But I also sympathize with people who "blame" others (even though blame really isn't the right word), [...]
I sympathize with this guy, partly because his kink is probably the only one that can turn your life into a real hell. Never said, or implied, the opposite.
If you like water sports or scatology, at worse you'll probably be seen as sick. If it's BDSM (globally speaking), it will be between pervert and sick, it depend of the extend of sadism. If you're a domina, you'll be a sadistic feminist who hate men. But if you're the sub in a femdom relationship, in current society you'll be seen as less than a man ; you aren't just a deviant, you become something near to an error of nature. This while, in all cases, you're just as normal as any others. Your kink(s) define (to simplify) what arouse you, not who you are, nor what are your capabilities.
But isn't this fear already enough suffering by itself ? No need to turn your life into a hell by yourself, by not accepting who you are. When your life can turn into hell in an instant, what is what he's facing, the more peace you can find, the better you'll be. And, whatever how hard it can be, and it is, it will always be easier to be in peace with yourself, than with the others. And I say that as a 50yo guy who sufferer from a strong mental illness that started by its early form when I was... well difficult to tell precisely, but lets say around 10 to simplify ; said otherwise, I say that as someone who live in hell since 40 years.
Like if someone is submissive by nature (or mostly naïve, because they're young) it doesn't justify that you can take advantage of them (even if they liked it/liked it reluctantly).
I totally agree. And there's people, mostly men I assume but not only, that effectively abuse of that. How many among the more abusive couples that last more than few months, are couples just because the predator found the perfect submissive prey ? Surely a majority.
If you're submissive, whatever if you are a guy or a girl, always trust your friends if they say that you're in a toxic relationship. Don't tell them to fuck off, ask them to explain and seriously talk about this with them. Unlike you, they aren't, hmm, "blinded by their kink", and can see behind the appearances. Better to lost a guy/girl than was just a little too enthusiastic, than lost 10 or more years of happiness ; when it's not your life.
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, especially in men, this is the reason sometimes victims of rape later on develop rape fantasies. The reason for it is unclear, but it seems to be some sort of cognitive coping mechanism, its horrible.
I don't like the term of "cognitive coping mechanism", the reality is way more horrible than what one can put behind those words. It's like with "mild autism", "simple schizophrenia" and all, the term looks like its "not this much" ; the autism is "just mild", the schizophrenia "just simple", and it's "just a coping mechanism".
But no, it's not "just a coping mechanism", it's a full alteration of the reality, mostly regarding what love is, but not necessarily limited to it. There's a hint of this behind the "male victims reported more cognitions of submission (p < .01), whereas female victims reported more cognitions of dominance (p < .05), which indicates lack of congruence with traditional gender roles", in the study introduction.
I can't provide studies (there's perhaps I don't know), since my knowledge come from the years I past volunteering to help people in trouble ; mostly transgenders, but not only. They were people who, for too many of them, experienced hate from their family during most of their youth. For those persons, what was probably the most difficult part of their "reinsertion" into normal life, was to learn what love really is and how it should be expressed.
The problem is that they were raised by hateful abusive parents, in a society where everything and everyone tell you that your parents are the persons that will love you the most. Being child, they trusted what the society said, what led them to believe that what their parents were doing was proof of love and care. If they were "normal" children, they had friends and sometimes saw them interact with their family ; what made them understand that there's "normal" parents that are gentle, nice and tender. But if they where the solitary type, their own family was the only model they known, and they believed that any other child was passing through the same life than them. Like I said, this altered deeply their definition and vision of love.
For them, being loved is being yelled at, being beaten for whatever reason, and all. And it's how they thing it works for everyone in the world. I'll probably never forget a girl, she was something around 18 if I remember correctly. She was starting her junior university year, just moved in the equivalent of a university dorm here, few days ago. And one of the girl next door one day said "I already love you", and jumped on her to hug her. She was so in shock, never having been hugged in her life, always hearing "I love you" after a beating or some other abuse, that the other girl had a long discussion with her and send her to us. She cried for hours in my arms, saying, months later, that at this instant she was crying out all those years of hate that she believed was love.
[note: The other girl obviously meant "like", but I wrote "love" because in my native language "like" and "love" are the same word. Therefore I wrote it as it was felt, not as it was expressed.]
So, yes, despite the term being effectively "cognitive coping mechanism", I don't really like it because of the "oh, it's not so bad" feeling it imply, while the reality is something horrible to witness ; something that kill a little part of yourself every time you realize, or remember how much it can kill a big part of those who lived it.