the relationship between the experience of pain and psychopathy may prove particularly fruitful. Pain is an aversive emotional experience, and as such, those who experience more Factor 1 traits associated with psychopathy may have an attenuated or even pleasurable experience of pain when compared to those who score higher on Factor 2 of psychopathic traits where fear, anxiety and shame are said to be more ‘typical’ than those who experience more Factor 1 traits. The fear of pain, and even the fear of rejection, or the shame associated with certain types of fantasies may inhibit some individuals with a preponderance of psychopathic traits from acting on their fantasies. Overall the results seem to suggest the relationship between psychopathy and BDSM, be it fantasy or practice is fairly limited and that other factors, including dimensions of disgust need to be explored in relationship to the experience and quality of sexual fantasy and practice to better understand the nature of sexual fantasy and practice, in general. Assuming that personality traits associated with psychopathy is primarily the reason for more atypical fantasy or practice seems to be flawed.

These studies were unique as the explored BDSM fantasy and practice in relationship to psychopathic traits and disgust sensitivity, none of which has received much