Kink Literature Database
The Kink Literature Database is a free, easily searchable catalog of Kink / BDSM academic articles, books, survey reports, datasets, theses, conference proceedings, and other academic sources from the 18th century to today, hosted on Zotero. Created by the SSSS BDSM/Kink Special Interest Group, this project supports researchers, clinicians, educators, and the public by creating greater ease of access to this increasingly important, diverse global literature.
We are releasing our database here in beta format as we continue to work on it.
Who Made the Database and How They Got Together
The Kink Database was originally a part of a dissertation that as happens with dissertations, had to be abandoned as Steve’s sadistic advisor (wisely) told him that he was picking too big of dissertation topics. That fledgling project was set aside until years later when Fredrick put out a call out for projects that the BDSM / Kink special interest group (SIG) could pull together teams of volunteers to complete. This project’s beta release is excitingly a deliverable from such a team of volunteers.
Specifically, the Kink Database team project is composed of multidisciplinary volunteers from the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS) BDSM / Kink Research Special Interest Group (SIG). This team was formed in 2023 and meets online monthly with the goal of creating a tailored and curated database of Kink academic literature. The current database is being published in November 2025 for the SSSS conference with an initial, vetted subset of the collected data, and is linked to the SSSS website. The database is hosted on the Zotero platform due to its features, institutional sustainability, and low cost. This project attempts to mitigate the difficulty of querying existing academic databases (e.g. Google Scholar, ProQuest, etc.) where typical kink-related keywords often yield a large number of non-specific or irrelevant articles for the desired topic of kink research.
Methods
Followed PRISMA standards for a scoping review. PRISMA standards will be included in the up and coming publication for this team and following that publication will be released on this website additionally. The team had a proficiency in English and utilized Google Translate to translate articles in other languages to include them, including them in their original language with an English translation in parenthesis after in the database entry. Inclusion and exclusion criteria are noted below.
Inclusion Criteria
Is a piece of published academic literature identified in a surveyed database or tailored list (see below for more)
Includes a term (see below) for a kink community upon query
The majority of the manuscript deals with this kink community
Exclusion Criteria
Is erotica, non-academic literature, or unpublished literature or document(s)
Does not meet inclusion criteria
Definitions
Kink has alternating definitions in the field, and was here defined by this team as “an umbrella term to refer to an array of sexually diverse consensual adult behaviors, fantasies, and interests that may or may not overlap with sexual behaviors. The different communities under the kink umbrella often have distinct rituals, attire, and features consistent with culture. Kink communities tend to involve careful consent negotiation. While Kink is a healthy form of sexuality, it is often stigmatized by mainstream and professional audiences. Examples of kink communities include BDSM, furry fandom, erotic hypnosis, ab/dl, age play, etc.”
Published Academic Literature includes journal articles, dissertations, master’s theses, bachelor’s theses, academic audience books, professional books, and similar published literature.
Terms Searched
Two terms were found to be related to kink but unable to be searched due to bringing up such a large number of unrelated content. These terms are kink and fetish. The following terms were all searched for in quotation marks, enabling the greatest specificity for each database: alternative sexuality, alt sex, adult baby, AB/DL or ABDL, BDSM, breeding kink, breeding fetish, cuckold, consensual nonconsent, erotic hypnosis, furry fandom, furries, leather sex, sexual masochism, pup play, sexual sadism, sadomasochism, sexual fetish, shibari, hojojitsu, and sexual kink.
Databases Searched
EBSCOhost: https://www.ebsco.com
ProQuest: https://www.proquest.com
Psychiatry Online: https://psychiatryonline.org
ERIC: Education Resources Information Center: https://eric.ed.gov
Semantic Scholar: https://www.semanticscholar.org
DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals: https://doaj.org
Pub Med: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?otool=azsutlib
Prior Tailored Lists Added
In addition to our tailored searches of the database in accordance with PRISMA standards, we also drew selected entries from several tailored databases, in accordance with our inclusion and exclusion criteria, for various kink communities that several scholars have built over the years. Many of these lists are the only surviving lists for the older literature prior to the 1970s. These tailored lists include the following:
Datenschlag's bibliography of publications on sadomasochism, fetishism and related subjects: https://www.daten-schlag.org/english/bisam/author/index.html
Sadomasochism and Fetishism Subject Bibliography: Scholarly References by Robert V. Bienvenu II, Ph.D.: Bienvenu II, R. V. (1998). The development of sadomasochism as a cultural style in the twentieth-century United States. Indiana University.
Ageplay/ABDL/Age Regression Bibliography August 2021 by Matthew Sosa: Private list Sosa created and shared with Steve during a professional seminar Sosa was giving.
Fur Science’s list of publications: https://furscience.com/publications/
The Carter Johnson Library resources: http://carterjohnsonlibrary.com/the-stacks/book-list/
Why a Tailored Database is Needed
Search algorithms tend to favor often-cited or well-known resources while neglecting emerging researchers, scholars outside the Global North, and non-pathologizing affirmative approaches to BDSM. This specialized resource database alleviates these challenges for both searchability and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) initiatives. Moreover, this database will enable scholars to more easily note patterns and emerging subspecialities within kink and further evidence the current unfolding of a formal field of Kink / BDSM studies. This project creates representation, access, and equity in literature, highlights contributions of diverse scholars, and features content pertaining to vulnerable sexual minorities and diverse populations.
Next Steps
The current release is a beta version of our kink scholarship database and we will continue to work on building it. After the release and presentation at the annual conference of The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS) on 11/14/2025, the team’s next steps will be:
Continuing to finish the searches and adding entries until the database is a complete search of all databases consistent with PRISMA standards for a scoping review.
Adding selected entries from the prior three tailored lists noted above.
After the database is completed, release a press release announcing the final version.
Upon completion of the database, publication of a journal article noting trends in recent academic literature (~1970 to 2015) surveyed in the database and arguing for the emergence of a formal and nonpathologizing field of kink studies.
Maintaining the database by adding new entries as articles are released. There are active google scholars that Steve uses to add articles as they are published and he will conduct fresh searches for each calendar year at the end of that calendar year.
Develop criteria for evaluating community education literature and add community literature to the database. These articles will have a unique tag to notate them.
Questions?
To submit suggestions for entries, volunteer for our team, offer feedback, ask a question, or note an error, please email the team at: kinklitdatabase@gmail.com