Studying Accidents and Injuries In Kink & BDSM
Learning from others is a key part of exploring kink and BDSM. A huge portion of kinksters rely on their peers to learn more.
When seeking to understand the probability of accidents and injuries sustained in kink & BDSM, Kynk 101 needed to evaluate more than just our own experiences, so we reached out to others in the lifestyle and asked them the questions we needed to find answers to.
About The Survey
In November 2021, the voluntary When Things Go Wrong survey launched across the Kynk 101 social media platforms, as well as on our site. It ran for seven weeks before being compiled into this report.
Survey Format
Demographic questions were asked first, to establish the kinds of kinksters taking the survey, with initial opinions about the most and least dangerous kink activities and their level of organised public scene involvement.
A specific response to Scene Involvement broke the survey down into two sections: Witnessing Accidents, and Experiencing Accidents. This allowed us to differentiate between the frequency with which accidents occur for others as opposed to during participants' own scenes.
Those who answered No to being involved in public scenes jumped straight to Experiencing Accidents.
Witnessing Accidents
Broken down based on the respondents’ affirmative answers, this section explored three scenarios in which one might witness an accident:
As a Spectator
As an event Organiser or Host
As a Dungeon Monitor or Spotter
A standard set of questions across every situation allowed for the same data to be gathered overall about the incidents, but also allowed for distinctions to be made between the experiences in each situation, such as scenario-specific questions around training, vetting, and venue safety practises.
Experiencing Accidents
This section covered initial questions about kink identity, as well as whether or not respondents had ever had a safeword ignored, and whether they had ever experienced an accident in one of their own scenes.
Respondents that answered Yes to experiencing an accident in their own scenes were asked to detail the incident in the same way as if they had witnessed one.
Safety In Kink & BDSM
A final set of questions explored the opinions respondents had on safety in kink & BDSM overall.
Key Questions & Target Demographics
When putting together the survey, key questions needed to be answered:
How common are accidents in kink & BDSM?
Who is most at risk in scenes?
How bad are the injuries sustained?
What causes these accidents and injuries?
Which kink activities are most/least dangerous?
How do people react to accidents in scenes?
Is it safer to play in public or private?
These were presented in various forms, exploring how the experiences impacted future scenes, as well as how the respondents learned from them.
Looking into these questions meant we needed feedback from a diverse group of subjects, including:
All sides of the slash, regardless of specific role
All cis and non-cis gender identities
Public scene spectators
Public and private scene participants
Venue Owners and Hosts - and/or -
Dungeon Monitors and Spotters
This data was then weighted against worldwide population information, as well as other kink & BDSM research projects that presented an identifiable split between roles.
In order to accurately represent the frequency of accidents and injuries in kink & BDSM, we needed kinksters who:
Have experienced and/or witnessed accidents or injuries
Haven’t experienced and/or witnessed accidents or injuries
In order to establish the likelihood of witnessing or experiencing an accident in kink & BDSM, we needed a range of responses from different levels of experience across the following:
Different lifestyle durations, from 0 yrs to 10+yrs
Different levels of experience, from absolute beginner to expert-level
Participant Demographics
Different responses based on perspectives are recorded in the full results.
No reimbursement was offered to respondents in return for their participation in this survey.
Key Results
Almost half of kinksters have experienced an accident in kink & BDSM
That’s right. 43% of respondents have been subject to an accident or injury in one of their scenes. Whilst this number may not be as high as we expected, the incidents themselves vary: they happen to all levels of kinksters, on all sides of the slash, and the reasons for these accidents are just as diverse as the kinksters they happen to.
1 in 5 kinksters have their safeword ignored
Some kinksters don’t use safewords, but of those that do use them, a fifth of all safewords are ignored. Even experienced veterans with 8+ years of experience have their safeword ignored in a third of their scenes.
Just 18% of active kinksters hold a valid First Aid Certificate
We’re big on safety at Kynk 101, and this statistic shocked us. Whilst 60% of kinksters have previously had certified First Aid training, less than one in three hold a valid certificate. The injuries sustained from accidents in kink & BDSM are predominantly mild (e.g. minor cuts and scrapes, short-term inconspicuous bruising), but the need for medical treatment happens in almost half of all accidents.
If you were involved in an accident in kink and BDSM, would you want your partner to know how to safely administer first aid? If so, only 13% of kinksters would agree with you.
A quarter of kinksters who experience an accident are deterred from the activity
Of those who experience an accident or injury, only a quarter choose to do further research before trying the activity again, and only a further quarter are deterred from trying the activity again altogether. In contrast, more than a third (37.5%) of those who witness an accident are deterred from the activity in the short-term.
The most common kink activity to cause an injury is considered the least dangerous
Impact Play topped the ranking, accounting for more than a third of all accidents and injuries (35%), yet almost a quarter of kinksters consider it one of the least dangerous activities to participate in (23%), and none consider it the most dangerous.
Bondage and Rope Suspension scenes are a close second, with more than a quarter of injuries being part of a rope scene (26%), which correlates with it being the most commonly considered cause of injuries (62%). In spite of this common thought of injury likelihood, only 3% consider Bondage the most dangerous kink activity.
What kinksters considered to be the most risky kinks (for them personally) - Gun Play, Hanging, and Hook Suspensions - account for only 2% of recorded injuries - suggesting that the reputation of these edgier activities prevents kinksters from exploring them, and thus the information about these types of incidents is limited.
