Kink, BDSM and alternative subcultures often get misrepresented in the mainstream press. The powers that be don't seem to understand or like what some people do, even though we intend the activities that we engage in to be safe, sane and consensual. So why do we do it? As John from the Spanner Trust eloquently summed up at LAM in March 2008, people do kinky things for three main reasons.

Firstly, there's endorphins. These are the body's natural painkillers and they give you a high. If you've ever been tattooed, you'll know exactly what endorphins are. Flogging, caning, whipping, being hit with a riding crop etc also elicit an endorphin rush, and some people like pushing their bodies to see what it can cope with. Far from bruises and welts being what the government might think of as 'actual bodily harm', some people see these marks as trophies of achievement, of pushing past one's fears, through one's limits, to a place that is unlike their normal, everyday life.

And that brings us on to another reason for kink - headspace. For someone who spends most of their working day bossing staff around, managing big budgets and having lots of power, stepping outside that role and dressing up as a maid or a slave, or a dog, or being encased in rubber, can be a liberating escape from responsibility. It can be like meditating, getting out of the ordinary beta brain wave patterns and into a more serene alpha brain wave state. Human beings have been experimenting with creating shifts in their consciousness for thousands of years. Role play and BDSM headspaces are just one way to achieve this.

A third and final main reason why people are into kink is adrenalin. This is the flight or fight response and for someone who's into edge play or psychological scenes where fear responses are played with, this can be extremely exhilarating. In the 'vanilla' world, we can get the same kick from jumping out of an airplane with a parachute strapped to our back, or mountain bike down a blooming steep hill. For those in the BDSM world, being part of a kidnap scene can elicit a similar response.

The key words in kink and BDSM are safe, sane and consensual. All people involved generally have safewords that they use if they want to get out of a scene for any reason. There are a multitude of books on the subject of kink and BDSM. Here are just a few: