"The Curious Human Phenomenon" by Peter Masters

Posted by Tanos on Tue 5 Jan 10, 5:27 PM

A couple of years ago I reviewed Peter Masters' previous title, "The Control Book", and "The Curious Human Phenomenon" is very much in the same vein. It doesn't try to teach you BDSM techniques, but instead tries to explain some of the reasons behind elements of BDSM. Masters summarises this by saying BDSM has an "abundance of 'how'" but a "scarcity of 'why'".

The book does start with a very brief survey of BDSM activities, both physical and psychological, but quickly moves on to present Masters' preferred (Jungian) model of conscious and unconscious as he did in the "Control Book", including its connection to Evolutionary Psychology ideas via the "collective unconscious" - a.k.a. Human Nature. Masters uses "primality" for the BDSM / Human Nature connection, and as that's my preferred word for this - for example, why D/s feels so right at Bridgewood - I liked seeing it here just as much as the similar passages in the "Control Book".

In fact, I did have the worry when reading the rest of "The Curious Human Phenomenon" that I was reading reworked material from "The Control Book", but when I checked back, I'd imagined that. Going through the two books chapter by chapter, there are very few true overlaps. Instead the same BDSM situations are looked at again, but from different perspectives. In fact, from unique types of perspective which probably accounts for that feeling of deja vu.

For example, the second chapter of the "Control Book" describes a detailed model for how control is offered to and taken by dominants. In "The Curious Human Phenomenon", similar activites are described but this time in terms of processes of penetration - not just of bodies by flesh, objects, needles etc, but also personal space and the mind itself.

The second book also seemed to divide into two distinct parts: of relationship dynamics, and then of social dynamics. I enjoyed the first one uniformly, even the more descriptive chapters listing and briefly defining relationship types and reasons for doing BDSM in terms of the ideas set out in the earlier chapters.

However, I wasn't as comfortable with the second part. First, because I had a slightly awkward feeling that the record was being put straight about past events in some of the examples ("The Sad Man ... I later discovered that he had devoted considerable time and effort over some years in trying to convince my friend that I was only interested in her to get close to the group".) Secondly, because Masters' has spent his time analysing formalised, often secret, BDSM groups that don't correspond well to the types of BDSM groups I see around me here (or in the US.) It was an interesting analysis to read in an academic way, but it did feel a bit unnecessary in the book, and left me with an (unfair) final impression of it as a largely unconnected collection of situations Masters felt interested enough to talk about. The earlier chapters aren't like that. (It also didn't help that my reading of the book kept being interrupted by other projects.)

In summary, I do value both "The Control Book" and "The Curious Human Phenomenon" for their almost unique way of looking at BDSM, especially D/s topics which are very relevant to O&P. They're thought provoking in a way that so many BDSM titles aren't, even though I have my stated reservations about the need for the later chapters of the second book.