Were there/are there any groups independent from western society that incorporated elements of BDSM into their sexual or romantic behaviour?

by polymute

I tried /r/AskAnthropology with little luck, so I'm hoping you guys have some interesting information on the subject.

To clarify, I know that sex slavery exists/existed and was mainstream basically in a lot of societies in the past but I'm more interested in consensual behaviour.

grantimatter

The Kama Sutra has a chapter on scratching hard enough to leave marks, but I'm not sure if that's BD enough for you. Might be considered an element of SM, though, especially the bit about...

When a curved mark is made on the breast by means of the five nails, it is called a 'peacock's foot'. This mark is made with the object of being praised, for it requires a great deal of skill to make it properly.

Some of the marks are made with the intention of lasting for a few days at least - long enough for a traveler take a journey, look at the marks and remember how they got there.

The next chapter is on biting, and has a few lines about... spanking? I'm not sure if this is entirely a consensual thing or what:

The women of the Balhika country are gained over by striking.

and

The women of Avanti hate kissing, marking with the nails, and biting, but they have a fondness for various kinds of sexual union.

The women of Malwa like embracing and kissing, but not wounding, and they are gained over by striking.

The women of Abhira, and those of the country about the Indus and five rivers (i.e. the Punjab), are gained over by the Auparishtaka or mouth congress.

The chapter ends with this bit of advice:

'When a man bites a woman forcibly, she should angrily do the same to him with double force. Thus a "point" should be returned with a "line of points", and a "line of points" with a "broken cloud", and if she be excessively chafed, she should at once begin a love quarrel with him. At such a time she should take hold of her lover by the hair, and bend his head down, and kiss his lower lip, and then, being intoxicated with love, she should shut her eyes and bite him in various places. Even by day, and in a place of public resort, when her lover shows her any mark that she may have inflicted on his body, she should smile at the sight of it, and turning her face as if she were going to chide him, she should show him with an angry look the marks on her own body that have been made by him. Thus if men and women act according to each other's liking, their love for each other will not be lessened even in one hundred years.'

Not too unlike one or two scenes in The Story of O, I guess.