Stories of Tie Up Games

For the analytical nerds out there like me, I came across this scholarly article which provides some insight as to why we like to be scared, be it haunted houses or tie up games.

"We define recreational fear broadly as a mixed emotional experience of fear and enjoyment. With this definition we seek to capture the broad spectrum of phenomena in which humans derive pleasure from playful engagement with fear-inducing situations. Such engagement ranges from mildly scary children’s activities, such as playfully being chased by a parent or caregiver, to full-blown horror media, such as horror films and haunted attractions, which remain prominent in popular culture."

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.117 ... 7620972116

Stuff like this was why I wanted to study Psychology in the first place. Thanks for sharing this gem!

Analytical nerds unite! Seems prima facie plausible, to me, that excitement from being bound or tied up is underpinned by the same mechanisms as being on a roller-coaster or going to a haunted house. It'd be interested to see some external validity corroboration in a TUG scenario, with maybe a larger sample size. I wonder, from an individual trait psychology point of view, whether those who found scary situations like those studied super fun would also find TUG situations analogously fun in the same way. Whatever the mechanism for the individual differences aspect, an "extreme" form might even serve as an etiological explanation for paraphilic excitement.

I know your point was more the evolutionary point of view, rather than individual differences, but it's food for thought! ^_^

I do find this interesting cause I've always questioned why do I like the idea of being tied up?why do I like the way a woman looks tied up? What is it about home invasion/kidnapping that seems so exciting? Would be cool to see some type of study done on that,but this all makes sense,thanks for sharing

Now that I think about it, bondage does give me a bit of an adrenaline rush. I never thought of bondage in the same light as riding a roller coaster, but after reading this thread, it does make sense.

I don't think I've ever given it a 2nd either but when I do bondage I do feel alive and I do get an adrenaline rush if we didn't do anything that was considered dangerous humanity would have been long extinct centuries ago

"If it is pervasive, then it likely has or is serving some function."

Cognitive behavioral therapy tells us that we benefit from controlled exposure to discomfiting and unique situations. Much like a vaccine, practices like bondage can anesthitze people to a scenario that they often experience in their day to day lives, the inability to control much of their lived existence for a limited time and magnitude.