A study on BDSM practices in 20,000 Australians, headed by Dr. Juliet Richters of the University of New South Wales, revealed that at least 2 percent of the male population, and 1.4 percent Aussie women, don’t mind being tied up as part of their sexual repertoire. And far from the stereotype that such people experienced troubled childhoods and are sexually dysfunctional in one shape or another, such men scored higher on a psychological wellbeing test than those who didn’t practice BDSM.

But to such people, it’s just being tied up, not BDSM. They don’t, by far, identify with the fetish community. According to Dr. Richters, the participants who enjoyed light bondage and spanking were mostly from the GLBTI community and straight individuals who called themselves ‘bicurious.’ In women, those who found light BDSM enjoyable were usually in their late teens and had a partner they did not cohabitate with. There were no identifiable patterns in the men who responded favorably to being tied up.

Dr. Richters also found that Aussies who were into some form of BDSM were also more willing to try new things sexually, such as anal sex, phone sex, trying out sex toys, and looking through Internet porn.

On the other hand, said the lead researcher, the men who were the least happy were those who were attracted to men but never enacted on their desires and never came out of the closet as gay.

The findings were released in the World Association for Sexual Health convention in Sydney, Australia.