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I feel genuinely hurt by people's negative reactions to this article. Every time I hear about how much people think S&M is sick and wrong, it drives me deeper and deeper into the closet. This is a lot worse than being gay, I can assure you.
My first ever sexual feelings came when I was under 6 years old and they were in reaction to the image of a woman being tied up on tv. I don't know why I have the desire to be hurt. I really wish I didn't. It would be a lot easier to be normal.
I've never been abused or mistreated in my life. S&M is not a way for me to work out my childhood issues. Stephen Elliott probably would have been into S&M even if he had never suffered childhood abuse. It's just the way some people are born. It's just the way I was born. And it really feels terrible to read about how sick and twisted I am from readers who are acting as bigoted as homophobes.
