But does everyone have the potential to feel "pain" as pleasure?

[WriterDom]

Or does one have to have masochistic tendencies? I was paddled once in high school and there was nothing erotic about it at all. If I had been warmed up, maybe that would have lessened the shock, but I'm pretty sure it would still register as nothing butt pain, to me anyway.

 

[MissTaken]

I am sure that the paddling didn't fall into the context of sexual arousal.

As for me, no matter what I like behind closed doors, I still hate the dentist!

As for the question, I wonder.

Is it possible that not everyone can enjoy certains sensations associated with pain?

 

[NemoAlia]

Oh, probably. I think so, anyway. My fiance said to me yesterday, "I wonder what it must be like to be a woman whose nipples change in their levels of sensitivity." His nipples always hurt when I touch them, so when I told him that my nipples hurt with my period, but that I still liked having them touched, he was flabbergasted. He can't imagine feeling nipple pain as sexual pleasure.

 

[Hecate]

Pain ... what is pain? And when is it pleasure?

I think everyone can experience the "pain is pleasure" feel, just that ... everyone's pain threshold is different - so for some the shift into pain may be reached a lot sooner than for others.

For some it may be the "pain is pleasure" line when dark welts and bruises strt to show, for others that point may be already reached with the first reddening of the skin - still, in the individual perception it is the pain-pleasure threshold and just because the level is different it doesn't mean it is less real.

Then there is the fact that pain does not equal pain, one of the most often quoted the maso person still feeling horrible at the dentist.

Fact remains that the context in which pain is administered makes ALL the difference. So if someone has a low pain threshold that may be raised by finding temselves in a otherwise erotically charged environment. If someone likes spanking he/she may still flinch at the slightest tuck on a nipple ... pain does not equal pain for all.

A light slap in the face hurts me badly - not rationally , but it feels that way, while you can put me through a quite severe flogging and I will love any minute of it (yes, I do testrun all I administer).

So, if the question is
"Does everyone have the the potential to feel MY pain as pleasure?"
then the answer is NO!, but in general I would think there is that specific level for almost everyone where it just triggers the right point of adrenalin and endorphine, as widely different the level may be.

I hope any of that made sense.

 

[Kittenwithawhip]

I used to be pain phobic. I hated all kinds of pain. It didn't seem to matter how the pain was generated. Lately, I have changed my view of pain. For a variety of reasons I have had several very pleasurably "painful" experiences. I don't think it has anything to do with how the pain was delivered but rather, how I received it. I imagine that my pain is as much about psychology as it is about physiology. If this holds true for everyone then, it is just a matter of retraining your mind to see pain as an exciting pleasurable sensation instead of a "dammit I stubbed my toe" one. Now, if I could only figure out how to retrain my brain to sexualize my dentist I'd be all set.

Kitten

 

[James G 5]

There's an old joke that goes :Why do masochists still say 'Owww' when they stub their toes?"

And even pain-phobic types probably picked at scabs when they were kids, for the sick satisfaction of it, even tho it stung like hell

It's all about perception & circumstance, I think

 

[WynEternal]

Before I had my first scene, I hated pain. (Some people who may know of my hobbies before then would probably disagree) I hated getting punished as a kid and came to hate spankings and rulers.

After my first scene, my perception of pain changed. No longer was it used solely to hurt, but now it actually felt good. When I cut myself or stub a toe, I won't say, however, that it was a good pain. I now differentiate between wanted and unwanted pain.

Going to a dentist is still an unwanted pain in my book. LOL

 

[LadyGwenhevare]

How can pain be pleasure. That was my most difficult thing to begin to comprehend when I became interested in being spanked. I had to have my brain relate it into a positive experience. So before my first spanking, we made sure I was very highly aroused sexually. I loved the spanking! I want to be spanked now - it is a positive arousing feeling - yes it hurts, but it hurts soooooo good.

 

[cellis]

I have to say that I know for a fact that not everyone feels pain/pleasure erotically and not everyone enjoys it.

This is a conversation that Himself and I have had on a couple of occassions when we are dissecting our play time together.

MYself on the other hand... enjoy the pleasure that He brings... yummm


~s

 

[lark sparrow]

I used to be pain phobic. I hated all kinds of pain. It didn't seem to matter how the pain was generated. Lately, I have changed my view of pain. For a variety of reasons I have had several very pleasurably "painful" experiences. I don't think it has anything to do with how the pain was delivered but rather, how I received it. I imagine that my pain is as much about psychology as it is about physiology. If this holds true for everyone then, it is just a matter of retraining your mind to see pain as an exciting pleasurable sensation instead of a "dammit I stubbed my toe" one. Now, if I could only figure out how to retrain my brain to sexualize my dentist I'd be all set.

Kitten

I agree. It's all really sensation, and our mind and body catalouge it, tell us how to perceive it. In SM we learn to play with and blend the lines of pleasure and pain as we have been taught them, with the knowledge that the intent is to do no harm. When playing with pain safely we get the intensity of our body reacting to "painful" stimulus, and bridging the gap in our mind, without actually being permanantly harmed, and receiving sexual gratification.

But I think for a Dominant who has no desire to be masochistic, receiving "intense sensation" physically would be received as painful and harmful - if to nothing else their psyche/ego, in having no desire to submit to pain. my Domme is quite sadistic but wouldn't consider submitting to pain as pleasure Herself - doesn't like it one bit, though She loves to give it to those who crave it. And on that note, I would feel very uncomfortable were She ever to wish me to "hurt" Her in the context of SM. In our relationship, the roles are pretty clearly defined in submission/masochism and Dominant/sadism. Though I realize there are so many possibilities of expression!

It would seem much of it comes down to desire, context and orientation.

 

[lissy]

Okay, I'm done being a lurker...

I truly believe understanding pain as pleasure is something someone is born with. True, you can train someone to be able to handle pain, but for it to actually link to pleasure - is something untrainable.

But, not all pain is pleasure. I'm masochistic and enjoy numerous types of pain... but I truly have to be "in the mood" for me to thoroughly enjoy it. Some pain is just simply pain.

~lissy

 

[bondagegurl]

Pain and pleasure, something that will alway be discussed within the BDSM community, i'm sure.

my personal feelings on it... i think that there are some people out there who simply will never be able to perceive pain as pleasure, just as there are those out there, like myself, who do. There's no doubt that it's all in the way that it's "delivered", but everyone is different, I have no doubts that there are people out there who, even in an extremely sexual context, would never be able to experience pain as pleasure.

Different strokes for different folks...

 

[CatEyes]

Something I've wondered about myself for some time. I don't think I would ever see pain as pleasure. I'm not 100% sure of that though, considering how many people do. Maybe it just needs to be under the right circumstances with the right person.