Will Saletan quotes a study. But Alex Tabarrok downplays the study results, correctly pointing out that correlation is not causation.
Megan McArdle cites both posts, and adds a delightful YouTube link from the TV series Coupling.
Let's say for the sake of argument that tying kids up were about as widespread a punishment as spanking is. Would anyone be truly surprised to find a correlation between people who were tied up as a childhood punishment, and who tie each other up as a sexual kink?
I'd like to suggest as a general rule that you SHOULD NOT USE AS CHILDHOOD PUNISHMENT anything that adults use for sexual pleasure with any degree of frequency.
(Even though this is surely common sense, there's a problem with how to craft it, inasmuch as I know there are random (e.g.) diaper fetishists out there, and you surely wouldn't use them as a reason not to give your kids diapers. But as far as I can tell, "don't use it as punishment" is the simplest, most effective workaround.)
Posted by Matt Bruce at March 3, 2008 03:04 PMIs it wrong that I immediately knew which clip from Coupling it would be? Though with a topic like "Lesbian Spank Inferno," that dinner conversation scene is difficult to forget.
Posted by: Allyson at March 4, 2008 07:59 AM