I’ve just been editing the short story that won the 2018 RWA Spicy Bites comp for erotic romance, Daisy, Chained about a girl who embraces her feminine nature after a chance encounter with a sexy martial arts instructor and his whip chain. It got me thinking about the relationship between pain and pleasure and why a taste of pain at just the right moment can increase or prolong sexual pleasure.

So, you guessed it, I did some digging…

Pain for pleasure has long been a sexual practice and, as well as dominance and submission, is an important element in BDSM. Like a drug, the pleasure experienced with pain can be addictive and lead to a choice of lifestyle that leaves ‘vanilla’ sex in the past.

“… love, sex, pain and violence all stimulate the release of similar chemicals and hormones in the human body. Endorphins that are released in painful experiences are often perceived as pleasurable. Stress and pain can also stimulate the serotonin and melatonin production in the brain, which transforms painful experiences into pleasure. The release of epinephrine and norepinephrine in pain can also cause a pleasurable ‘rush’. Normal human biological response actually supports the complex and mysterious link between pain and pleasure, which we see in the runner’s high and the facial expressions during orgasmic release.” Wendy Strgar
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-connection-between-se_b_913420?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANrWxqe6UKxWMxl9ivezDOdXbY1vfyccHjLS1XAJ6kxtdm0FsB7JukDtK6hsawLmR_E0feP8jZ8u5bEICM_e80ky-TFh7MCSbCrEnFh7jIqSTCIJ9LgOgiL0PJ4_AlZDR1yTmI0FAt8EjujkEueanW9kmrNGlSLIiPvIhdPqXQtS&guccounter=2

Possibly in Daisy’s case, she receives some psychological healing with the experience of ‘good pain’ as explained by Dr. Jess O’Reilly:
‘If you’ve experienced pain in your past, you likely consider it a bad form of pain; by using pain as a source of pleasure, you can create a new type of pain — good pain.’
https://www.sexwithdrjess.com/podcast-2/#.Xlng05Mzb6d

Recently two studies found that ‘participants who engaged in consensual sadomasochistic acts as part of erotic play experienced a heightened sense of bonding with their partners and an increase in emotional trust.’
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-008-9374-5

For the first time – the first of a series of free story giveaways I have planned – I’m sending Daisy out into the wide world. If you’d like to read the juicy details of Daisy’s discovery of the pleasure/pain relationship in sex, and be notified of other free stories when they’re available, sign up:

and enjoy 😉