DOI: 10.3886/icpsr37395.v1
title: The Science of BDSM Data, Phoenix, Arizona, 2014
title: Version 1

description: The goals of this study were to test whether participants who engaged in an extreme ritual in a naturalistic setting would evidence signs of altered states of consciousness, to examine other physiological and affective effects of the ritual, and to determine whether these effects varied based on the role the individual performed within the ritual. A multi-method approach was used that utilized various psychological self-report measures, a measure of cognitive functioning, and a measure of physiological stress. The data collection took place at the "Dance of Souls," a ritual conducted on the last day of the annual Southwest Leather Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, in which participants received temporary piercings with hooks or weights attached to the piercings and danced to music provided by drummers.
The associated publication, Altered States of Consciousness during an Extreme Ritual, was used to accompany the data in this collection. Users are encouraged to consult the publication for additional information. The data collection includes one de-identified dataset with 164 variables for 83 cases. Demographic variables include sex, gender, pierced vs. non-pierced, and the role the participant played in the ceremony.
description: The goals of this study were to test whether participants engaged in an extreme ritual in a naturalistic setting would evidence signs of altered states of consciousness, to examine other physiological and affective effects of the ritual, and to determine whether these effects varied based on the role the individual performed within the ritual.
description: Data collection took place at the 2014 "Dance of Souls," a ritual conducted on the last day of the annual Southwest Leather Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. A mixed-methods approach was utilized where participants completed repeated measures of positive and negative affect, salivary cortisol (a hormone associated with stress), self-reported stress, sexual arousal, and intimacy; Stroop test scores were also collected. Conference attendees could enroll in the study at any point until an hour prior to the beginning of the dance. Measures were taken before the dance (baseline), during the dance, and after the dance.
Not all participants completed the materials in full during data collection and many were missing at least some data. To rectify this, three months after the conference, conference organizers sent an email to all the dance attendees with a link to an online version of the surveys. The goals were to (a) collect additional information from existing participants, (b) allow existing participants to complete any missing surveys, and (c) allow new participants to fill out the pre and post-dance surveys. If existing participants filled out a duplicate version of the pre- or post-dance survey, their responses were averaged in the dataset. It was not possible to collect Stroop and saliva samples in this manner.
description: Variables in the data collection include:

Demographic: gender/sex, role in ritual, pierced/non-pierced
Participant experience/skill with BDSM
Inclusion of Other in the Self (IOS) scale variables
Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) scale variables
Self-reported measures related to the ritual
Flow State Scale (FSS) variables
Psychological and Physiological measure before, during, and after the ritual
description: Presence of Common Scales: The Flow State Scale (FSS); Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS); Inclusion of Other in Self (IOS) Scale; Stroop Effect tests.
description: The Dance of Souls took place in a large ballroom on the final day of the 2014 Southwest Leather Conference (SWLC), an annual four-day conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Approximately 180 people participated in the Dance of Souls. Of these, 83 enrolled in the study (49 women, 32 men, 2 transgender individuals); A total of 83 participants began the study, consisting of 47 pierced dancers, seven piercers, six piercing assistants, seven observers, three drummers, seven event/spiritual leaders, and six unknown/missing roles (e.g.,"spiritual growth journey", or missing pre- and/or post-surveys). Given the small sample sizes in some of the roles, we created one group of pierced dancers and another group of non-pierced participants. This resulted in 47 pierced participants and 36 non-pierced participants, and subsequent analyses were conducted using this role dichotomization. The six participants with unknown/missing roles were categorized as non-pierced participants. Alternate analyses that exclude these participants did not substantively change the results because many of them did not provide a full set of measures; however, we opted to include these participants in the final sample in order to retain as much power as possible.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: The Science of BDSM Data, Phoenix, Arizona, 2014
description: Participants of the Dance of Souls ritual, on the final day of the 2014 Southwest Leather Conference (SWLC) in Phoenix, Arizona. Smallest Geographic Unit: None
description: cognitive assessment test; mixed mode; on-site questionnaire; web-based surveyFor additional information on The Science of BDSM Data, Phoenix, Arizona, 2014 study, please see the The Science of BDSM website.