The Leather Journey, As Seen Through the Prism of the Stanford Prison Experiment

In 1971, Philip Zimbardo conducted an experiment for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary’s Hearings on Prison Reform. The experiment was designed to explore whether innate dispositions or situational factors influence prison behavior most. He constructed a simulated prison in the basement of Stanford University’s psychology building and chose a group of “decent, intelligent” college men as his subject group. Each subject was assigned the role of “prisoner” or “guard” by the toss of a coin. The “guards” were given uniforms, billy clubs and whistles while the “prisoners” were made to wear humiliating outfits resembling hospital gowns. The subjects were then observed to see how the simulated prison environment affected their behavior. This experiment was to be two weeks long, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Within a single day the “guards” developed degrading routines which they forced the “prisoners” to carry out. Reality and illusion began to blur in the minds of the subjects. In Zimbardo’s words, the majority “were no longer able to differentiate between role-playing and self.” Some “prisoners” rebelled while others became apathetic and resigned to their fate. Many “guards” became increasingly brutal and cruel, taking pleasure in using and abusing the power of their positions. Although the experiment was scheduled to last for two weeks, it had to be terminated after 6 days because of the increasing brutality displayed by many of the “guards”. The six days the experiment ran produced dramatic changes in virtually every aspect of the men’s behavior, and strongly affected their mental and emotional states as well as their perceived world view.

Zimbardo’s experiment has implications for all of us who live the leather lifestyle, and particularly those of us who practice Dominance and submission (D/s). Without communication, negotiation and conscious choice of our roles, we would be no different from Zimbardo’s subjects. The most important distinction between the experiment and BDSM is our conscious choice of roles. These roles may be externally manifested by the clothes we wear or the colors we flag, or they may exist only within our headspace. Either way, unlike Zimbardo’s subjects, we are drawn to our roles and choose them as our own. When we choose the role or roles that suit us best, we have completed the first step on our leather journey.

Most of us experience a leather journey in our lives. It is a journey of self discovery, a trial by fire that brings us into a realm of intense sexuality, awareness and spirituality. Whether we identify as Top, bottom or switch, we are defined by our roles while at the same time we are defining the roles we choose. It is an intellectual as well as an emotional process that allows us to fully explore the nuances of our chosen lifestyle. Due to the intellectual exploration of our role, we are able to more fully integrate our Top, bottom or switch tendencies into our personality, thereby circumventing the cognitive dissonance the experiment subjects experienced. In order for your role to become second nature, it must also be emotionally integrated with your Self. Throughout this process, we gradually lose the feeling of “Self” versus “role”.

During the next phase of our leather journey, we become intimately acquainted with our chosen role and the consequences of the actions inherent to that role. The “guards” in Zimbardo’s experiment, however, were thrust into their roles. The only role model most of these students probably had was the stereotypical guard portrayed so graphically in movies, television and literature. They had no experience as guards or in positions of physical power, so they fell back on the what society has spoon-fed them since birth. In order to be “good subjects” they grasped for the only reality they could conceptualize and in doing so they allowed their roles to be de fined for them. Unfortunately, many novice leatherfolk also fall back onto proscribed societal stereotypes found primarily in mainstream media and erotica. In order to counteract the influence of the dominant culture, we must seek out information from experienced players. Reading factual BDSM literature, talking with experienced leatherfolk about techniques, apprenticing to advanced Masters or Mistresses and most importantly, exploring your own feelings about the role you have chosen all contribute to exploring the path to your leather Self.

The first two steps in our leather journey allow us to reach a milestone. After choosing and exploring our role, we are then able to begin constructing our own reality. How we react to any situation is determined by how we interpret and create our own reality. When we are given a fully created “reality” to act within, as in the experiment, we tend to fall into the proscribed role chosen for us, or the role we have chosen for ourselves. There are ways in which this phenomenon can be used to enhance BDSM play. For example, when some bottoms enter a play space that has been fully orchestrated by a Top, they may feel even more of a desire to submit because the environmental cues they encounter bring them more fully into bottom space. But beware of relying purely on environmental cues. Speaking as a Top, creating a total “reality” for a bottom who has not yet made progress in their personal leather journey can be dangerous. If self exploration on the part of the bottom is lacking, any reality you as a Top create could be construed as the “right” reality. It may stifle any impulse to change or it may cause the bottom to rebel against you for placing the “wrong” constrictions upon them, which is very similar to the reactions of the “prisoner” subjects in the experiment. As Zimbardo said, there developed “a growing confusion between reality and illusion, between role-playing and self-identity... This prison which we had created... was absorbing us as creatures of its own reality.” This is where communication and negotiation are key. In order to create a reality that does not overwhelm but actually enhances both partners, honest exchange of ideas about what we want out of a scene or a relationship is a must. This is the truest signal of reaching one of many destinations on your personal leather journey.

References

Zimbardo, P.G. (1971). The psychological power and pathology of imprisonment. A statement prepared for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee No. 3: Hearings on Prison Reform, San Francisco, Calif., October 25.

About the Author

Karen is a 24 year old commercial developer and property manager. She is the first Ms. Florida Olympus Leather and the first heterosexual female title-holder in Florida. Mistress Karen is primarily a Top with masochistic switch tendencies.

She is also the director of Public Relations for Anvil Dungeon International, an organization focused on BDSM in the fat community.

Her 4 birds, Baby, Scout, Peck and Jem, are the light of her life. Hobbies include voracious reading, writing, painting, the Internet, and teaching and learning about the leather lifestyle.